Haiku Damas Iwashi-Gumo Urushi

Japanese knife in damascus. As rare as it is beautiful, this is the motto of Haiku Damas Special Edition, in Iwashi-gumo pattern. Each piece is unique and is designed as a piece of jewelry, with a limited number of 50 models per year for each of the blades in the collection. Haiku Damascus Special Edition is Haiku's top-of-the-range shimmering ornamental blade, in contrast to the long-established rustic Haiku Kurouchi, which popularised the raw forge blades internationally.

Manufactured in the Sakai forges south of Osaka, Japan, the range honours the centuries-old craftsmanship of Japan's second-largest cutlery centre. The master knifemakers who make these fine Japanese knives are accomplished craftsmen who are part of a continuous flow of learning from the generations of blacksmiths that preceded them.

Haiku Damascus was one of the first Damascus knives on the French market and has won generations of cooks. This special edition Haiku Damascus in Iwashi-gumo pattern draws its essence from a different level of craftsmanship, not widely available outside the Japanese peninsula, as only a few blacksmiths master the ability to deliver such beautiful blades today.

Its steel, its handle.

Since blacksmiths have succeeded in making steel, they have been faced with a dilemma: to obtain blades that are resistant to shocks, and therefore elastic, and blades that retain their sharpness (soft steels loose their sharpness quickly). One solution is to mix different layers of steel of different types, a multi-layered technique that has entered into common parlance under the term "damascus". Haiku Damas Special Edition highlights a uniquely beautiful damascus in clouds, that is difficult to achieve. A damascus that requires a longer working time and a guarantee of the smith's mastery, which today is reflected in a luxury of details and finesse. In addition, the hand-engraved Japanese "Haiku" kanji add an authentic touch and plunge the object into an artistic dimension where the virtuosity of the chisel strokes is as meticulous as all the preceding stages. The tricolour handle brings a new freshness to a typical octagonal shape, in smoked wood, which merges ancient art and contemporary aesthetics. A well-kept technique for a unique result.

Japanese poetry once again in the background. The expression Iwashigumo means "in sardine clouds". It is said to have appeared for the first time in an ancient haiku from the Genroku period (1688-1704), and then taken up by Issa, the great haikist. Haikus are used to express an idea or an image in a few words. In France, we would say "cloud in cotton flowers". The term was translated in a movie in 1958 into "Summer clouds", which speaks to us better. It is a late summer cloudiness of small clouds at a high altitude.