The thought of blacksmiths conjures the loud heavy thumping of a spring hammer, burning embers, and a face full of soot. Yu Kurosaki is part of all that background magic, but dares break the mold. With his blond streaks, one look and you know his uniqueness from his good taste in clothing, also lends itself to his knives. He's young, he's bold, and he's not afraid to express himself.

As a member of the Takefu Knife Village crew of smiths, his work is easily recognizable from the rest, typically due to his very unique and aggressive tsuchime patterns.

Kurosaki's Senko series is distinguishable from his other series by the simple fact that the hammered (tsuchime) pattern is composed of what looks like little 'x's or stars. In fact Senko translates to ""flash"", so you can see how those shapes are similar. No matter how you interpret it, that hammered pattern is just the icing on the cake.

The filling, the core steel of the Senko series is the very popular high-speed powder stainless steel SG2, also sometimes referred to as R2. With a core steel of SG2, this knife is not only guaranteed a long lasting edge, but is easy to care for with both stainless core and cladding.

Think of a bunka, like a flatter bellied santoku with a k-tip (reverse tanto). Typically available in all the same sizes as a santoku, the main difference comes from the pointed tip which is useful for precision cuts like scouring an onion or garlic and the flatter belly which suits push/pull cutting over rock chopping.

• 2mm spine
• 46mm heel
• 129 grams