A one-man forge whose blades vanish the day they're listed — fifth generation by marriage, self-taught by necessity, mentored by a master.
Manaka Hamono Tanrenjo was founded in 1872 in Kasukabe, Saitama. Kisuke Manaka married into the family rather than being born to it — and because his father-in-law, the fourth generation, ran the business as a retailer, there was no one to teach him the forge. He taught himself from the third generation's surviving tools and notebooks, with the legendary Tsukasa Hinoura as his mentor.
In 2025 he moved the workshop to Sanjo, Niigata — into the company of masters like Hinoura and Masashi Yamamoto. Everything that carries his name is forged by one pair of hands, which is exactly why it is sold out everywhere, always.
Manaka-san forges his own damascus and specialises in warikomi lamination — splitting the cladding and forge-welding the core steel into it — across Aogami #1, Blue Super and ATS-34. His ENN and KOKUENN series have become cult objects in the space of a few years.
His celebrated line — hand-forged damascus and tsuchime over carbon cores.
The kurouchi-finished counterpart. Rugged, quiet, immediate.
Cladding split open, core pressed in, forge-welded shut — the old way, by one smith.
Reactive carbon for purists, ATS-34 for working kitchens.
Because everything is one man's hands, configurations rotate and nothing is ever in steady supply. What the ENN and KOKUENN pieces tend to cost when they surface in Australia:
| Series / line | Profiles | Sizes | Typical price | Lead time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENNDamascus · Aogami #1 | Gyuto · Santoku · Petty | 150–280mm | $650–$1,400 | Confirmed per piece |
| KOKUENNKurouchi · Blue Super | Gyuto · Santoku · Nakiri | 165–240mm | $580–$1,100 | Confirmed per piece |
| Other configurationsATS-34 · special requests | By arrangement | — | Register interest | Confirmed per piece |
A small amount is ranged locally and sells out almost instantly, because one smith makes everything. Pieces are made to order against the workshop's queue rather than held in stock, so a real wait comes with the territory.
Because one person makes them. There is no factory and no second shift; the ENN and KOKUENN series exist at the pace of a single forge in Sanjo.
A lamination method where the cladding is split open like a pocket, the cutting core is pressed in, and the whole is forge-welded shut. Manaka-san is one of its notable modern specialists.
It varies by piece and by season: standard profiles tend to move faster than one-off exhibition pieces, which can take considerably longer. The wait is set by the workshop's own schedule, not by retail stock.