Kappabashi Knife Shops: How to Buy a Japanese Knife Next to Asakusa

Kappabashi is Tokyo’s kitchen-tools street, about a ten-minute walk from Senso-ji, and its knife shops are the best place near Asakusa to buy a Japanese knife: go on a weekday between 10:00 and 17:00, and you do not need a tour to shop there. A guide helps if you want translation and an honest second opinion.

The street

Kappabashi Dougu Street runs about 800 metres between Asakusa and Ueno, with roughly 160 to 170 shops selling everything a restaurant needs: knives, pots, ceramics, lacquer and the plastic food models in restaurant windows. The nearest station is Tawaramachi on the Ginza Line. Japan Guide says it is about a ten-minute walk from Senso-ji.

Three knife shops worth knowing

Kama-Asa. Founded in 1908 in Kappabashi by Minosuke Kumazawa, according to the shop’s own history page, and first a shop for kama pots. Its range runs from santoku and gyuto to deba, yanagi and usuba, plus whetstones and a sharpening service. Time Out lists it at 2-24-1 Matsugaya.

Kamata. Founded in 1923, at 2-12-6 Matsugaya, seven minutes’ walk from Tawaramachi Station (LIVE JAPAN). Tokyo Cheapo says the third-generation owner, Seiichi Kamata, is known as a master sharpener, that the shop sharpens each knife before it is sold, and that it will resharpen knives from around ¥1,000.

Tsubaya. A specialist Japanese kitchen-knife shop at 3-7-2 Nishi-Asakusa. The Kappabashi shopping-street association lists it as open 9:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and 10:00 to 17:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (closed at the year end), so it is one knife shop you can visit on a Sunday.

These three are the ones Tokyo Cheapo names as the big three for knives. There are many more on the street.

What to decide before you walk in

Stainless or carbon steel. Carbon steel takes a keen edge but rusts if it is left wet; stainless resists rust, though it can still rust if left wet for long. If the knife is going into a busy home kitchen, say so.

Single or double bevel. Traditional Japanese knives such as the yanagiba, deba and usuba are often single-bevel: sharpened on one side only, which allows very thin cuts but takes practice. The gyuto (chef’s knife) and santoku (all-purpose) are usually double-bevel, like a Western knife. A single-bevel knife is made for one hand, so left-handed cooks need to ask.

Shape. The santoku is the general-purpose shape; the gyuto is the larger chef’s knife; the nakiri is a vegetable knife; the petty is a small utility knife.

Budget. Tokyo Cheapo gives a range from about ¥5,000 for a small paring knife to ¥500,000. Asakusa knife workshop prices has more on what an everyday knife costs.

Engraving. The Yamaguchi Motors tour listing says most shops will engrave a name in Japanese for a small fee, but that it usually takes a few days. Ask on the first day of your trip, not the last.

Shopping with a guide

You can walk Kappabashi on your own for free. A guided tour earns its price if you want someone to translate at the counter and tell you honestly whether a knife suits you. Four tours on this site do it, and none includes the knife.

Prices, ratings and review counts from our October 2026 data check; operators change prices, so treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote.

Arumachi’s listing promises “candid and neutral feedback” while you hear the shop’s sales pitch, and uses headsets for groups of three or more. NipponGo visits about three or four knife stores chosen for different price ranges, after a lunch that is included; it is not suitable for wheelchair users. Yamaguchi Motors only offers dates when the street is properly open and says some shops close on Sundays. The fourth, JGA’s private tour, pairs Tsukiji with Kappabashi; see that tour.

Before you buy

Bring your physical passport if you want tax-free, as the Japanese Knife Lab guide advises, and read bringing a Japanese knife home before you pack. To fit the street around a workshop and Senso-ji, see the half-day itinerary.