About Us
Zahocho Knives Tokyo
We're Fred and Akiko. I started Zahocho here in Tokyo in 2019. I run most of it day to day, with Akiko always there to help. We work with craftsmen across Sakai, Sanjo, Echizen, and other regions.
My path to Japanese knives wasn't actually a straight line. I studied social anthropology, then later management, before a stint at a Tokyo tech startup. At some point I changed direction completely and trained at a sushi school in Japan. I worked as a sushi chef for a while, and the plan was to eventually open our own small restaurant. Then COVID happened, and Zahocho was born instead. Knives had become the thing I cared about most so it felt like a natural turn.
We keep a small, rotating selection rather than a huge catalog. Everything here is something I chose personally and would happily use myself, from entry-level to collector pieces.
The name
Zahocho is a wordplay. In Japanese, "the" can be pronounced "za," and "hocho" means knife. So, the knife. We want to help you find the knife for you. That's really all it is, and we're glad you found us.
Thanks for stopping by our small shop.
— Fred & Akiko