My name is Yasunori Hasegawa, from Ono City, Hyogo Prefecture. I entered the knife industry when I was 20 years old, and this is my 26th year.

My grandfather runs the company I work for now, and I started working in this industry when I was a college student helping him.
It's fun. I can go to all kinds of places, meet people, talk to them, eat all kinds of food, and see all kinds of scenery.

I was shocked when, after a few months practice, I provided Meikiri (knife with a signature), but the customer said my handwriting was very dirty. He didn't return it, though.

I was very happy when I was praised for my Meikiri. When customers are pleased with the knives that I made, or rather the knives that I made with the craftsmen, and when the production volume increased from 10 to 20, 100, or 1,000 knives, I feel happy to have made these knives.

As for Meikiri, I have checked beautiful calligraphies and arranged in my own way, then it became better. The rest is just practice. After a year, the customer told me, "Oh, your handwriting has become beautiful," so I am happy about that.

I try to arrange something every day and make an effort to make it beautiful. So there is no "perfection." I feel a sense of accomplishment when a client is pleased with my work, but it is still far from perfect. My works are still about 70% completed.

I really appreciate Musashi. Musashi lets me arrange knives with good quality and sharpness, and they also discuss with the craftsmen to make and offer their products, thus the customers are happy with the results. Japanese knives are thin, hard, and long-lasting. But I don't want them to be used roughly because craftsmen made them with their hearts and soul. To my knowledge, people overseas use kitchen knives by "hitting," but Japanese kitchen knives are used for cutting, so please use them carefully as possible to cut.