Tottori Petty

Petty Knife by Otsuka Hamono for Terasu.

While Sakai City near Osaka is well known for having a high concentration of skilled bladesmiths, Tottori is located in the region in Western Japan, formerly known as Inaba, famous for the iron rich sand which is used to make high quality Japanese blade steels. The few remaining bladesmiths in this sparsely populated region are deep with their craft. Tottori in particular has a strong history of the mingei (craft) movement led by Yanagi Soetsu's follower Yoshida Shoya. 

Otsuka San is a 4th generation bladesmith. The waiting list for his knives is 1-2 years long, only accepting orders from a limited customer base of clientele he respects and knows will understand his work, namely a few restaurants in Tokyo, Paris, and Milan. 

The Terasu petty knife by Otsuka Hamono is an excellent Japanese knife for small delicate everyday uses. The blade steel used, aogami #1, is known to have long edge retention, yet still maintain exceptional hardness when hand-forged and heat treated by a skilled smith.

Blade steel (knife edge) will patina black over time.