japanese tactical knives - why so little coverage here?

Josh Muller

Josh Muller

Joined
Jun 22, 2003
Messages
3,049
alright... so im looking through trying to find something, ANYTHING on tomoyuki nemoto and im coming up with essentially nothing. but, in my search, i've come across a few pages of knives i've never seen or heard of, ever. specifically kiku knives

http://h069124.sharesite.com/kiku/right_fullcontact06.html

some of these knives (nemoto and kiku specifically) rival anso in their stylistic originality, and airkat for their tactical innovation (though airkat often seems to have the "innovations" for the sake of having them rather then shear function). for me, they plain blow away any competition i've seen here, outside of the rare custom work that barely gets made more then once, more often then no being a one off.


so why have i not heard of them before? sure, if i looked at the japanese tactical market im sure i would have heard of them before, but is it simply because their in japan (and most of the references to them are in japanese) that they dont get seen/spoken a lot about on the forums?

is there a forum that references them often?

it's like a ray of sunlight seeing some of these designs, and i dont see why they dont get shown more around here

kiku
wkiku_7655.jpg

warren thomas
001wt_0002.jpg





the japanese feild knives on that website are stellar
 
hinoura?
hinoura_5482b.jpg

hino_002.jpg

1002_1hp015.jpg



i'm sure theres quite a few makers of japanese feild knives that are amazing, but really its the random tactical's i've seen that blow me away...
 
SethMurdoc said:
it's like a ray of sunlight seeing some of these designs, and i dont see why they dont get shown more around here
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They are expensive. They are specialized. They aren't heavily marketed here. The last point especially is the kiss of death. You have to get people's attention first, then get knives in their hands, before you can expect much discussion.

Edit: the first and third knives in your second post look like some of the Japanese knives A.G.Russell carries. I agree the design and apparent quality of materials and manufacture seem exceptional.

The Garrett Wade tool catalog carries a lot of Japanese knives and saws like your second picture. But this may not be a source that plays to much of the Bladeforums community.
 
Seth,

I have always thought the japanese forged hunting knives, machetes, and field knives looked like they were superb cutters. Where did you find the pics of the hinoura knives? I could only find them from the German store dick-gmbh, and they sell for some serious coinage.
 
i think maybe its because knifenuts are so weary about asian cutlery because so many knockoffs come from the other side of the world. this is not to say that ALL japanese/taiwanese/chinese/etc. knives are knockoffs, and i'm very certain lots of great designs come out of there, but asian knifemakers may lose some opportunities because of illegitimate designs produced in their country.

and this is not to say that american companies don't produce knockoffs either. cold steel and gerber messed that one up for us. but we have patent laws that make it a tad more difficult to get away with.


it's just a thought. it seems like lots of shady stuff comes from that website. i mean, you posted pics of a knife sitting atop a "magforce international" waistpouch. a ripoff of maxpedition designs?

www_7033.jpg




i could be wrong. i dunno.
 
or maybe, cause there is a majority of americans taking part in the "leading edge of knife discussion" and americans like buying american?
 
Midget said:
it's just a thought. it seems like lots of shady stuff comes from that website. i mean, you posted pics of a knife sitting atop a "magforce international" waistpouch. a ripoff of maxpedition designs?
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I think its just their another brand name for far east markets, not a rip off. Am I wrong?
 
well... brand name or not, if it's a copy of a maxpedition design and they havent given out consent to do so, it's a ripoff.

maxpedition stuff is made in taiwan, so theres a possibility that maybe they are affiliated companies or one is a parent company of the other or something.

sorry if this is hijacking the thread.
 
No, it's not hijacking the thread. It is a legitimate worry on people's part, that Asian companies aren't playing by our rules.

Having said that, I believe that if we are going to take this problem seriously, we have to learn which companies are legitimate themselves, like Kai Cutlery/Kershaw, even when they operate their own factories in China, or CRKT, originally importing all their products from Taiwan.

You can't tar all Asians with the same brush. They are as different from each other, as nations, as corporations, as individuals, as we are in the West.

(By the way, I think Magforce is a Maxpedition brand.)
 
