Aritsugu folder - the Japanese douk douk?

[NoirFan]

A good friend of mine recently went to Kyoto, and knowing my fondness for old-school pocketknives, bought me a hand-forged folder from Aritsugu (https://www.aframestokyo.com/aritsugu.html). The company is known for their high-end kitchen knives and I had no idea they made folders as well. Upon picking it up my first thought was, this looks just like a douk douk with its bent sheet metal handle. Shown with Opinel #7 for scale:


The blade shape is also similar to that of a douk douk, with a sort of cutlass-point profile:


There the similarities end, though. The Aritsugu blade has quite a thick wedge cross-section with a slight convex grind, unlike the thin-bladed douk douk. It reminds me of a miniature katana blade. It also has no springs, locks or any other interior parts, and is held open by friction and thumb pressure alone like a Svord Peasant. I really like the rough forge finish on the back of the blade and the thumb tab, and the carbon steel blade has already started to take on a nice patina:



So how does it perform? Well I hate to speak ill of a gift, but honestly, for regular pocketknife-type tasks, it's not that great. The wedge cross section is too thick for a lot of jobs like opening envelopes or slicing heavy cardboard; it just tends to get stuck or track offline in the cut. This problem is compounded by the lack of a locking system, because the blade is liable to close on your knuckles when you're trying to work it loose from a stuck cut. The thumb tab doesn't give enough leverage to hold it open under even moderate pressure.

On the positive side, this is a strong blade with appealingly simple hilt construction, it carries very flat in the pocket, and you can't deny it just looks and feels awesome. For me, that's enough to make this a great gift.

Thanks for looking

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Cool I need one!

 

[hso]

We've featured these in several threads, but no one's given us a practical review.

Thanks

 

[Mizar]

The Higonokami is an interesting and useful knife once you understand it's limitations. The "scandi" type grind makes it more suitable for light whittling, cutting leather, sharpening pencils... But, as the OP already found out, it's definitely not an EDC knife by modern understanding. To put it this way - it's more of a gentleman blade (despite it's peasant origin), than a "blue-collar" one.

 

[kBob]

Thanks for posting this and your review.

It reminds me of my "forgot I have it" knife I wore on a dog tag chain in service four decades or so ago. My Dad gave it to me and it was a stainless steel affair with a folded "handle" like that. It had a nail cut for opening and the handle was cut to allow reaching it because the blade was flush when closed. A cut were the fold was on the axis end provided a spring for keeping the blade open. It also had a hole in the "butt" like your neat Japanese knife that I ran my Dog tag Chain through. I called it my "forgot I had it" knife because more than once while sitting around in my skivees some one asked to borrow my knife and when I said I did not have one on me they would point it out and would respond........

Yes, in those days of C-rats there was also a Shellby P-38 on my chain with a well worn beak on it. Between the Shellby and my FIHI knife with its cap lifter and one whole inch of cutting edge I was ready to take on the entire combined Red Armies, or at least eat, have a beer and open mail.

Interesting that your knife has cut outs on the handle like for a nail cut but no nail cut on the blade. I wonder if the Japanese use twist top beer bottles and if that cut out might sort of fit such as an opening wrench.

Are such blades legal for pocket carry in Japan?

-kBob

 

[NoirFan]

The Higonokami is an interesting and useful knife once you understand it's limitations. The "scandi" type grind makes it more suitable for light whittling, cutting leather, sharpening pencils... But, as the OP already found out, it's definitely not an EDC knife by modern understanding. To put it this way - it's more of a gentleman blade (despite it's peasant origin), than a "blue-collar" one.

Interesting, I didn't know the proper name for this kind of knife, thanks for that info.

Are such blades legal for pocket carry in Japan?-kBob

Hi, thanks for the service story. I've never been to Japan but I kinda doubt it, seeing as it's such a highly regulated society. The vestigial nail cut is a mystery, but maybe it was copied from another knife design because the maker thought it looked good? It is somewhat useful as an indexing feature because my ring ringer slips right into it when I'm using it.

 

[hso]

cut outs on the handle like for a nail cut but no nail cut on the blade

You can pinch the blade at that point. Different cultural approach.

***
Japan treats anything 6cm or more as a weapon and, if stopped, has the typical foreign "justifiable reason" rules that can result in a fine. Carrying anything longer than 6cm (2.36 inches) can put you in jail.