Inside the VERMICULAR Kitchen Knife — Where Japanese Craftsmanship Meets a New Idea of Sharpness

There is a tendency in modern kitchens to accumulate tools.

A chef's knife.

A slicing knife.

A vegetable knife.

A utility knife.

A drawer slowly fills with equipment, yet we often return to the same one or two tools every day.

Japanese cookware maker VERMICULAR approached the problem differently.

What if, instead of owning more knives, you simply owned one exceptionally good knife?

That idea becomes particularly interesting when you hear how professional chefs respond to VERMICULAR's new Kitchen Knife.

In a 2026 conversation with WAGYUMAFIA, owner-chef Hisato Hamada summarized his philosophy simply: at home, he would rather have one knife with exceptional cutting performance than a collection of different knives.

His conclusion was even simpler:

Sharpness matters.

But VERMICULAR's interpretation of sharpness goes far beyond making a sharper blade. 

Why Would VERMICULAR Make a Knife?

VERMICULAR is best known for cookware.

Its enameled cast-iron pots, Rice Pot, and Frying Pan were developed around a consistent idea: use engineering and Japanese manufacturing to help ingredients taste better.

So when VERMICULAR announced a kitchen knife, even WAGYUMAFIA co-founder Takafumi Horie had an obvious question:

Why a knife?

The answer goes back approximately seven years.

According to VERMICULAR, development began after a conversation with a leading chef about a longstanding compromise in kitchen knives.

Stainless-steel knives are relatively easy to maintain.

Traditional carbon-steel knives can offer exceptional cutting performance, but require more careful maintenance.

VERMICULAR began asking whether it could create something that captured desirable characteristics of both.

Rather than simply adapting an existing knife, the company began by searching for a new material.

The result became the VERMICULAR Kitchen Knife. 

Beyond Sharpness

VERMICULAR calls the concept behind the knife:

Beyond Sharpness

That's important because a knife can be extremely sharp and still provide a mediocre cooking experience.

What happens after the blade enters the ingredient?

Does food stick to it?

Does the blade crush delicate ingredients?

How much force is required?

How clean is the cut surface?

How does the knife balance in your hand?

And how difficult is it to maintain after cooking?

VERMICULAR's goal wasn't simply to win a sharpness test.

It wanted cutting itself to improve the ingredient.

The Wagyu Test

Few ingredients expose the limitations of a knife as clearly as highly marbled Japanese wagyu.

WAGYUMAFIA works extensively with large cuts of premium wagyu, so Hamada immediately noticed something unusual when testing the VERMICULAR Kitchen Knife.

Highly marbled meat can cling to a blade as it slices.

With the VERMICULAR knife, he found the blade released from the wagyu remarkably cleanly, allowing the meat to slice with much less resistance.

He compared the sensation to cutting vegetables. 

That matters for more than convenience.

A beautiful piece of wagyu should have a clean cross-section.

You don't want to saw through it.

You don't want to crush it.

And you don't want the surface pulling apart as the blade moves through the meat.

The knife should interfere as little as possible.

A Better Cut Can Mean Better Food

This is where the VERMICULAR philosophy becomes particularly interesting.

A knife isn't simply a preparation tool.

The way an ingredient is cut can affect the way it cooks and the way it feels when you eat it.

VERMICULAR has explored this idea with several leading Japanese chefs.

Chef Fumio Yone? No—more broadly, its chef testing emphasizes that a cleaner cut can reduce unnecessary damage to ingredients. Chef Fumio Namae of L'Effervescence, for example, described how a properly sharpened knife can improve both preparation efficiency and the texture of vegetables. 

Tempura chef Takeo Shimura similarly emphasized the importance of the cut surface: vegetables cut cleanly retain moisture differently during frying than ingredients damaged or crushed during preparation. 

The principle is remarkably simple:

The less damage you do to the ingredient before cooking, the more of its original character you can preserve.

That is a very Japanese way of thinking about cooking.

Don't overpower the ingredient.

Reveal it.

The Handle Is Cast Iron — And That's Not an Accident

Perhaps the most surprising part of the VERMICULAR Kitchen Knife isn't the blade.

It's the handle.

VERMICULAR uses an enameled cast-iron handle, connecting the knife directly to the manufacturing technology behind its cookware. 

At first, cast iron might sound like an unusual material for a knife handle.

But there is logic behind it.

The enamel surface helps create a hygienic, easy-care handle, while its carefully controlled weight influences the balance of the knife.

Chef Fumio Namae specifically noted that the handle's moderate weight helps move the blade naturally through ingredients without requiring excessive force. 

This is an excellent example of Japanese product design.

Instead of making the knife as light as possible, VERMICULAR asks:

Where should the weight be?

The objective isn't a specification.

It's the experience in your hand.

