Creating Culture: Volume Five

Hello, everyone.

My name is Ryo Tanaka, and I am the third generation president of Sakai Ichimonji Mitsuhide.

In this column, I will focus on talking about knives directly, their makers, and continue to discuss the keyword "creating culture."

Please read our previous columns too, if you are curious.

Hello! It's finally cooling down.

The sun is setting quite early now.

Apologies, but for this column I will skip the cultural consumption talk I promised. I'll talk about it more next time.

That is because today I would like to talk about "ICHITOI", which we have finally completed.

Four years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic meant customers could not visit us. Many employees who had supported the store for many years retired.

I became a parent during this time. So, I started thinking about the future too.

"What have we done so far?"

"What do we want to do from now on?"

"Let's look at foodways and tool cultures that have existed for a long time. And, let us contribute to creating a place we can be proud of for the future about these spaces."

I tackled this with a renewed resolve.

It took about three years of twists and turns to make this space a reality.

After all, creating a place alone does not lead to extra profits. We wanted to do more than that.

Further, after the pandemic passed, the number of requests for knife sharpening increased. The number of visitors did too. This put a strain on our hard-working staff.

While we were doing our best and raising the morale banner, many small pitfalls got in the way. We also got a lot of help from people who reached out to help us.

I am proud and thankful to our staff who continued to work hard running the store, treating it like their own.

Through challenges, together we managed to finish our goal. We opened "ICHITOI" on October 1st, 2024.

On that day, we held a press event to celebrate. With wonderful and knowledgeable guests, we discussed a variety of interesting topics. Highlights were the greatness of Japanese food, our challenges, and our future outlook.

The attendees gave us a wide range of suggestions. I am so glad we opened out doors to so many people.

Thanks to the support of everyone both in the company and out, we know that we have made a meaningful first step.

That said, this is the first step. ICHITOI becomes valuable when we connect our continued efforts to meaningful action.

A place where eleven sections related to Osaka's tool shops create foodways and tool culture.

This includes those of you who have read this far.

Join us, and let us all work together to create a culture we can be proud of for the future.

Ryo Tanaka - 3rd Generation President
Sakai Ichimonji Mitsuhide