Gyuto • 210 mm • maple octogonal handle • Nashiji Kurouichi white #2 • sanmai • for both left and right hand use

This beautiful gyuto is made by Mutsumi Hinoura, son of master bladesmith Tsukasa Hinoura from Sanjo city, Niigata prefekture. The nashiji kurouchi finish will protect the blade against oxidation. The core is made out white #2 and shrpened like a razor.

On the backside of the blade you will find the OUL Sakai logo.

White steel, also known as: Shirogami/White paper/Shiroko steel

This traditional steel is not named after its colour, but named after the colour of its paper wrapping, in which it is stored in the Hitachi steel factory in Japan. There are 3 grades of Shirogami white steel: #1,#2 & #3. From these 3, #1 contains the highest amount of carbon and #3 the lowest. Generally we say at our knifeshop, grade #1 can be made extremely sharp, but will be a little more fragile than #3. While #3 is a little softer, it's also easier to resharpen, but has less edge retention. Grades #1 & #2 are most common among white steels. White steel is a refined steel with a low percentage of iron, loved by many,  as it is relatively easy to maintain. In practice it can be maintained with a whetstone and in a short amount of time it will become very sharp. This does not mean that these knives never have to be resharpened by a professional, even all knives in Japan need to be refurbished at a certain moment. This Shirogami steel is embraced by sushi chefs who demand extreme sharpness of their knives. White steel oxidates relatively quick and therefore needs to be maintained more often, but on the other hand you will get all benefits of this beautiful steel characteristics. 

Elwin de Veld about OUL Sakai:

Many Japanese knifemakers use the expertise in their region.By this I mean, that many knifemakers use subcontractors for certain parts of the knife. This also counts for Sakai region, the southern part of Osaka. OUL sakais specialised in sharpening blades. OUL sakai finds the best blades in their region and then the blades are sharpened by master sharpener Marayuma san.