The Saikai Takayuki Tokujou(特上) is Takayuki's take on the intermediate level WA honcho. It is an upgrade from all aspects compare to the more entry level Kinsei line, offering better steel, sharpening and fit and finish at an acceptable price.

The Hitachi Yasugi White #2 carbon steel is a very common blade steel in the realm of single bevel WA hocho, it can be found from the basic blade all the way up to the prestige Mt. Fuji Mizu-Honyaki Yanagiba. Saikai Takayuki have decided to pair this steel with a soft iron Nimai construction and a smooth Kasumi finish, form a line with solid performance, pleasing look and clean, polished details.

The main target of this line in my opinion would be chefs who are upgrading from a basic single bevel knife, or someone with a bigger budget looking for a better knife to start their journey with. The quality and performance of these blades allow them to handle jobs of different level confidently, and I seen no reason that it can't be used at very high end scenarios other than the lack of wow factors that comes with a thousand dollar mirror polished Honyaki.

I suggest chefs to consider this line if they are are looking for a single bevel workhorse that they can use extensively for many years, the value of these blades is decent and the profiles available within this line is very comprehensive. This is more obvious when compare with Masamoto KS line, so unless you after the legendary name, the Tokujou line would truly be the choice for professionals.