I googled, only to find that there is surprisingly little information on the subject. I sent an inquiry to someone who might know. Hope I get a reply from him. ← I went to the presentation and show on Saturday and they said that all of the knives made at the Tsukiji shop are made by hand. Several of the Sohonten knives are machine manufactured (some hand finished, others all machine). I am still a bit confused about the knife I purchased at the Tsukiji shop. I know that Masamoto is stamped on the knive and there a small circle stamp they put on the knives that are better quality but my knife also has an "A" stamped on the knife which I think means that it is Aoko (blue steel). There are also a couple of characters stamped on the back side of the knife. When talking to the woman working at the show, I was unclear which Masamoto made the knife. She said that she thought it came from the sister company (Sohonten) but wasn't sure and said I should talk to the president of the company (he gave a knife sharpening demonstration at the show). Of course, he spoke very little English and I speak no Japanese. Anyway, I didn't purchase another knife at the show even though they had the knives marked down 25% from wholesale price (I think it is still cheaper to purchase them in Tokyo). I'll probably have my sister pick up a 240mm or 300mm Honyaki Yanagiba from there. The other nice thing about purchasing the knife there is that you can choose which buffalo horn ring you want for the handle at the shop (most are black and mine is white with brown streaking). And, they will stamp your name on your knife for free there.
