u/Guilty_County5377

I made an NKD post on the other forum about a month ago, because I was so happy to finally have a Toyama in my collection, but in all honesty, it is difficult for me to rectify having a knife at this price point.

I acted a bit recklessly and bought the knife on impulse. I am a student, and I have to come to terms with the fact that there are other things that my money would be better spent on.

I am therefore letting this beautiful Toyama Noborikoi 210mm Migaki Gyuto go. This one is the “luxury” version with an ebony & blonde horn handle and chamfered spine & choil.

It’s been used 2 times, and therefore formed a very slight patina, but never sharpened and still cuts trough paper towel like nothing. Basically brand new. Comes with with box and JNS paper and sticker.

Specifications:

Handle Length- 145mm
Handle Width- 25mm
Hell to Tip Length- 210mm
Blade Height at Heel- 50mm
Width of Spine at Handle- 4,6mm
Width of Spine Above Heel- 3,2mm
Width of Spine at Middle- 2mm
Width of Spine 1cm from the tip- 1,3mm
Weight- 221g

Bought at JNS for 750€, but I know that wont get that for it, so I am taking a substantial loss and pricing it at 600€ + plus shipping.

EU prefered, but message me for international.

Wow. Where to start?

This knife has been a grail of mine ever since I got into Japanese knives. When I first heard about it, it also got me introduced to JNS, and that fueled the passion even deeper.

Today I can call myself the owner of a Toyama forged knife, after a couple of years of collecting and trying out a bunch of different blacksmiths and sharpeners.

First thoughts:

It’s heavy! - coming in at 221g, it’s the heaviest 210mm I own. This might be contributed by the ebony handle, but it still has a quite front heavy feel to it.

With the rounded spine and choil, it’s a pleasure to hold, and the narrow machi makes it feel slimmer than it is, coupled with the 4,6mm spine, it is very comfortable in hand. On top of that, the migaki polish and the perfect minimalist kanji, really does it for me in terms of looks.

Looking down the spine, there is not much distal taper going on unfortunately. I already knew this before buying, and it might be my only caveat with this knife..

The profile is not as chunky or “bunka - like”, as I thought it would be, which is definitely a plus, as I tend to prefer a more triangular Sakai profile.

And of course i had to do a few test cuts to see what all the fuss is about. And WOW, what an amazing feeling going trough produce. The knife came paper towel cutting sharp, and just falls through ingredients. The weight has a tremendous impact on its cutting ability especially on potatoes, onions and red bell pepper - the only produce I have chopped up so far.

A full review will come some time later when I’ve had the chance to use it fully and gathered my thoughts.

Cheers