A Japanese Lesson

There's a Japanese word that's been running around in my brain for a while...

The word is "Shokunin". It's usually used with the honorific "san", as most Japanese nouns for people are, and it is loosely translated as "Professional."

I'm not sure this is the best word, though I can't think of a better one. Perhaps in its deepest sense, professional does work. Because, you see, a shokunin-san is someone who does their job to the full extent of their skill, who is not only proud of the work they do, but do their best to insure that their work is something to be proud of.

Iwasaki-sensei is most definitely a shokunin-san. As is Naomi-san, the maker of Kanayama strops. My barber, Kawaguchi-sensei, is another. And the other day in Kyoto, I met another.

I had the good luck to arrange a meeting with Hatanaka-san, the current holder of the Nakayama hone stock, and the protector of its legacy. He is the only person cutting and finishing Nakayama stones now, and he is passionately protective of the long history and good name of these stones. And in my brief discussion with him, and the interaction with his stones, I was deeply impressed by the obvious love he had for these stones.

I sat in his office, surrounded by stones of all shape, size and color, and honed. He had selected 7 or 8 hones that he felt might fit my razors, and were within my budget (a huge limiting factor here, he has stones that cost more than some houses), and I tested them. While I did so, he watched my technique, and gave his opinions on which stones best matched my razors and my style.



It was a truly enlightening experience. I learned about the history of the honing business in Kyoto, the politics involved in it, the relationships between the various Kyoto hone dealers and some of the less savory parts of it. I also learned more about the matching of blade to stone--the speed of eating steel, the darkness of the steel removed, and the amount of stone released by normal honing. It was a wonderful experience.

I certainly have a deeper understanding of the reputation of these hones--the ones I handled were a joy to use. They seemed almost to kiss the razors, pulling away steel gently and smoothly. I've used stones like this before, but I've never had more than a half-dozen of them arranged in front of me at once. It was a little piece of heaven...

A note, though, to anyone who might be going to Kyoto. Hatanaka-san is very busy and he does not run a shop, per se. He doesn't usually take casual visitors, he doesn't speak English, and he is very very serious about his hones, so if you aren't serious about testing and finding the perfect one (and you are short on cash) then I very seriously can't recommend trying to contact him.