Japanese Knife Sharpening Tutorial Videos

4-part Japanese Knife Sharpening Tutorial

I have been receiving requests to create how-to videos on Japanese knife sharpening. Previously, I would explain that there are already many online videos that cover this topic and therefore it was not necessary. Yet I became increasingly aware of the fact that there are actually very few knife sharpening tutorial videos which I felt comfortable fully recommending. Some of the best content is published by my sharpening teacher Jon Broida of Japanese Knife Imports, who has many excellent videos on his youtube channel. I encourage everyone to check them out. You can also learn more about Jon by reading my blog post about him.

Interview: Jon Broida of Japanese Knife Imports answers my 6 questions
https://www.eienhunterishikawa.com/blog/interview-jon-broida-knives

Japanese Knife Imports Sharpening Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEBF55079F53216AB

Japanese knives and sharpening stones

My 4-part tutorial covers every sharpening step from beginning to end - first on a cheap-junky knife and later on my high-quality gyuto. With just a few supplies, anyone should be able to get similar results by following my instructions and demonstrations. This method works for double-bevel Japanese and western knives, both stainless steel and carbon steel. Traditional single-bevel knives such as yanagiba and deba will require a different technique, and serrated bread knives and ceramic knives cannot be sharpened on whetstones. Practicing is important. Once your own knives are done, it’s a good idea to ask friends and family if they would like their knives sharpened. Many people worry about ruining their nice knives as they learn to sharpen, but if you start with good technique and mindfulness, it’s highly unlikely that any harm will be done. Thrift stores are also an option as they usually stock many cheap and dull knives (please be careful digging through bins of naked knives).

It is worth noting that this kind of video resource is just a starting point for learning about Japanese sharpening fundamentals. In order to establish good technique and understanding of concepts, we need to seek feedback from a good teacher and then incorporate those insights into our practice. Anyone who has taken my sharpening workshops will likely agree that our one-on-one interaction and Q&A as well as handing the knife back and forth for inspection is a crucial part of the learning process. I am available for private lessons and workshops - both online and in person - so please send me an email if you are interested in scheduling a session. Feel free to ask any questions or submit requests for future videos.

I have also made videos about Japanese knife types and sharpening supplies, which are included at the bottom of this page. If you are interested in supporting this kind of content, you can donate any amount using the button below. Thank you.

Donate to support my videos

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Japanese Knives and How to Choose One https://youtu.be/oGohHtSOcjY Japanese Knife Sharpening Supplies https://youtu.be/hL8Nu5cXzjU Leave questions or comment...

How to Sharpen Japanese Knives - Part 1 https://youtu.be/LG8RCqTjP30 Japanese Knives and How to Choose One https://youtu.be/oGohHtSOcjY Japanese Knife Sharpe...

How to Sharpen Japanese Knives - Part 1 https://youtu.be/LG8RCqTjP30 How to Sharpen Japanese Knives - Part 2 https://youtu.be/F_Hfz9fvXwk Japanese Knives and...

How to Sharpen Japanese Knives - Part 1 https://youtu.be/LG8RCqTjP30 How to Sharpen Japanese Knives - Part 2 https://youtu.be/F_Hfz9fvXwk How to Sharpen Japa...

Find more information about knives on my blog: https://www.eienhunterishikawa.com/blog/interview-jon-broida-knives

More information on my blog about knives and sharpening: https://www.eienhunterishikawa.com/blog/interview-jon-broida-knives

A Discussion with Isaku Kageyama about Home Studio Recording Gear

Last week I had a great time talking with Isaku Kageyama about recording gear for home studios. Isaku has a lot of experience as a performing musician, instructor, composer, and producer. He is one of my go-to resources for information about recording music. You can learn more about his interesting background by checking out the interview we recorded previously.

Interview: Isaku Kageyama talks taiko, music school, and teaching

This conversation covers the basic needs for starting out with home recording. I am grateful for Isaku’s willingness to spend time answering my questions and providing very valuable advice based on his years of experience in the music industry. This is how we normally talk while hanging out and exchanging ideas about our work and life. Whether you are a complete beginner or have some experience with modern recording gear and methods, I think there is a lot of valuable information offered here.

I have separated the conversation into six broad topics. The audio files below are downloadable. We are planning a part 2 of this topic where we talk more in-depth about recording. If you have any questions or topics for us to address in a future discussion, please let us know.

