Seki Knife Making Day Tour: Knife Making, Lunch & Blade Heritage

Go beyond a simple knife-sharpening or engraving workshop. Create your own full-size Damascus Japanese kitchen knife through polishing, hand-drawn blade design, etching, sharpening, and test cutting with guidance from a master craftsman with over 50 years of experience. Your handwritten name, message, symbol, or small artwork becomes part of the finished blade through the etching process. Your design is revealed together with the beautiful Damascus pattern. In Seki, one of Japan’s most historic Sword Town —you will complete your own Damascus kitchen knife, enjoy a local Japanese lunch, and discover the culture behind Japanese blades. Choose from Santoku, Gyuto, Nakiri, or Bunka, depending on availability. Each guest is guided step by step at their own pace, making the experience suitable even for beginners. At the end, test the sharpness of your finished knife on fresh vegetables and take home both your Damascus knife and a deeper appreciation of Seki’s blade-making tradition.

1. 1

   Knife Museum

   2 hours

   Make Your Own Samurai Knife at the Knife Museum in Seki city, Gifu pref. You can see several kind of rare and unique knives all over the world. You can have experience for making your own knife with craftsman as your treasure of Japanese memory. G.SAKAI is a leadingJapanese knife producer with trade partners all over the world. The variety of their products and their high-quality knives have been acknowledged by many customers around the globe, in fact they exhibited at the Milan trade fair "Salone del Mobile Milano"in 2017-the global benchmark event for the furnishing and design sector. G.SAKAI's knives are now used in various professional fields, such as cookery, hunting, outdoor sports, and even military training. In this activity, you will visit the Knife Museum just next to G.SAKAI's factory. There you will see interesting rare items and exhibits from all over the world. You will construct your own knife in the atelier by assembly, polishing, sharpening, and writing your name.

2. 2

   Stop 2

   1 hour

   Lunch at local Japanese restaurant

3. 3

   Stop 3

   1 hour

   Visit at Swordsmith Museum, you can learn deeply Samurai and Japanese swords history in Japan. Seki City in Gifu Prefecture developed as a major center for Sword making as early as the 13th century thanks to rich deposits of iron sand in the local Nagara River. During the Edo period, there were several hundred blacksmiths producing a large number of Samurai Swords and Knives.

4. 4

   Stop 4

   30 min

   Seki City in Gifu is one of the three cutlery-producing regions in the world and boasts the highest cutlery production volume in Japan. Seki's cutlery has inherited skills and techniques with tradition of more than 700 years. Even today, it continues to produce high-quality blades rich in functionality and design by interesting traditional techniques with the latest technology. You might also find something new here.

• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
• Not recommended for pregnant travelers
• Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• You can easily join for a day trip, roughly 1.5~2 hours by train from Kyoto

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.