In major Russian cities traditional Japanese sushi is not an exotic meal any more. And Japanese cuisine is still the order of the day. If you doubt it, see the numerous Oriental restaurants opening today where everything should be for real: seafood in menus, waitresses in kimonos and a Japanese chef with a professional Japanese knife. A knife for a true Japanese cook is a sacral item. All Oriental theories con cerning in particular the immunity of a master's personal tool may be fully applicable to knives. One of the Japanese chefs remembers that once he offered his knife to the teacher in a dif ficult moment meaning the best. You should have seen the master's face, says the now experienced cook, it was terrible. "How can you offer your knife to whoever he is?! Never let anybody use it, even your teacher!" After those words the deathscared apprentice had to listen to a whole lecture teaching that under no circumstances one should part with his knife.

The history of Japanese knife dates back to the samurai sword. The medieval samurai warriors thought that the ghosts of their ancestors live in their sounding blades, therefore if someone accidentally or, Lord forbid, intentionally touched samurai's sheath, he could be challenged to fight. In order to prevent an unwanted duel samurais who wore their swords on the left always traveled along the left side of the road thus protecting the sword from another's touch.

According to the legend, which con tains much of truth though, modern knives are made by descendants of those masters who in those good old days forged swords that could cut paper in the air. And still the process of knife manufacturing is accompanied by cleaning rituals that are performed in sacred vestments with prayers.

Then, as the blade is made a consecra tion ceremony for the knife and all its further work is performed. There is now a great variety of sushi knives costing from 50100 USD for an ordinary knife (tatsutogi) to 3000 USD for an extra class presenta tion item (honyaki). Honyaki is a hand made knife manufactured of highcar bon steel forged in furnaces at 1900°F. The honyaki price is high due to the difficulty of work. Each knife requires two weeks of 45 masters' work. Laminated knives are less expensive. They are forgewelded from two types of steel. The milder steel is used for the exterior surface to strengthen the firm core forming the blade and the "bone" of the knife. There are four grades of laminated knives: hongasumi, kasumi, kasumitogi and tatsutogi (in quality descending order). Different harden ing techniques are also used to increase the quality. Oil hardening makes the knife more flexible and slim, while cold water hardening makes a harder but more fragile blade.

The article is based on publications taken from www.knifefoto.narod.ru.