Send a question or topic for Part 2

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1. Audio Interface

2. Microphones

3. Headphones & Monitor Speakers

4. Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)

5. Accessories

6. Used Gear, Mic Placement, & Bachi Selection

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Isaku Kageyama is an eclectic music composer and producer. His music has been broadcast in countries such as the United States, UK, Italy, South Korea, and Norway. Isaku is the co-founder of Los Angeles-based music production company Audio Music Productions. His knowledge of composition, production, and Japanese music have led to a resume that includes brands such as BET, VH1, NBC, Microsoft, and the world’s largest taiko manufacturer Asano Taiko. In 2015, Isaku was commissioned by Asano Taiko US to compose a piece for the professional taiko ensemble UnitOne. The composition premiered at North American Taiko Conference, the largest taiko event in the US. As a producer, Isaku’s resume includes projects such as Microsoft video game Phoenix Force, O2O Theatre in Greece, and Kuma Outdoor Gear in Japan. He is currently the rehearsal director of Bataré, a production that combines taiko with progressive metal. He holds a holds a degree in Contemporary Writing and Production with a minor in Writing for TV and New Media from Berklee College of Music, as well as a Master of Arts from Longy School of Music of Bard College.

Isaku’s website
http://isakukageyama.com

Isaku’s youtube
https://www.youtube.com/c/IsakuKageyama/featured

Playing with Vinegar: Making, Infusing, and Recipe Ideas

Lavender vinegar

I have been having fun experimenting with vinegar over the past several weeks. As a home fermenter of beer, cider, mead, wine, and sake, acetobacter (acetic acid bacteria that makes vinegar) is something I’m careful not to expose to these yeast fermentations. In the presence of oxygen, this hardy bacteria converts ethanol into acetic acid, which has its own distinct characteristics different than acids found in yogurt (lactic), lemon (citric), and green apples (malic), and wine (tartric, citric, malic). It’s an interesting exercise to search for words that accurately describe the differences between these acids as they are usually broadly categorized as sour, or tart. Even at low concentrations, vinegar’s acidity is often felt at the back of the throat and reminds me of how highly carbonated drinks can feel prickly as you swallow. It can be made from a variety of base ingredients and is included in a huge range of condiments we use everyday including pickles, mayonnaise, vinaigrette, ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, chutney, barbecue sauce, relish, and so on. Vinegar has the great ability to lift and brighten any food by balancing fat, richness, sweetness, or blandness with acidity. Below are some ways I have been playing with vinegar.

Making Vinegar
I had the opportunity to watch a live online vinegar-making presentation by Pascal Baudar where he demonstrated his simple process. Behind him was an impressively packed shelf which held bottles of vinegars and other colorful things he was making, and I felt inspired to try creating my own. The typical advice is to start with a beer or wine and make sure the ABV (alcohol by volume) is in the 4% - 8% range. Most beer is fine as is, but wine and sake will need to be diluted down by adding water. I had some unpasteurized apple cider vinegar in the pantry so I added about 20% raw vinegar to 80% homemade hard cider (around 6% ABV) in a mason jar and covered with a layer of paper towel secured with a rubber band. After three weeks at room temperature, the vinegar tasted great and I bottled it. That vinegar developed a pellicle, or mother, so I cut it in half and started other vinegars with it. Currently I have a porter vinegar, ESB vinegar, and rose wine vinegar fermenting in the kitchen. Because the paper lid is breathable, there is a vinegar aroma that is noticeable during fermentation. I don’t mind it, but others might want to find a spot away from daily activity.

Making vinegar with homemade porter and store bought rose wine

Great mother on my porter vinegar

Very mild and versatile vinegar for infusing

Infusing Vinegar
I recently bought a great book called Vinegar Revival by Harry Rosenblum. There is a lot of useful information in it, especially the section on infused vinegars. I already had a gallon of rice vinegar at home so it was as simple as adding ingredients to some vinegar and letting it steep for different lengths of time. The dashi vinegar was particularly eye opening.

2 cups vinegar
1 oz shredded konbu
1/2 cup packed katsuobushi

Simmer the vinegar and konbu for 3 minutes, remove from heat, add katsuobushi and let stand for 2 minutes. Strain and bottle.

This vinegar was unexpectedly delicious and I have found many uses for it. Some other infusions I have made are rhubarb and strawberry, lavender, and earl grey tea. They all have slightly different methods and they result in very aromatic and interesting vinegars. I ordered a 12 pack of clear 12 oz bottles online and they are exactly the right size for my one-pint experiments.

