No, I would never use them?
They had a short piece on TV about a man, I believe in New York, who collects houcho the kitchen knives, here in Japan. Of course, he's collecting the handmade beautiful ones that are descended from the katana, the samurai swords. He has over 200, and knows the story of each one. So they had them arrayed across a table, and he was showing us just how beautiful one of them was, with the edge sharp enough to cut a thought, the finish rippling shimmers of light.
Then the interviewer asked him when he used it, how that felt? He shuddered, and said, "No, of course I never use them. The finish wouldn't last, and the edge. No." Then he went on talking about how the smith put his soul into the knife, that it was alive.
It's a kitchen knife. Superbly made, beautiful, but if all you do is keep it in a box and take it out now and then to look at it... Does that honor the smith? I mean, I think they make these for use, not just for display?
It just seems wrong somehow, to think of these wonderful knives that will never be used.
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