About Shun
Shun Cutlery traces its roots to 1908, when Saijiro Endo set up shop in Seki City, Japan, a town with a blade-making tradition stretching back over 800 years. The company grew into Kai Corporation, and in 2002 a direct descendant of the founder, Kai chairman and CEO Koji Endo, launched Shun as the brand's showcase line for the North American and European markets. The name refers to the Japanese culinary idea of shun, the peak seasonal moment for an ingredient, and Endo designed the logo the brand still uses today.
Every Shun knife is still made in Seki City, carried through more than 100 individual manufacturing steps, and the lineup now spans series from the entry-level Sora to the hammered-finish Premier and the minimalist, Damascus-free Kanso. The brand built a following well beyond cutlery circles: chef and TV host Alton Brown, a longtime enthusiast of Shun's blades, collaborated with the company on the Alton's Angle chef's knife, a signature design with an angled handle for extra knuckle clearance over the cutting board.
Brand website: shun.kaiusa.com
What Shun makes
Shun's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Classic series
VG-MAX steel core under 68-layer Damascus cladding with a D-shaped Pakkawood handle, the line featured in our testing — featured on DIYRated
Premier series
same VG-MAX core finished with a hand-hammered tsuchime pattern that helps release food from the blade
Kanso series
stone-washed AUS10A steel with a Tagayasan wood handle and no Damascus cladding, aimed at a simpler, minimalist build
Sora series
San Mai construction with a VG10 edge over a softer steel core and an NSF-certified polymer handle, the brand's entry-level line
Classic Pro series
an updated take on the Classic line's core construction
Kitchen shears and accessories
shears, honing steels, and knife blocks sold alongside the blade lineup
Why we recognized Shun
The DIYRated Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Shun earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, put to work on real jobs, and judged on merit.
Shun products we rated highly
Shun Classic 6-Piece Knife Block Set
The VG-MAX steel core is hardened to roughly 60-61 HRC, arriving scalpel-sharp out of the box and holding that edge longer than the softer German steel in our testing. The 68-layer Damascus cladding is genuinely striking, standing out as the best-looking set we reviewed, and the free lifetime Shun mail-in sharpening program keeps the edge factory-sharp for the life of the set. It carries Amazon's Choice status with a 4.7-star average across 400 reviews, strong validation for a true Japanese set at this tier.
Read the 8 Best Kitchen Knife Sets of 2026 guide →What earned Shun the recognition
- Over a century of blade-making heritage in Seki City, Japan, carried forward through the Kai Group since 1908.
- Every Shun knife is manufactured in Seki City through a process of more than 100 individual steps, rather than outsourced to a lower-cost facility.
- The Classic set's VG-MAX steel core reaches roughly 60-61 HRC, giving it a sharper, longer-lasting factory edge than the softer German steel typically used in Western knife sets.
- A free lifetime mail-in sharpening program keeps the blades factory-sharp for as long as the owner has them, a warranty benefit few competitors match.
- A rare crossover into pop culture and celebrity-chef endorsement, including a signature chef's knife co-designed with Alton Brown.