Mr. Katsuhiko Miura is the artist of the fine detailed etching, Japanese Urushi lacquer painting and inlay work. He is 77 years old now, and was running a small family based etching workshop in Seki for the blade etching with various knives produced by Seki knife factories for over 50 years.
After retired, he has studied traditional Japanese Urushi lacquer art and resin craft as a hobby, and is now enjoying to perform these artistic skills to decorate some selected Seki made knives with art etching on the blades and bolsters, and Japanese Urushi lacquer painting on the handles, creating a beautiful one-of-a-kind "Art Knife" in his sensible touch of the wildlife scenes, birds and animals from his original drawings.
His work is so fine details on the hard-to-work small surface of metal and wood. As you can imagine, it is a time consuming work, and requires a concentration. It's hard for him to keep it for long at his age, so he only works when he feels comfortable and enjoyable. He likes sketching nature and enjoys going out for hiking nearby rivers and mountains.
His work is very limited, and each end of the year, he comes up with his collection he made during the year. Here are the limited collection of 2020 in time for Xmas gift:
