We picked up two knives from Aritsugu during our trip this spring. They're located in Kyoto's Nishiki Market, which itself was a fun experience. You can look them up on the Internet yourself but in short, they've been making knives for hundreds of years and their origins are from sword crafting.
It's a somewhat small shop so it was kind of crowded. Very helpful staff though. The person who helped us spoke very good English, despite her modesty saying she only spoke a little, and took her time explaining things to us.
We picked up a Yanagiba style sashimi knife (long slender) and a kansai style Usuba knife (standard chef's/kitchen utility). The sashimi knife has gotten less use as we only use it once in a blue moon when we make maki or sashimi. We use the Usuba knife pretty regularly. It's pretty much a standard chef's knife. Both are fairly light (compared to our Henkels) with a wooden handle.
You have some options in your selection. There are different lengths of course. Some knives have one or two sided blades (left or right handed if you choose single bladed). You also can choose carbon steel or stainless. We chose a carbon steel blade since it holds its edge better but of course it'll rust if you don't give it the attention it needs.
They'll also engrave your name on the blade.
The two knives ended up around $250CDN. I'm sure they had higher end knives but we're just wannabe's in the kitchen. [Plus, my wife was watching me and our budget like a hawk.
] They don't take credit cards so bring a chunk of Yen.
Didn't do enough research that I would have liked but I believe there are also some very good knife stores in the outer areas of the Tsukiji fish market. I think Aritsugu has a branch there too.
http://www.aritsugu.com/