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The first thing I noticed about this Haiku Kurouchi Nakiri knife is that it is rustic.  I mean really rustic.  Unlike the Takeda that I have, this knife looks like it belongs in a blacksmiths shop.  The handle is oval shaped, unlike any other Japanese knife I have seen, and the bolster is made of stainless steel, with a pin holding it in place on the left side.  The blade's kurouchi finish feels almost smooth to the touch, but the edges of the knife are very rough and sharp.  Especially the end of the spine.  The edge is ground nearly 50/50 with a very narrow angle on it, and although the blade is quite thick at the base of the spine, it tapers quickly and is rather thin over all.  The edge out of the box was very tooth and not too sharp overall, but as it was blue steel, I expected it to sharpen up quite nicely.  There is about a 1mm difference in diameter from the bolster to the handle, which I found to be a bit uncomfortable, but is not an error in manufacturing.  The knife was clearly designed to be this way.  This knife has a very straight and flat edge, with the exception of a slight upcurve at the very tip, which is to be expected on a nakiri.  I really wanted to not like this knife after my initial inspection, but that did not last long at all.

I sharpened and polished the edge up to a 10k grit naniwa super stone and then stropped on a chromium oxide loaded strop and the edge this knife took was spectacular.  I will admit to taking the edge down a few degrees from what it was shipped with, but what can I say… I like thin knives.  Once the edge was all nice and mirror-like, I started using this knife.  I used it on every kind of fruit and veggie that came across my board.  The more I used it, the more I liked it.  For about 2 weeks, I didn't have to touch up the edge at all.  The patina formed quickly and was a little more grey and brown that the takeda, but still had hints of blue.  It turned out to be surprisingly beautiful.  And using it was great.  Everything I cut, I seemed to cut faster and better with this knife.  Garlic, shallots, and onions were particularly great to cut with this.  With moderate use, I experienced no chipping on the edge, despite some semi rough push cutting.  I decided to see how far I could take it before the edge started to give me problems.  It wasn't until I was literally slamming the knife down on my board while chopping that I started to see a little of micro chipping.  After fixing up my abused edge, which for the record took no more than 5 minutes, I was back to cutting fruits and veggies again.

The knife also turned out to be pretty comfortable to use.  The handle, which I do not care much for in its looks, proved to be quite nice in my hand.  And the rough edges and corners didn't really give me any problems at all.  However, the tip of the spine did catch my hand once or twice and that kind of hurt.  When I say it is sharp, I mean really sharp and pointy.  It would be great if Haiku (read Chroma) would put a little more work into the fit and finish of this knife.

Overall, I really have to say I like this knife though.  I still think that Takeda and Moritaka are better knives as far as fit and finish go, but depending on what this knife costs, it might be a great alternative.  I would give this knife an 8 on a scale of 1-10, whereas a takeda nakiri that I had a chance to work with would get a 9.  Still, it is a great little knife that I am happy to have in my kit.