We built ZAKU. Someone is trying to take the name. Here’s the story behind it.

I want to tell you this directly, because you’re going to see two things called “ZAKU” and I don’t want you to be confused about which one we made.

Where the name came from

In October 2024, a small team at ICHIGO started a project to make a Japanese kitchen knife we’d be proud to put our name on. We spent months with craftsmen in Sakai. In January 2025 we named it ZAKU, from the kanji 作 — “to create.”

On March 13, 2025 we put it on Kickstarter. Sixty-nine people, most of them in the US, backed us before a single knife existed. We shipped every one.

In March 2026 we opened our first store in Kappabashi, Tokyo’s knife district. Then Asakusa in May, Harajuku in September, Kyoto’s Nishiki Market in October. Four stores, built one at a time.

The message

On March 4, 2026, a few days before Kappabashi opened, I sent a message to Allen Wang (王威漢), CEO of TAIMATSU Co., Ltd. — the company behind the MUSASHI JAPAN knife stores a few doors down. The knife world in Kappabashi is small, and I thought it was right to tell him ourselves: we’re opening a knife store, it’s called ZAKU. He wrote back warmly and congratulated us.

Ayumi Chikamoto — March 4, 2026, 1:26 PM JST

“Allen, it’s been a while! I hope you’re doing well.
Thank you for the many conversations we’ve had before.
I’m happy to share that, through a fortunate connection, we’re opening a specialty knife store in Kappabashi! It’s right by the Kappabashi intersection, and we’ll be operating under the brand name ‘ZAKU.’
Pre-opening is Thursday, March 5, and the grand opening is planned for Tuesday, March 10. You’re so active in this industry, so I wanted to be sure to reach out and say hello.
I look forward to staying in touch!”

[Allen Wang reacted to this message with a ♡.]

Allen Wang — March 4, 2026, 2:30 PM JST

“I’m doing well. That’s great! How’s the snack business going lately?
Thankfully, we’ve become number one in the industry, so if there’s any way we could work together, I’d love to have you over at our office to talk sometime. For the next few years or so — let alone being at the stores, I’m spending less and less time even in Japan.”

Forty-eight days later, on April 21, TAIMATSU filed four trademark applications in Japan:

ZAKU, ZAKU KNIFE, 作, 作 KNIFE

Our name, our kanji, our brand — in every form we use it. Four for four.

作 can be read several ways, and “ZAKU” is not the usual reading. Both the exact spelling and the exact four forms matched ours. I don’t believe that was a coincidence. We have found no trace of TAIMATSU using the name ZAKU before that day.

They also asked the Japan Patent Office to fast-track the applications. The reason they gave for the urgency: a third party was already using the name. The third party they named — in writing, with our Kickstarter link and our office address — was ICHIGO.

In other words, they told the Patent Office they needed to secure the name quickly because we were already using it. The Patent Office declined to fast-track.

(6) Written amendment submitted:

No 2. Explanation of circumstances requiring urgency

Since June 2025, our company has been rolling out the “作 (ZAKU) Knife” series, which pursues its own unique added value based on our accumulated expertise. The series has already gained considerable customer appeal, including selling out immediately after trial sales began, and we are currently advancing preparations for large-scale mass production (within China) toward full-scale sales. However, it has now come to light that a third party (ICHIGO Inc.) is using a mark identical or similar to the trademark in this application on the product series in question. With full-scale business operations imminent, the situation is one that requires urgency.

[List of submitted materials]

[Item] Evidence of use by a third party — 1

Trademark Application No. 2026-051299 — Page 3/E

Page 3 — Attached document [the “evidence of use by a third party” listed above]

ICHIGO Inc.
7F Ichigo Mita Building, 5-13-18 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zakuknife/zaku-japanese-chefs-knife-and-petty-knife-made-in-japan?lang=ja

[Image: ICHIGO’s ZAKU knives with the 作 ZAKU logo]

Two days after filing, a “ZAKU” page appeared on their website. It said “sold out.” In June, our staff went into two of their stores and asked for it. The staff had never heard of it. The product did not exist.

We filed our evidence — the messages where we chose the name, the Kickstarter, the domain records, the store leases, the message to Allen — with the Patent Office. That process is ongoing.

“ZAKU”, four months later

On August 31 — four months after filing on our name — TAIMATSU announced “ZAKU” as the first series of a new knife brand, FE (feproject.com), designed, according to FE’s own site, by TAIMATSU director Jack Tou (唐澤天). Their announcement says the ZAKU series was co-developed with a startup in China and made with that partner’s facilities. Their filing with the Japan Patent Office says they are “advancing preparations for large-scale mass production (within China).” They have since opened FE stores selling it in Osaka, Kyoto, and Harajuku. The Harajuku store is a short walk from ours.

■ “ZAKU”: FE’s original series, made together with manufacturing technology from around the world

“ZAKU” was born from joint development with a startup company that incorporates China’s cutting-edge machinery technology. It is TAIMATSU’s first original series planned and designed from scratch, from the choice of materials to the blade specifications, how it feels in use, and the smallest details of the design. For manufacturing, we used our partner company’s advanced technology and facilities, and brought ZAKU to life by combining TAIMATSU’s approach to making things with the expertise of both companies. The name “ZAKU” also combines the Japanese 作 [“to create”] with part of our co-development partner’s name. It expresses ZAKU’s approach to making things: combining different technologies and expertise to “create” new value together.

Why I’m writing

One thing I want to be clear about: every ZAKU knife we make is made in Japan, by the craftsmen we visited in 2024, in the workshops we still visit. That was the whole point of the name.

I’m not asking you to think anything about TAIMATSU. I’m writing because when you search “ZAKU knife,” you may land on their page instead of ours, and I will not let the years we spent building this be quietly overwritten by someone who heard the name from me.

How to tell ours apart

The original ZAKU is sold in exactly five places: our four ZAKU Knives stores — Kappabashi, Asakusa, Harajuku and Kyoto Nishiki — and zakuknives.com. You can’t miss the stores: they’re yellow. If the store isn’t yellow, it isn’t ours. ZAKU knives sold at FE stores or anywhere else are a different product using our name.