Hayakawa Hamonoten 早川刃物店 knife sharpeners in Kyoto

In 2019 I visited Kyoto with a goal to purchase a better さばき包丁 (sabaki knife) for fish and some veggie use. I’ve been to a few houchou artisans in Kyoto and wanted to try somewhere different. After visiting several and being mostly ignored, one guy had a friendly customer approach and we got chatting.

Their business has been running for around 120 years and has passed through 4 generations. Hayakawa Hamonoten are not knife and scissor manufacturers, but sharpeners. If you purchase your knife your customer experience starts with questioning. Yes, a detailed understanding of customer needs. So many businesses forget how to do this to the point that the customer wants to advocate.

“What will you use your knife for? How often, what kind of a lifetime do you want, where will you use it, is it a multipurpose and how much effort will you put into maintenance?” These are just some of the questions I was asked as I was guided along the conversation and arrived at the end feeling like I was purchasing a Maserati.

It was raining and I had in mind a quick purchase and a plan to zip off to a cafe around the corner I’d spied that had a fireplace. But the owner’s passion for the craft, made the hour stay a privileged learning experience. Knife materials, widths and the purpose of blade angles were some of my lessons. Explanations to questions were patient, happy and humbled in the way only decades of experience can provide.

Hamonoten, like many life sharpeners in Kyoto, engrave your name into the blade along with the founders name – Nobuhisa. Personalisation. There is something very special about old school physical personalisation of a product you purchase.

It was the end of the day and near their closing time so I casually mentioned I was leaving Kyoto and wouldn’t be back soon, expecting the result would be a postage option the next day. But customer service – “head off to the cafe, take my umbrella and I’ll finish it for you”. One hour pst closing time, I received my knife. He’d stayed back working on the grinder just for me.

Customer experience.

Gather a true understanding of the customer’s needs.
Deliver an amazing product and service through passion.
Work every angle, so every single customer walks out happy and an advocate.

I took my new knife on every fishing trip. Rave about it, recommend the place of purchase and tell the story.

Unfortunately in 2024 my car was broken into by some lowlives and this knife was stolen. I’ll return to Hamonoten soon to purchase again. Lifetime customer.

Hamonoten is 5 star rated – read the reviews and you can see the long term advocacy and volume of repeat business they have gathered over time. Trip Avisor – 5 star rating Facebook – 5 star rating