A Japanese Survival Knife

BrianB said:
Oops, didn't mean to start a war here, guys, just post something a little different.

I agree with the above poster who stated the design didn't look too sturdy. Not something I'd be interested in, personally, but thought it'd be cool to share.
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I also did not intend to start a war also .....

All I wanted to say is his reviews are not really suitable for woods usage.
Just a very specific use for very specific hunting
 
BrianB said:
Oops, didn't mean to start a war here, guys, just post something a little different.

I agree with the above poster who stated the design didn't look too sturdy. Not something I'd be interested in, personally, but thought it'd be cool to share.
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Hi,

Hey, you didn't start the war, don't sweat it.

While a little "toothy" for my tastes, and the mixed media handle is a little, I don't know, funky, the knife has it's appeal to some.

It does appear to be well made, and the leather looks decent.

A lot of classic cutlery comes from Japan, as well as a few oddities.... it is different.
 
338375 said:
Seriously ? A true hunter takes only what he can eat, and doesn't just pick the prime cuts. I know there are probably some that do, but it is wasteful, and it is a crime.
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depends on the locality and the situation. Virtuovice is allowed by law to hunt a substantial number of dear in his locality in japan because the hunting program is meant to keep the deer population in check. Leaving 90% of the carcass in the woods isn't inherently wasteful, except in the destruction of built complexity, because the carcass will be used by local wolves, scavangers, and eventually plant life.

Thats not to say that it should be done by everyone, I just mean to point out that there are situations where it's both 'not a crime' and not the worst natural order to take place. Deer wreak havoc on local biodiversity, cutting plant variety down to a minimum of inedible varieties, both killing the deer and allowing them to multiply beyond the local area's capacity is destructive. It's more a pick your poison situation than black and white moral scenario.

I've always loved the look of japanese knives in that style. Gorgeous. I've never owned or felt the desire to put money into one, but visually they are awesome.
 
videl said:
They'll travel half way across the world to kill whales, yet won't eat a delicious venision steak from their own back yard, weird.
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I know what you mean. This cultural obsession with fish and fish byproducts is completely baffling to me. I suppose is no different from America's obsession sugar.
 
Last Visible Canary said:
depends on the locality and the situation. Virtuovice is allowed by law to hunt a substantial number of dear in his locality in japan because the hunting program is meant to keep the deer population in check. Leaving 90% of the carcass in the woods isn't inherently wasteful, except in the destruction of built complexity, because the carcass will be used by local wolves, scavangers, and eventually plant life.

Thats not to say that it should be done by everyone, I just mean to point out that there are situations where it's both 'not a crime' and not the worst natural order to take place. Deer wreak havoc on local biodiversity, cutting plant variety down to a minimum of inedible varieties, both killing the deer and allowing them to multiply beyond the local area's capacity is destructive. It's more a pick your poison situation than black and white moral scenario.

I've always loved the look of japanese knives in that style. Gorgeous. I've never owned or felt the desire to put money into one, but visually they are awesome.
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I don't know what predators are left in Japan but their wolves are extinct. There are a lot of people on those islands so I'm sure a way could be found to use 90% of the meat. As for mountain hunters doing the same in this country, in our state the game department is known to post an agent at the main trail heads and weight what you are bringing out. Too light and they fine you for game wastage.
Murray Carter told me about turning the deer he shot in Japan into raw venison sushi and that everyone loved it.
 
Sidehill Gouger said:
I don't know what predators are left in Japan but their wolves are extinct. There are a lot of people on those islands so I'm sure a way could be found to use 90% of the meat. As for mountain hunters doing the same in this country, in our state the game department is known to post an agent at the main trail heads and weight what you are bringing out. Too light and they fine you for game wastage.
Murray Carter told me about turning the deer he shot in Japan into raw venison sushi and that everyone loved it.
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I hear what you are saying, but think about the specifics here. That island is overrun with deer (think of them as feral hogs if you will) and the island has only a few hunters.
Also, they do have a bag limit. 50 deer per hunter. IIRC.
They have to kill the deer., or the deer will die of starvation, and the ecosystem will suffer on said island.
I personally was raised a different way, in terms of hunting..I will always think of a deer as a total weight of meat, not just steaks. But, my state isn't in a situation like this. Also, I wonder how he could transport 50 deer on one snowmobile with a trailer attached.
I guess folks could follow behind, and collect the rest of the deer...that would make some sense.
 
I took offence to the nationality disparaging.... ww2 was a long time ago. I dated a japanese girl for 4 years.

Took 5.5 yrs of shotokan karate with a Japanese sensei( her uncle) that was a man to be respected and honoured, 125 pounds of lightning steel with a heart of gold.

There has been a large population of Japanese here in BC since the late 1800's and they taught the cut plug herring fishing for salmon to the local's. Did you know the term "moocher" was given by Japanese fisherman to North American fisherman because at the docks the locals would beg (mooch) for the cut plug herring bait left over that they could not cut properly to catch fish on their own.
That whole style of fishing is theirs centuries before we were taught.