Midget said:
well... brand name or not, if it's a copy of a maxpedition design and they havent given out consent to do so, it's a ripoff.

maxpedition stuff is made in taiwan, so theres a possibility that maybe they are affiliated companies or one is a parent company of the other or something.

sorry if this is hijacking the thread.
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Its a Maxpedition product, made cheaper in Asia and marketed under theMagforce name. I thought the same and emailed Maxpedition, they corrected me with the info above.

If anyone is interested in Trad or Tac Japanese stuff I might be able to dif some things out for you. They are usually very reasonable, especially the Trad camp stuff.
 
Several of those pictured look more like Gil Hibbon 'fantasy blades' rather than actual users.

I don't think we talk about them much because we really don't see them except in these rare cases.
 
Yep, Japanese stuffs are just so frigging expensive and I have to admit that those Jap makers' ideas of "tactical" knives are ugly and stupid. I also think they look more like fantasy knives instead of users.
 
I have seen some nice, useful designs from Nemoto as well as fantasy stuff. There is a fine line between "fantasy" and what actually works and I think Jens Ansø walks it better than anyone I've ever seen. TO get back on topic, I remember reading something around 1999, probably, when I was first getting really into knives and whatever it was (either in Blade or one of the annuals, probably) summed up the Japanese knife market at the time as being the factories for American companies like Spyderco, traditionl woodworking tools or swords/tantos and that sort of thing, or Loveless knockoffs. They made it sound like every Japanese knifemaker who wasn't doing swords was a Loveless clone. I want to see more of this new stuff. When you have so many great knifemakers here in the US it's hard to branch out and see what other countries have to offer, I think.
 
Given that the Japanese citienzry are largely forbidden from carrying knives bigger than a Spyderco Circket, all of these tactical knives are "fantasy" knives.
 
huh said:
Yep, Japanese stuffs are just so frigging expensive and I have to admit that those Jap makers' ideas of "tactical" knives are ugly and stupid. I also think they look more like fantasy knives instead of users.
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OK. . . :rolleyes: :mad:

Sweeping or blanket statements like these make me want to sit up and take notice. . . and even forget that I'm still a newbie whose going to step out of character!

Hey pal, I REALLY wish I knew how to post a pic but maybe you should click on the link below, under SPECIALTY TOOLS, 3rd picture down, below the 1911. =Gasp!= Yes! A STRIDER! Blasphemy? And let me tell you about the Tracker knife (you know, from The Hunted?). From what I heard or read, a LOT of survival/wilderness/outdoor instructors and guides basically :barf: at its design.

http://www.striderknives.com/html/main.html

FWIW, I'm not Japanese (although I do their martial arts and eat their kind of cuisine). "Expensive", too bad and "ugly", just personal preference but thinking that your ideas are the BEST and all others just prostrate down in homage, HUH?!?!?!?!?!?!

=sigh= aaaahhhh the Internet, you meet all kinds.
 
huh said:
Yep, Japanese stuffs are just so frigging expensive and I have to admit that those Jap makers' ideas of "tactical" knives are ugly and stupid. I also think they look more like fantasy knives instead of users.
Click to expand...
Strider:
tiger72.jpg

Japanese Tactical knife:
wkiku_7655.jpg

Personally I think the Strider looks less practical.

fantasy becomes "reality" when you use the knife. IMO, any knife you get and never use is kind of a "fantasy" knife. also, "fantasy" knives are not made for any reason but appearances, and therefore use the lowest grade steel and materials available.
This is a "Fantasy" Knife:
uc-gh2026.jpg
 
Agreed, I never understood the concept of the Strider Tiger. I do like strider designs sometimes, but that one goes completely over my head.



And Untamed, you need to relax man. We're talking about knives here. KNIVES. It's sharpened pieces of steel, ok? Some people like some stuff and others don't. I don't understand why people get so hotheaded over this kind of stuff.




I admit, I think some of the designs on that site look neat looking. None of them seem too great practically, but then again there's no practical difference between a graphic-sebenza and a regular sebenza, and that doesn't stop me from drooling over this,
computer001003.jpg

does it? Looks count.



and thanks everyone on the heads up about the maxpedition/maxforce issue.
 
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