AN EVERYDAY CARRY DEEPLY ROOTED IN JAPANESE HERITAGE.

Dew Hara is an artist through and through. He’s an accomplished photographer, he spent 10 years as a web designer, and, most notably in our sharp-edged world, he’s created one of the flagship folding knives in our 2018 lineup: The Raikiri™. It’s a reflection of the defining pillars of his style and inspiration: “robots, car design, and Japanese traditional beauty.”

It seems that creativity and innovation flows through his veins. That’s not to mention he grew up in the heart of Seki, Japan—the city revered as the epicenter of high-class edged tools. To boot, his father is Koji Hara one of the most famous international knife designers of all time.

Even though this is his breakout design for CRKT, he’s already assumed a deserving spot among the decorated ranks of our custom knife designers. It’s not every day a young designer with merely two years of formal practice under his belt creates a knife that sits so squarely at the intersection of high design and supreme usability. In this sense, the Raikiri™ is right on target. What’s more, Hara designed it around Field Strip technology for simple cleaning and maintenance in the field or at the bench without the use of additional tools.

With a modified wharncliffe blade in a clean satin finish, it is a clear choice for a wide range of daily duties. Once open, the locking liner anchors it in place between two cold-forged handles. With a sharply contrasting line, the movement in the design nods at the slashing motion of the famous sword Iaido—a deeply-rooted symbol of ancient Japanese lore. It’s said to have slashed a bolt of lightning in two.

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Even if the particular need to cut a bolt of lightning in half doesn’t seem to arise often in your life, having a sword disguised as an everyday carry in your pocket makes every job feel a little bit more heroic—couldn’t we all use a little more of that.

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