The biggest adventure of my life - Sakai Hamono Museum and Nunoya.... (Part 4)

Hi and welcome in part 4 of my story. Straight after my visit to Tadashi San workshop,¶ we went to Sakai Hamono Museum. The museum itself was on the first floor and it wasn't very big. There were different kinds of Japanese kitchen knives in the showcases hung on the walls and a lot of knives for sale in the middle. The museum, as every museum in the world, is just a museum and there is not much to say about it. However, there was a funny situation. When I was admiring some of the blades, Yoda San told me that someone will come to me in a second. I think that they've mentioned that it will be a director of the museum. Of course, the tv crew wanted to record that conversation and I was quite excited because there were few knives that I have never seen before and I wanted to ask someone about them. After a short introduction, I have asked that person about one knife which I have seen on the wall. He was thinking for a bit and then he said that he is not sure and that he will be back in a second. Then, I have realized that he wasn't the director and to be honest I don't have a clue who he was. He came back after a short time, told me what I wanted to know and probably didn't expect another question, which I asked straight away. Again, he wasn't sure and he went somewhere to ask. At this point, I knew that recording that was pointless and I gave my crew a sign that we should be not recording that. That was the end of a day. On our way back to the hotel we stopped again in Tadashi San workshop and he gave me the same shirt that he was wearing. I really like it:D

''The entire knife making process in the showcase below''.

''Me and the biggest deba. It is a real knife if someone asks''

On the very next day, we came back to the museum. The tv crew has rented the conference room, set photo studio and took a lot of blades from the museum. They spent a few hours filming knives and this part was quite boring. In the meantime, I took my time to take some photos and then, together with Jim we went for a walk.

Some street photos from my walk:

Later on, in the afternoon, I and my tv crew packed and travelled to Osaka. This time I really didn't have an idea about what is going to happen. I was quite surprised when I met Jouzou Tushihashi. He said that he will take me to his friend. Nunoya Koji, a friend of Tushihashi San is a chef of Japanese restaurant "Unowa" nestled in a corner of Osaka Kitashinchi. He also belongs¶ to an association which I have mentioned before. It federates scientists, geologists, miners, knife sharpeners, sword polishers and more people with interest in preserving ''Tennen Toishi'' tradition and culture.  It's a former luxury restaurant. I was introduced to Koji San and then I had a great restaurant experience.

First, I could watch Nunoya San sharpening his huge over 300mm yanagi on the Maruoyama Shiro Suita. One of the stones mined by Tushihashi San.

After that, he prepared a special meal for me and Jouzou.

''Zori Ebi'' (Mitten lobster) - It is available only for two weeks in the year.

This is the end result of Nunoya-San work. I have to admit that it was more than delicious. Seriously!!! That tuna...¶ OMG. It has melted in my mouth. I have also seen a super cool trick. First, Nunoya San has used a shark skin to grind some fresh wasabi and he formed a small glob on my plate. Then, he used the back of his knife to hit whatever has left on the shark skin. I really didn't know what he was doing, but then he explained that by doing so, he changed the taste of the wasabi. I have tried both of the pellets and I have to admit that it was true:D

''Some of his knives''

Small stone shire.

It was a big pleasure to be there and to try such a good food. It was very stressful, to do all of that in front of the cameras, but the ·overall experience was quite fascinating. I was always dreaming about eating proper sushi/sashimi/call.it.like.you.want in a front of a chef. Great. At the end of a day, Nunoya San gave me a pack of a Japanese green tea. It was a very nice gesture. Straight from his restaurant we took a train and came back to our hotel in Sakai.

The biggest adventure of my life - Emani Tadashi Hamono, Sakai (Part 3)

On the very next day, we woke up early in the morning and I was taken to Emani Tadashi workshop in Sakai. I am not sure about the name, but I think that it is called ''Ichueno Hamono''. Of course, I didn't know where they were taking me and again it was a surprise. We have stopped not that far from this place, but I still had to walk a little bit. In the meantime, I could hear the sound of spring hammers and forging, as well as other sounds from many workshops around me. I was stressed especially that once we got closer to my destination we had to stop and repeat my walk three times. Just imagine yourself walking down the street where everybody is looking at you, especially that just behind you five people, three cameras, big microphone on the stick etc. are following you. Totally normal and relaxing situation. Hahaha. Anyway, I have managed to enter ''Ichueno Hamono'' and I was introduced to Emani Tadashi. Tadashi San is a very nice guy who showed me how to forge the knife and then, under his supervision, he let me forge my own knife. That was a very unique experience. Obviously, there is no chance to learn this kind of stuff in one day, but it gave me an idea of hard labour involved etc.

Templates of different kind of knives made by Tadashi San.

My first attempt on hammering with spring hammer. Trust me, it only looks easy on youtube videos. Every hit is very powerful and it's quite hard to keep the steel in one place. 

Emani Tadashi is using many different kinds of spring hammers depending on the step in the process he is actually doing.

Here Tadashi San is cutting out the tang of the knife. He let me do most of the knife making processes except for this one.

Me, Tadashi San and knives forged by two of us.

One of the knives made by Tadashi San.

Suminagashi yanagiba.

Usually, after filming my part of the programme, the tv crew was filming the whole process done by the master. That happened here and will happen in the next parts of my story. Usually, I was spending that time taking pictures. Below you can see only a few steps of knife forging.

The furnace is heated up to 1100*C

Hagane (Steel) is joined with Jigane (iron)

Then it is forged together, first by hand...

...and then by the spring hammer.

Forged blank prepared to further processing.

The blank is cleaned...

...and cut to shape.

This is a tang stamping machine.

Then the blanks are dipped in the clay, but Emani Tadashi is using the mix of clay and sharpening stone powder and who knows what else:D

He is also using a big butane torch to dry them faster.

Later on, he is heating the blanks to a proper temperature and heats treating the blades.

Some of Emani Tadashi daughters artwork:

Of course, I had to exchange business cards with Tadashi San.

In the meantime I have shown him my knife which I made especially for my trip to Japan:

After looking at my knife he asked me if I would like to see his knives. After careful examination of his blades, he said that these two are for me!!!!!!! Seriously? I didn't know what to say. I think that even the tv crew was surprised because usually this kind of stuff is done at the end of the day. Emani Tadashi gave me two beautiful knives. A 270mm blue #1 suminagashi kiritsuke yanagiba and big, thick nakiri made out of the same steel.

 The interesting fact is that in Sakai blacksmiths don't put their name on the blades, because there are more people involved in the knife making. The blacksmith is forging the knife and then somebody else is grinding and sharpening. However, Emani Tadashi is stamping his blades with kanji inspired by names of his two daughters. Serenity (second kanji from top) and Eloquent (third kanji from top).

Also, he gave me two key ring pendants. These are really cool because they look like usuba knives and in reality, they are forged out of laminated steel, has ''ura'' etc. They are normal, small knives. I am still thinking if I should use them as pendants or maybe if I should perform ''honbadzuke'' and make small handles for them:D He also gave me a super nice t-shirt with kanji ''鍛冶屋'' - kajiya - blacksmith.

 

Meeting Tadashi San, forging my own knife and receiving all of the extremely nice gifts was great and I have no words to describe how happy I was, however, it wasn't end of a day. Our next stop was Sakai Hamono Museum...

 I will keep that story for the next post...