Ryusen

Ryusen hamono is one of the major professional high-end handmade kitchen knife manufacturer in Echizen. Not like the Takefu village smiths, who tend to make traditional WA (octagonal) handle knives, Ryusen primary makes western (handled) style kitchen knives. 

Many kitchen knife lovers probably first got to know Ryusen via their Blazen line, which is one of the very early adapter of the Takefu Super Gold 2 steel. 

They sort of went away for a few years, but Ryusen has recently back with a lot new of products. One very distinguishable activity by Ryusen is their collaboration with designer Hiroaki Watanabe, to win the Good Design Award (the major Japanese multi-industry design award) for four years in a row (2013-2016).