tldr; Highly regarded for edge retention and comfort
Check pricesScores based on sentiment analysis of topic-related comments
Best praise vs top criticism for Hatsukokoro Hayabusa Gyuto 210mm
“My time to shine! I’ve been obsessed with this for about a year now. Motokyuichi, the maker of hatsukokoro kurosagi, this is a great value carbon steel blade, unfortunately the 210 and 180 white 2 just sold out. [motokyuichi](https://chefknivesjapan.com/products/motokyuichi-aogami-blue-steel-kurouchi-santoku-knife) Muneishi, maker of hatsukokoro kumokage, great carbon steel knife as well. [muneishi](https://japankitchenknives.com/collections/muneishi/products/cm001) [this](https://ibukiblade.com/collections/gyuto-chef-knife) site is a gold mine if you can install handles yourself, I like buying handles from aliexpress, specifically the horatii store. They have muneishi, nishida, I’m loving the 205 Hap40 Gyuto right now. [masutani](https://chefknivesjapan.com/collections/masutani-knives-kunihira-knives) This is the best value stainless laser, the Santoku is a little taller than the 180 Gyuto if height matters. [misuzu](https://www.chefknivestogo.com/mivgbu16.html) I don’t have this knife, unlike all the others I linked, but it is in the mail. From what I can tell it’s a great laser like masutani, but with slightly worse edge retention. Still amazing value and a super cool shape. Hatsukokoro SLD just dropped on a lot of sites and are around $95-120, shiro kamo offers amazing value in the 150-200 range. [this?](https://www.cleancut.eu/butik/knifebrands/shiro-kamo-4-series/shiro-kamo-black-dragon/kockkniv2013-08-22-12-33-182013-08-22-12-33-18-86-detail) might be the best price for shiro kamo but you will have to look around, 165ish shipped to the us. Tadafusa is the best value sanjo blade, not sure who has the best price, they will be under many names. But they are basically yoshikane clones @ half the price. [hitohira](https://carbonknifeco.com/collections/gyuto-chef-knife-1/products/hitohira-imojiya-mz-vg-1-gyuto-210mm-imitation-mahogany-handle) Offers a lot of really great knives for the price”
“The reason a lot of people say they are overpriced is that there's a general expectation about performance that a lot of the SG2 blades are known for. By that, I mean the handle is light, the spine is thin, and the edge is ridiculously thin. Takamura, Shibata, Kobayashi are typically known as the true lasers but even other makers like Ogata, Shiro Kamo, Kato, Makoto Kurosaki, Hatsukokoro, etc still generally offer fairly thin blades with aggressive edges. Miyabi is decently crafted, but the handle is much heavier, the spine is thicker, and the edge has a bit more heft to it. It also tends to have much more belly, similar to western knives. So when you compare it to the alternatives people are commonly looking at, it's just no contest it doesn't have the same amazing cutting performance out of the box. With some thinning and work at home, you probably could get it pretty close to those knives, but now that's additional work you have to do at home to "improve" the knife. This all is just for the standard SG2 line though. I've heard the birchwood line is done thinner and nicer, but the pricing on that is ridiculous and not worth considering unless it dropped from like $300+ down to the $220ish range on the longer blades.”
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405 Reddit opinions analyzed • Last updated 2/24/2026