Collection: Naohito Myojin

In a short time, Naohito Myojin-san has become legendary in the Japanese knife world. Anybody obsessed with Japanese knives either has one of his blades already or has one on their radar. 

Myojin-san was born into the family that owns Myojin Riki Seisakusho. Their main business is sharpening knives that are forged elsewhere. As the oldest son, he has been helping with the family business since he was a boy, knowing he would eventually succeed his father in the business his grandfather started. 

At 18, he officially started to work as a knife sharpener but never enjoyed it. He could never picture the end-user who would use his knives. There was no passion in his heart for the work, but after several years of working at the family business he was able to get an apprenticeship under a famous master sharpener in Echizen. He was astonished by the astronomical level of skill that this sharpener had developed and realized just how long a road he had ahead of him. Myojin-san threw himself into knife sharpening with renewed vigour and eventually built an incredible skillset. He was also able to see first-hand just how happy his knives made the people who bought them. 

It goes without saying that now, Myojin-san is easily one of the best knife sharpeners in Japan. In Tosa, makers often follow the guidelines set out by the wholesalers that they work for, but Myojin-san is different. He’s always considering better ways to do things and finding new approaches, going above and beyond what’s required of him.

His work has gained serious renown amongst knife nerds the world over, folks who can recognize just how incredible his finished products are. He works with a ton of different talented blacksmiths, taking their forged steel and transforming them into beautiful artworks capable of mass vegetable destruction. He’s truly a sharpening genius: the way he tapers and polishes blades allows them to glide through food more smoothly than I ever thought possible. He’ll only get better with time, I can’t wait to see where this path takes him.