Me and the Razor Family 2: Our Household’s Love for Blades
I was born into a KAMISORI family.
The location is different, but these are photos from a family trip long ago (I couldn’t find the photos from that time).
Why?
Because my earliest travel memories are of factory tours at blade manufacturers!
Not just razor makers, but scissor makers, knife makers – I was shown around all sorts.
Sekiguchi City in Gifu Prefecture is Japan’s renowned centre for the blade industry.
Countless blade manufacturers were clustered there.
Zollingen in the West (Germany), Seki in the East!
How many of you know this saying?
It’s that famous a town.
Nowadays, Tsubame-Sanjo in Niigata is also well-known.
When I was young, I heard it was famous for stainless steel items like forks and spoons.
Even as a child, the sight of craftsmen creating a single blade (that’s the phrase I want to use)
looked incredibly cool, like heroes to me.
Masahiro’s knives, taking shape as red-hot steel was hammered, expelling excess iron.
Ukai’s scissors, crafted with meticulous attention to the vital hinge mechanism.
And razor blades emerging from a single roll through various processes in a large factory.
Each was fresh and thrilling. Feather Safety Razor.
Having witnessed craftsmen creating these items firsthand in my childhood, the memory remains vividly imprinted, and this passion for craftsmanship has been passed down to me.
This is the blade (ai) passed down through my grandfather, my father, and now me.
X(twitter) nori36rpm
facebook Nori Takeuchi
linkedin Norioki Takeuchi
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