Japanese Craftsmanship Doesn't Have to Look Traditional

When people hear the words Japanese knife, they often imagine a traditional blacksmith.

Hammered steel.

Wooden handles.

A workshop that has existed for generations.

That tradition remains enormously important.

But VERMICULAR represents another side of Japanese craftsmanship.

Modern monozukuri.

Materials engineering.

Precision manufacturing.

Testing.

Cast iron.

Enamel technology.

Contemporary industrial design.

The result doesn't imitate a traditional Japanese knife.

Instead, it applies the Japanese obsession with refinement to a modern kitchen problem.

That is why VERMICULAR is particularly interesting to us.

Japanese craftsmanship doesn't need to remain unchanged to remain Japanese.

One Great Tool Instead of Many

One of the strongest ideas from the WAGYUMAFIA conversation had surprisingly little to do with knife technology.

Hamada explained that he cooks three meals a day at home.

His philosophy isn't to make home cooking unnecessarily complicated.

If making curry requires buying an enormous collection of spices and specialized equipment every time, cooking becomes harder to sustain.

Instead, he argues for investing in the tools you use constantly.

Better tools make better everyday cooking easier. 

This connects perfectly with another Japanese idea we frequently explore at Sakura Select:

Own fewer things. Choose better things.

You don't necessarily need six mediocre knives.

You may be happier with one excellent knife you reach for every day.

It's the same philosophy behind a carefully chosen Japanese cast-iron pot.

A titanium tumbler.

A beautifully engineered coffee dripper.

Or a piece of outdoor equipment designed to accompany you for years.

Minimalism isn't simply about owning less.

It's about making every object earn its place.

From Cast-Iron Pots to the Cutting Board

VERMICULAR's expansion into knives makes more sense when viewed through this philosophy.

The company isn't really a "pot company."

It is interested in what happens to ingredients.

Its cast-iron cookware controls heat and moisture.

Its Frying Pan focuses on evaporation and searing.

Its Rice Pot seeks repeatable control over one of the most fundamental foods in Japanese cuisine.

And now its Kitchen Knife moves one step earlier in the cooking process:

the moment the ingredient is first cut.

Seen this way, the knife isn't a departure from VERMICULAR.

It's an extension of the same idea.

Why an >¥35000 Kitchen Knife?

At >¥35000 in Japan, the VERMICULAR Kitchen Knife is clearly positioned as a premium product. 

You can buy a perfectly usable kitchen knife for much less.

So the question isn't:

Can a cheaper knife cut food?

Of course it can.

The better question is:

How much value do you place on the tool you use almost every time you cook?

For someone who rarely cooks, the difference may not justify the investment.

But for someone who prepares vegetables, meat, and fish every day, a knife is arguably one of the most frequently used tools in the entire home.

A better knife doesn't sit in a cabinet waiting for a special occasion.

You experience it with every onion.

Every tomato.

Every steak.

Every dinner.

That makes the economics of a premium knife different from many luxury objects.

Made in Japan Is Evolving

The VERMICULAR Kitchen Knife also represents something larger about Japanese manufacturing.

Made in Japan is not only about preserving old techniques.

Some of Japan's most interesting manufacturers are combining inherited production knowledge with new materials and engineering.

VERMICULAR itself emerged from Aichi Dobby, a Japanese casting manufacturer with roots dating back to 1936.

Its success came from refusing to treat cast iron as an old-fashioned material.

Instead, the company reconsidered what cast iron could do in a modern kitchen.

The Kitchen Knife follows the same logic.

Take an object that has existed for centuries.

Identify a compromise everyone has accepted.

Then ask:

Does it still have to be this way?

That question is at the heart of some of the best Japanese product design.

The Luxury of a Tool You Actually Use

Luxury in the kitchen doesn't have to mean rare ingredients or an enormous collection of equipment.

Sometimes luxury is much quieter.

A knife that falls naturally through an ingredient.

A clean slice of wagyu.

An onion cut without unnecessary crushing.

A tool that feels balanced every time you pick it up.

Something exceptionally well made that becomes part of an ordinary Tuesday dinner.

That may be the most compelling lesson behind VERMICULAR's Kitchen Knife.

You don't always need more tools.

Sometimes you simply need a better one.

Discover Modern Japanese Craftsmanship

At Sakura Select, this is the side of Japan we want to introduce to the world.

Not simply products stamped "Made in Japan."

But objects that explain why Japanese manufacturing still matters.

VERMICULAR's Kitchen Knife combines materials engineering, cast-iron expertise, chef feedback, and Japanese manufacturing philosophy to rethink one of the oldest tools in the kitchen.

It belongs to the same story as the titanium craftsmen of Niigata, the metalworkers of Tsubame-Sanjo, and generations of Japanese makers who continue to ask how everyday objects can be made just a little better.

Because Japanese craftsmanship isn't only about tradition.

It's about refusing to stop improving.