[Indigo Bocho] Kurouchi Petty

• Type: Petty
• Steel: Aogami / Shirogami carbon steel (prone to rust)
• Blade length: 15cm
• Blade grind: Double bevel (right- or left-handed)
• Handle wood: Hiba (Japanese cypress)
• Handle finish: Indigo dyed with waterproof coating
• Weight: approx. 120g
• Made in: Japan (Osaka + Tokushima)

About the Petty

A small knife — the name simply means "small."

It began as a knife for fruit and for peeling vegetables. These days it is just as often used as a compact all-purpose knife.

Fruit, certainly, but meat, fish and vegetables as well.

Light and quick in the hand, it travels well for cooking outdoors, and it is an increasingly common choice as a child's first knife. It also suits anyone who finds a santoku a little too much knife.

About the steel

The traditional carbon steel of Japanese knives. No stainless is blended into it, in the interest of pure cutting performance, so you get the edge a Japanese blade was originally meant to have. The black oxide film that forms while the blade is being forged is deliberately left in place, and that is where the knife gets its look. (Output of this steel is very small, so depending on the batch the blade will be either aogami or shirogami. We are not able to let customers choose.)

About Indigo Bocho

Indigo dyeing has been part of everyday life in Japan for centuries, valued for the antibacterial and deodorizing qualities long attributed to it. The Indigo Bocho brings that craft to a kitchen knife, so that how a knife performs and how it looks are settled together. Each one joins Sakai bladesmithing, an Osaka tradition, to the indigo dyeing rooted in the history of Tokushima. Putting artisans from different regions and different disciplines on the same object is the whole point: each craft is worth more for standing next to the other. There is a wider aim as well — one product that supports several craft regions at once, and helps keep Japan's traditional skills in working use. We hope you enjoy what the two crafts make together.