I visited Kisuke Manaka on the 4th of February, 2026, with Sanjo deep in snow-country winter. The rice fields around the workshop were one unbroken white sheet running to the mountains, and the snow banks stood taller than the car.
The new workshop surprised me. It is spacious and bright: high ceilings, big windows, a mezzanine, and room to move that most Japanese forges simply do not have. The view out of the window in winter is genuinely something. White fields, mountains, huge sky. Not a bad thing to look at between heats.
The move was not the kind anyone plans. In the summer of 2024 a fire took the old workshop in Saitama, where the family had forged since 1872. Nobody was hurt. Customers and fellow craftsmen rallied behind him, and when I asked him why Sanjo of all places, his answer was simple: he wanted to move, and there were friends in Sanjo who offered help. In 2025 the forge came back to life at the new address, and in his own words the move was made in pursuit of a higher level. Standing in that hall in February, snow out of every window, it is hard to argue.
What has not changed is how the work gets done. Kisuke still does everything himself. He does not buy pre-bonded clad stock: he attaches the steel, forge-welds, anneals, quenches, tempers, runs the sub-zero treatment, sharpens and fits the handle. One man, the whole way through. The spring hammer sits over the forge pit, and trays of cut steel blanks wait their turn on the bench.
One man doing everything means output is limited, and that is exactly why we asked Xinguo (新国) to sharpen and polish his blades. His forging, their finishing, and the result is the Manaka x Xinguo line that has been popular ever since. This is the honest way to get more of his steel onto actual cutting boards.
Before we left, we took one photo in the cold bright hall. A thumbs up from the fifth generation. If you have been eyeing his work, patience is part of the deal. The last time the workshop published a figure, custom orders carried a wait of a year to a year and a half. Some things are worth it.
