No, I would never use them?

[mbarker]

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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Comments

[dialyn.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with you. Someone made that beautiful knife to be used, and probably hoped it would be used to help make beautiful foods. Not to use it is his right, but it doesn't seem to honor the knife's creator. Of course I'm speaking as someone who owns no beautiful knives and creates no beautiful food, so what do I know? And I know beautiful foods can be made with much more humble knives.

It's one of those things, I guess. Is it a knife or a piece of art? Can art be used for anything other than being stared at? There are chairs made to be sat in and chairs that don't function as anything but art pieces in galleries. Someone buys a urinal from a hardware store, sticks his name on it, and sells it in a gallery for a million dollars and it will never used as anything but as overpriced porcelain decor. I guess if it brings happiness to the person who paid for it, that's what matters. Wouldn't be something I'd do but that's just me.