Strawberry Rhubarb, Cider, Dashi, and Earl Grey vinegars

Very aromatic lavender vinegar

Vinegar infused with strawberry and rhubarb

Vinegar Revival book

Strawberry-rhubarb shrub

Shrub and Drinking Vinegar
One of the easiest and tastiest ways to enjoy a variety of vibrant vinegars is to make a quick soda. I have settled on a 1 - 1 ratio of vinegar with honey or agave nectar. It helps to whisk them together before adding soda water because these ingredients don’t automatically combine. It’s worth experimenting with the ratios and other flavors to find your preferred versions.

1 1/2 tablespoon strawberry-rhubarb vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon honey (or agave nectar)
1 can chilled soda water (12 oz)

Whisk together vinegar and honey in a bowl and pour into a pint glass. Add some soda water and mix, and then add the rest. Add a 2 - 3 ice cubes. Garnish optional.

Many people have heard that drinking vinegar is good for our health, and that’s great, but this drink is actually very refreshing and satisfying. The key is to use some interesting vinegar because the flavor carries through very well after mixing. It would be interesting to try some other types of honey too. Earl grey and buckwheat honey sounds like a good shrub for autumn after an afternoon of raking leaves and such, paired with apple or pumpkin pie.

Finally, one use of vinegar left me underwhelmed - su natto (vinegar natto). This is a recent health fad in Japan where it's said to benefit people on a diet. I tried it for the first time by mixing 50g natto with 1 tsp rice vinegar and a bit of shoyu. This was more than enough vinegar for my taste although many online Japanese recipes call for more. I can't say I'm a fan of this combo because the acidity covers up the desirable natto flavors of nutty richness and dark chocolate. The vinegar converts the nebaneba stringiness into foam, which looks interesting but definitely weakens the stickiness. If you try it, let me know if you liked it.

Vinegar natto

Interview: Masayoshi Ishikawa talks Mujo Suite, Fukushima, and blending taiko with jazz

Composer and pianist Masayoshi Ishikawa

Last summer Masa contacted me about the possibility of collaborating on a performance of his composition for taiko and 18-piece jazz orchestra. I quickly said yes because it sounded like an intriguing and unusual project with an underlining special significance. Originally from Fukushima Prefecture, Masa wrote Mujo Suite to commemorate the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster of northeastern Japan. After a half year of planning, we performed Mujo Suite at the University of Iowa on February 22. I also conducted lectures and workshops for a variety of classes during my residency, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Iowa City. I am very grateful to Masa and everyone involved in this project for the warm welcome and wonderful hospitality provided. Thank you also to Soten Taiko for kindly providing the taiko for this residency - it was immensely helpful. The photos and concert video are included at the bottom of this page.

I had a great time talking with Masa for this interview. We covered a lot of topics including the details about Mujo Suite, his background in Japan and the US, composing for Japanese instruments, my University of Iowa residency, his recent visit to Fukushima, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Eitetsu Hayashi, his teaching philosophy, and much more. Masa writes beautiful music and is a fantastic jazz pianist, and he speaks with much thoughtfulness, humility, and gratitude. The interview also features several samples from his album Dialogue which is linked below along with his facebook page.

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Originally from Fukushima Japan, Masayoshi Ishikawa grew up in a city called Aizu Wakamatsu. Throughout his primary and secondary school years, Masa actively participated in several choirs. He came to the United States in 2003 to begin his formal musical training in Seattle Washington, where he first found his passion for piano and the art of jazz.
As a pianist, Masa has performed at many jazz festivals and concerts in Italy, China, Japan and the United States. He was chosen to perform as one of the five finalists for 2016 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. Masa enjoys interacting and cultivating meaningful relationships with listeners and other musicians through performing music.
Masa is also passionate about crafting music with various instrumentations. His composition, Hotaru (firefly), was selected as the winner of 2014 Downbeat Student Music Awards in Graduate Original Composition for Small Ensemble. In 2019, Masa released his first jazz studio album titled Dialogue, which consists of ten original compositions written for vibraphone, piano/keyboards, acoustic bass/electric bass and drums. Several of his compositions have been published from UNC Jazz Press.