I like the virtuovice, the man knows how to wield a blade around a carcass, he can butcher ( I should know) and is doing his island (and deer)a favour with his culling the overpopulation. With an abundance of the best cuts legally why would he fill his freezer with anything else?
I like his style of delivery and wry humour as well.

Was trained by Two older Japanese and Chinese gentlemen at the slaughterhouse by my fathers(foreman) request who had 30 years of meat cutting experience.

My first school summer holiday I worked there He said "look at the line Bradley, you see 220lb "white" guys and 140lb asian guys doing the same jobs, do you want to work smart or hard??" I was 15, 5"6 and 110lbs at the time.
and the rate of self inflicted injuries, tendonitus, back injuries and calling in sick etc was far less than asian guys by a ratio of like 4 to 1!

A personal observation from 12 years of working in the industry and I never once put a single stitch or had a muscular/skeletal repetition injury due to my old man's foresight. The martial art approach to any physical job reaps benefits with fluidity, flow and using your whole body, not just your back and shoulders.

Knives and brotherhood should be paramount around here versus bigotry and narrowmindedness.

Regards
 
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I like that style of knife. It is a traditional Japanese style. The tangs are shortish, but not too short, & usually broad & not flimsy. The handle is solid oak, & not flimsy. They are not prybars, but are as tough as any knife needs to be.
I also like the the Japanese laminated steels.

Japan has a natural shortage of iron, & I wonder if this style of tang/knife construction is a result.
 
baldtaco-II said:
Don't be disheartened amigo, sometimes threads just veer off into the weeds. As far as the knife goes it isn't my thing either but I don't think there is anything fundamentally flimsy about it.
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Probably a poor choice of words on my part, as I just had surgery and was juiced up on pain killers when I typed that.

What I meant was not so much something you'd want to subject to some of the stress tests you see done to survival knives. Keeping it to knife tasks, it's probably fine. As an earlier poster stated, the video title is a bit misleading as to the intended use of the knife.
 
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Liked the review and thought the knife was interesting. The thought of a wooden sheath kind of bothers me. Besides swelling and shrinking with the level of moisture in the air I'd think the blade would rust more easily especially if the sheath actually got wet. Anyway, thanks for posting it.
 
videl said:
They'll travel half way across the world to kill whales, yet won't eat a delicious venision steak from their own back yard, weird.
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In the words of a Japanese man I spoke to once "In Asia, if it comes from the sea the question is not IF it can be eaten, but HOW." :D:D:D Their traditional cuisine is mostly based around seafood, and their palate is therefore calibrated to prefer it over other cuisine--especially when rare or premium forms of sea food are idolized in the culture. So venison probably just has little appeal because of the way it doesn't fit neatly into their mainstream culinary environment.
 
Doctorbowie said:
I imagine they think the same about our distain of "rough" fish like carp.
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Carp is an eastern European Jewish delicacy
It is ground and made into bolied or fried fish balls called Gefilte Fish
Where the major argument is if to cook it with sugar or salt

So it all dependant on the culture
 
This is a short type of Ken-Nata (剣鉈), not a survival knife.
Long type is genuine, used as a hog sticker and sometimes have a much longer handle.

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Some other example to enjoy - Yasuyoshi Ikemura (池村泰欣) from Yaeyama island
Here's more pics of his works but direct order would be 70% cheaper

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Not only Virtuovice in Japan! - skinning and butchering process

[video=youtube;-9KNFwxgLVM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9KNFwxgLVM[/video]
 
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Halberdier said:
About this reviewer, Wako is his name. He lives in a northern island in Japan where the local deer population is large and disproportional to the local resources. In other words, they are pests over there. Hunting season is long and there is no bag limit. The few hunters that participate are encouraged to kill as many deer as they can. Based on the local circumstances, his hunting practices are perfectly ethical.
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I saw where he said that in the comment section on one of his videos.

I enjoy his videos. Much more enjoyable than watching someone batton another knife through a piece of wood.
 
From personal experince with almost anything actually made in Japan you do not need to concern yourself with quality, if you do you are 100 years behind the times. Want an example, buy a toyota. It will likely run longer than you do. Now days though US, British, German and Japanese companies shut down production in their 'home' country and thanks to 'free trade' open back up in third world countries and even though it may be an 'American' company, the product is actually made in say, Indonesia. The quality control is not the same, American, Japanese and British workers do not benifit from the manufacture of these products and only the CEO makes a profit. Great system. As for actual knives I have used knives made in Japan while living there and if there is one thing that Japan has excelled at through the ages it is the science of the blade. It will be a great knife, oak sheath and all.
 
I work for a company that manufactures 'offshore'

The QC is as exacting there as in here, where ever 'here' happens to be.
 
In one of his videos I think he mentioned how a lot people die every year due to road accidents with deers on the mountain. They can't kill them fast enough. Btw I don't know what the limit is but I think Wako has downed more.than fifty.
 
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