The Splendor of Vietnamese Knives 

I imagine there aren’t many people who know about Vietnamese knives. I myself only recently learned about them, when the owner of a hidden little creative Chinese restaurant called “Ōrakuen” told me that they’re incredibly sharp, tough yet flexible, and once you get used to them, you can never go back. That instantly sparked my curiosity — but I had no idea where to buy one.

After doing some research, I found out that they’re sold at a shop called Waji Asia, but traveling all the way from Kobe to Yamanashi just to buy a knife isn’t exactly easy. While I was thinking about that, I happened to discover that a nearby Asian goods shop called NAIFS was selling Vietnamese knives — and I bought one right away. The link below shows the one I picked up.

Before I found the knife at NAIFS, I had actually asked one of my wife’s friends — who used to live in Vietnam for work — if she could help me get one. She then contacted another friend who was still there, and amazingly, they managed to track one down for me. The first knife I’d bought had a different design from what I really wanted, but this one — the one they brought back — was exactly what I had been looking for. Thank you so much, Ikura-san.

When they bought it locally, the shop clerk even warned them, “Be very careful — this knife is extremely sharp!” That’s how serious Vietnamese knives are.