Kikuichi traces its line back to 1267 in Nara and sells into the United States through its own shop, with free shipping over $149. The site keeps a separate left-handed bevel section sorted by steel and finish, AUS8 stainless among them, covering deba, yanagi and usuba shapes. The company is refreshingly blunt about the economics: traditional single bevel blades were historically ground for right hands only, so left versions are largely custom work and cost roughly 50 percent more in labour.
Worth the trouble for a cook who wants a genuine left grind from an old Nara maker and can wait for it. Less suitable for an impulse purchase: in-stock left-handed pieces are few, and anything outside the listing starts with an email to [email protected]. No phone number is published, so all of it happens in writing.
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