He has been working with
some of the top knife manufactures in the US (William Henry, Pro-tech, Randall Kings). Kiku Matsuda has thirty four years of experience in blade grinding. He is fifth generation knife grinder. His unique grinds are well
known in knife industry. Four hundred years ago his samurai ancestors fought in
Sekigahara battle (Most profound battle in history of Japan). Kiku Matsud
a, the new knife maker who has a magic hand in grinding and polishing the blades in any angles and directions. Unlike normal grinders, he uses a side flat area of the power wheel, that is his canvas to create any 3D grindings, concave, hollow, flat, Hamaguri (convex), twist, double and triple grindings in a free hand. He says his fingers move automatically from his imagination. His father has been running a small workshop in Seki for blade grinding work for Seki production knife makers. Kiku has joined at the age of 15 and learned the grinding technique from his father. He is now 56, and his 40 years experiences and techniques have proved to be a best grinder in the world. His fine work was admitted by William Henry Knives some years ago, and all of their custom grade blades are being hand ground and polished by him. His family was rewarded for bravely in battle and received large amount of property. For the next two hundred years his ancestors prospered. After Meiji era with modernization of Japan samurai were no longer needed. His family turned their attention to sword making. During the WWII there was a demand for swords, orders was placed by Japanese imperial government. As a young boy he helped his father grind the swords. After the war the demand for sword diminished. After WWII as Japans economy began to recover, knife manufacturing company regained prosper.
