Since SOG is just releasing its new Kiku XR LTE knife, it seems as good a time as any to answer this question: What's up with the Japanese influence at SOG? Glad you asked. We have some answers.
HOW IT STARTED
The first thing to know is when Spencer Frazer founded SOG in 1986 he began with one knife, the S1 Bowie that paid homage to one of the fixed blade knives used by the United States special operations unit, MACV-SOG, during the Vietnam war. The original Bowies the unit used were made in Japan, and Frazer, staying true to the lineage of the knife, decided his reproduction version should be Japanese-made as well. Frazer had his knives made in Seki City, Japan (more on that in a bit). Many of SOG's other early knife models were also made there.
While his business began with a small toe-hold in Japan, Frazer fell in love with Japanese culture.
"When we started making knives in Japan, is when I first visited there," Frazer said. "Immediately, I felt like I been there before. It's an amazing place. Everything in Japan is different, everything is made from a whole different point of view. I was hooked."
To this day, Frazer is an ardent topiarist and landscaper with his bonsai trees playing prominent roles in his well-maintained gardens.
THE CONNECTION
Through trade shows and in other knife business dealings, Frazer came across Jemmy Iwahara, who operates Kencrest Corporation, a knife exporting business based in a Seki City. One of Iwahara's close friends is Kiku Matsuda, a 5th generation knife grinder and knife maker who is also based in Seki City.
A word here about Seki City – the "City of Blades." It's in central Japan, like almost dead-smack in the middle of the country, has less than 100,000 inhabitants and is thought to be where the original MACV-SOG knives were made in the mid-1960s*. The history of Seki cutlery traces back to the 13th century when master swordsmith, Motoshige, moved to Seki because the region offered high quality iron sand, charcoal and water. During the Muromachi Era (1338-1573), there were reportedly more 300 swordsmiths based in Seki.
"I think it's important for us as company to still have a connection to that part of Japan," said Chris Cashbaugh, SOG's Senior Director of Product Strategy. "There's a nice tie-in to the historical craftmanship and artisan history in that region. It's good to have that as a flavor, a kind of spice, in our company's overall brand formula."
Now back to Jemmy, Kiku and Spencer.
"I was in this circle with Jemmy and I'd come across Kiku in many of the same places," said Frazer. "He is one of the most creative knife makers in the world. He has hundreds of different blade styles, hundreds and hundreds, and he's one of the best hand grinders I've ever seen."
Frazer said watching Matsuda's blade grinding was a magical moment. "He once showed me how he grinds knives when I was in his shop," Frazer said. "It's masterful. He says he grinds knives with his eyes closed because he hears the blade singing better."
After "a lot of time and much sake," Frazer convinced Matsuda to collaborate with SOG. The partnership continues to this day, even after Frazer retired from the company in 2020.
CONTINUING THE PARTNERSHIP
According to Iwahara, who served as a go-between for this story, Matsuda was impressed with Frazer's design concept and drive to create innovative products using high-tech materials. Kiku and SOG began working in earnest in 2010, and expanded the relationship through the years.
"We started with one fixed blade," said Frazer. "Shortly after that we convinced him to move into folding knives, something he hadn't done and that really started to launch the Kiku collection."
The new Kiku LTE XR is the latest product of that collaboration. It builds off the Kiku XR, released in 2020, that met with huge commercial success.
"Last year we sold something like seven times the number of Kiku models than we had in previous years," said Cashbaugh. "Kiku has a real unique and identifiable design signature and when we apply that with our technologies like the XR locking mechanism, people really started falling in love with these knives.
Iwahara said Matsuda still likes the earlier models of Kiku folding knives, and notes that since assisted knives are illegal to sell and possess in Japan, he continues to push SOG to reintroduce the Kiku folders with SOG’s latest assisted AT-XR lock.
"Kiku recently received the new Kiku XR LTE with the carbon fiber liners," wrote Iwahara in an email. "He liked it very much, especially for the light weight. It is selling well in Japan."
And it's selling well in America, too. A fitting tribute to a knife that showcases a combination of styling, technology and shared history from two distinct cultures.
FOOTNOTE
We say the original MACV-SOG were "thought" to be made in Seki City. The clandestine nature of the unit makes it difficult to say with certainty where those knives were manufactured. We do know the MACV-SOG knives were designed by Benjamin Baker, the Deputy Chief of the U.S. Counterinsurgency Support Office, but the gear SOG soldiers used was unmarked and made to be untraceable to country of origin or manufacture. This was done in order to maintain plausible deniability of the nationality of the covert operators in the event of their death or capture.