In addition to his latest project (Mujo Suite) with Eien Hunter-Ishikawa, Masa wrote and premiered another jazz orchestra multi-movement work titled Suite for the Forgotten in 2015. The suite is dedicated to people who are currently living in Fukushima under the uncertain health impact to the radiation exposure from The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants meltdown in 2011. In this composition, Masa employed a string quartet as well as French horn into the traditional jazz big band instrumentation.

As a sincere respect to Stevie Wonder, one of his musical heroes, Masa presented Stevie Wonder Recomposition Project in 2013. In this project, he selected multiple Wonder compositions to recompose for chamber jazz ensembles with various instrumentations.

He holds two Master of Music Degrees-one in jazz composition from the University of South Florida and one in jazz piano performance from the University of Northern Colorado. He received Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2015. In 2016-19, Masa served as a Visiting part-time Assistant Professor of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. Currently he serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Iowa.

Masa’s Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/MasaIshikawaMusic/

Dialogue
https://music.apple.com/us/album/dialogue/1467830569

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University of Iowa Residency Photos and Mujo Suite Video

Mujo Suite - Three Movements for Jazz Orchestra, Taiko Drums and Shinobue I. Foreword/Finale (0:00 - 16:26) II. Prayer (16:26 - 25:47) III. Prologue (25:47 -...

Mujo Suite I. Finale

Mujo Suite III. Prologue

Rehearsal with the Mujo Suite band

Jamming with Giauna during the jazz seminar class

Teaching Edo Bayashi rhythms to the percussion seminar class

Practicing taiko patterns in the music therapy class

Lecture on the history and evolution of taiko for the world music class

Photo with Masa after the concert

Poster for the Mujo Suite performance

A Simple Recipe for Cauliflower Vinegar Pickles

Vinegar-pickled cauliflower, carrot, and celery

Vinegar-pickled vegetables are easy to make and I always have some in my fridge along with jars of fermented vegetables. In contrast to fermented pickles where the acidity is produced by lactobacillus fermentation, vinegar pickles - often called ‘quick pickles’ - are made simply by covering the vegetables with a vinegar brine and stored in the fridge. There are many recipe variations out there but it’s good to start with one recipe as a baseline and adjust the ingredient ratios to please your own taste. Here I decided to use cauliflower because I recently tasted a good version at Aloha Beer Co in Honolulu (I usually make vinegar pickles with red onions or cucumbers). Tart pickles make a great accompaniment to any foods that will benefit from a sharp counterpoint. There are many classic examples of such pairings out there: capers on pizza, dill pickles on burgers, sauerkraut on hot dogs, pickled daikon on bahn mi, rice and egg with kimchi. Condiments like ketchup, mustard, relish, yogurt, lemon juice, and hot sauce all serve the same purpose of accenting and complementing the main elements.

Pickled red onion

This basic method calls you to heat the brine ingredients (vinegar, water, salt, sugar, spices) until everything is dissolved. The vinegar-water ratio is flexible depending on the preferred acidity. I usually make a 1-1 brine with rice vinegar, but here I made it slightly less tart because of the relatively subtle flavor of cauliflower. Other vinegars like apple cider or distilled can be used as long as you are aware of the varying acidity levels found in different vinegars. The salt and sugar amounts will also make a difference so you can change the amounts depending on how sweet and salty you like these pickles. The seasonings are completely interchangeable. I almost always try a different blend of spices each time, and it always tastes good. These pickles involve very little time and monetary investment so it’s easy to experiment with any ideas you come up with. One optional step is to blanch the vegetable before adding the brine. I usually don’t precook the vegetables but several recipe sources for cauliflower pickles instructed a quick blanch. Instead of doing this separately, I decided to toss it in the pan with the brine and let simmer for 1 minute. I’m not sure if this step was necessary - you can decide for yourself if you think it’s worth doing. You can eat this pickle immediately, or place it in the fridge after cooling where it will keep for many months without a problem. This recipe fits a 1 quart Mason jar easily.

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Cauliflower Vinegar Pickle
250g cauliflower florets (about 1/2 of a large head)
1 carrot, in sticks
1 stalk celery, in sticks
1 cup water
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 garlic cloves
1 dried cayenne
bay leaf
black pepper
coriander seed

All ingredients prepped

Vinegar, water, salt, sugar, spices - simmer and stir until dissolved

Add cauliflower, carrot, celery - cover and simmer 1 minute

Pack everything into a 1 quart Mason or Ball jar, let cool, cover, and refrigerate

All dry ingredients on a board