Kisuke Manaka ATS-34 Tsuchime Bunka 165mm

About the Shape – The Bunka is a bonafide badass, like a kitchen knife in a leather jacket. It is a multi-purpose knife akin to the Santoku. “Bunka” translates to “culture”. This multi-purpose kitchen knife is great for dicing, slicing or mincing. Like a santoku, it’s a cross between the nakiri and a gyuto, just a little more badass looking.

About Manaka Hamono – Kisuke Manaka is a relatively young, 5th generation, blacksmith in Kasukabe, Saitama pref. Manaka-san didn’t like the dishonest way his father-in-law operated his business so he decided to become a blacksmith himself. He began making knives from scratch about 10 years ago, with nothing but a workshop full of equipment and no mentor. He is completely self-taught, yet he mastered techniques to forge-weld steels in house, even forge welding stainless steel which is no easy task.
Now he forge-welds everything in house, from hard carbon steel clad with soft steel, stainless steel clad with stainless, and carbon steel clad with stainless steel. The ATS-34 steel used in these knives is forge-welded in house by Manaka-san. While mostly stainless, it is more durable and keeps an edge better than many comparable steels. It will patina very slowly, so don’t leave it dirty overnight!