Yoshimi Kato is based in Takefu knife village in Fukui Prefecture. Trained by his father, Hiroshi Kato (who also trained Yu Kurosaki), he received the award of traditional craftsmen in 2008 and has gone on to produce some really amazing knives.

SHAPE: Santoku. Named after the three best things to do with this knife - slicing, dicing and mincing. It is the classic veg prep knife with both good breadth and width. 

STEEL: Aogami (blue paper) super steel. This is very similar to white paper steel but with tungsten and chromium added to it which helps with edge retention and slows down rusting. It differs from the other blue paper steels with the addition of Vanadium and Molybdenum. The super part indicates the highest amount of carbon steel at up to 1.4% out of the blue series steels. This knife has been laminated with stainless steel making it a lot easier to look after.

FINISH: Kurouchi. This is a traditional, rustic finish achieved by leaving the furnace scale from the forging process on the blade rather than polishing it off. It has the advantage of reducing the reactivity of the surface of the knife and gives the blade a stylish mat finish.

HANDLE: Octagonal Cherry wood handle with Pakkawood ferrule.

BLADE LENGTH: 170mm.

MAKER: Yoshimi Kato - Takefu, Echizen, Japan

BEST FOR: A solid santoku choice with great blade and handle styling.