That is a pretty knife. I like the hamon. (for those not familiar: line of crystallized, milky steel between the harder and softer parts of the blade). But I agree with you completely.
When I worked at the custom knife shop, sharpening was one of the big things we did. I was 16 at the time, and I had to learn to do it right, especially as customers often brought in very expensive custom knives. My left arm was mostly bare, from demonstrating sharpness to customers. Our primary tool was a two-inch belt sander type sharpener, but with almost paper smooth belts, and a very good system to maintain the angle of the edge. But we had a full array of other sharpening methods, including good natural Japanese water stones.
These days, I do a lot of knife restoration. Knives, swords and daggers brought back during the World Wars were once considered fine for the kids to play “army” with. Now, they are mostly museum items.
But tell me about your knives, and the methods you use. You can PM me if that would be better.
My shrine to the cult of extreme sharpness:
Yes, There are well made “auto-sharpeners”, and if speed is what you need, then by all means use a high quality sharpening machine. My ire is against the scraper type which are nothing more than blade abuse tools.
And yeah, I grew up in a household with Japanese folk, part of my extended family owned a butcher shop where I spent my weekends, my grandfather was a kendo/iaido instructor with a sword collection, and we all learned how to use and sharpen knives from a wee age, so I am totally biased towards hand sharpening.
But, I’ll say that if you need a absolutely regular precision edge, then it needs to be hand sharpened. The machines only grind the section that the wheels are in contact with, so if you don’t have an absolutely steady pull through them, you get a subtle “wave” on the edge. There’s a reason you never see a sushi chef using a machine… (and yeah, I get that the sushi chef’s biases are probably the same as mine 
).
Yeah, when people bring me really damaged blades, I start on a 2x72" Burr King, then it’s off to the stones. A Tormek wet waterstone grinder would be a nice addition to my shop, but as I’ve already plonked the $ down/inherited a set of waterstones, I can’t bring myself to spend the $ on one.
Absolutely agree here. If I ever get a proper Sashimi knife (Yanagi?), I will only hand sharpen it. Minute deformations matter with work that delicate, I’m sure!
Proper Japanese sushi knives also usually have a chisel grind, and I don’t know of any machines that are made to work those.
here’s a pic from wiki:
(A and C)
One of my friends’ Mom is absolutely abusive to her sushi knife that they bought in Japan. It’s such a nice handmade blade, and it shows up at my house for repair with chips and nicks out of the edge 
I’ve actually had to re-grind the whole edge due to damage before re-sharpening…
I’ve got a Sushi knife that I can’t even use 'cos I’m left-handed. I imagine one suitable for weirdo mutants like me costs waayyyy more than a righties blade… 
Probably no more than a righty model, just a bit harder to find. Super easy if you opt to get a custom one made for you (which will run a bit more than a production model, but let’s be honest, if you’re going to splurge a bit to get a good knife imported from Japan, you might as well spend a wee bit more and get exactly what you want).
Wow, just googled it, and you can get lefty yanagi for anywhere from $140 on up. The $140 one is a smaller “production” one, but let’s be honest, even the “factory” ones are high quality blades made from laminated steel by a smith, just not one with a name yet (I was checking out “the epicurean edge” and they’ve got a whole host of lefty blades).
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