Kyoto Knife Shops

The knife shop on the Nishiki Market street, in the centre of Kyoto, is Aritsugu, the one name in the market’s own directory of cooking-gear shops. It opens from 10:00 to 17:00, with new sales until 16:30, and closes on Wednesdays, from 1 to 4 January and on 31 January (its own site, checked November 2026). Plan around the Wednesday: many shops on Nishiki Market close that day too, though the market as a whole has no common closing day. Aritsugu is about 10 minutes on foot from Gion-Shijo Station.

Aritsugu (Nishiki Market)

The shop’s address is 〒604-8052 京都市中京区錦小路通御幸町西入ル鍛冶屋町219: on Nishiki-koji, just west of Gokomachi, in Nakagyo Ward. From Kyoto Station it is about 2.7 km on foot, around 35 minutes; from Gion-Shijo Station, 0.8 km and about 10 minutes, over the Kamo River and along Shijo-dori. Aritsugu also has counters in Kyoto Takashimaya, on the 6th floor, and in Hankyu Umeda in Osaka, on the 7th floor.

From the company’s own site (aritsugu.co.jp), checked November 2026; the sharpening price list there is dated 6 December 2023.

The repair line matters for a visitor. Aritsugu sharpens and repairs only its own knives, a repair takes one to two months, and the shop does not ship abroad, so a knife left for repair has to be collected in Japan. Buy the knife you want sharp and ask in the shop how to care for it.

Two Aritsugu sites exist online that are not this shop: aritsugu.jp is a separate knife business at Tsukiji in Tokyo, and aritsugu.com is unrelated. Hours and prices for the Kyoto shop come only from aritsugu.co.jp.

Nishiki Market’s closing days

Nishiki Market has no closing day shared by every shop: each shop sets its own, and many close on Wednesday. The market association’s own directory lists one shop under cooking gear, Aritsugu. If your only free day in central Kyoto is a Wednesday, the knife shop will be shut even when the food stalls are open.

Other names you will hear

Three more names come up when people ask where to buy a knife in Kyoto: Kikuichimonji, HIRAI and Musashi. Their hours and services are not covered here, so check with each shop before you go. Two of them also teach. Japanese knife shop HIRAI runs a sharpening and handle-fitting workshop for up to 3, where you choose a santoku, deba or yanagi and fit a magnolia handle. MUSASHI JAPAN’s Kyoto flagship holds a 2-hour sharpening class at FUJI JAPAN Sanjo, on its 3rd floor.

Buying a knife, or making one

A shop knife and a workshop knife are different things. In a shop you choose from a range made by professionals, for the job you cook; in a workshop you go home with a knife you sharpened, fitted or forged yourself, which is the souvenir. The two fit in one day: the market in the morning, a workshop in the afternoon. The forging workshop is in Sakyo Ward, about 12 km by road from Kyoto Station; the one-hour sharpening classes are compared in Kyoto knife sharpening class.

If you would rather make the knife than buy one, Kendo Experience’s Authentic knife making experience at a blacksmith in Kyoto is three hours at the forge, from raw iron to a polished knife of about 13 to 15 cm that you take home in a box. It was per person from $151 (checked November 2026).

See dates for the forging workshop

Flying home with what you bought? Taking a Japanese knife home has the cabin and checked-bag rules.