Gyuto, santoku or nakiri

At Yaiba the three shapes come from the same series, the same steel and the same handle. What separates them fits in one sentence: they do not ask for the same movement.

The gyuto: the rocker

Long blade, curved belly, fine tip. The curve lets you keep the tip on the board and roll the blade back and forth. It is the fastest movement for chopping parsley or slicing a shallot in quantity.

That same curve makes it versatile beyond vegetables: the tip goes into a joint, the length lets you slice a roast in a single pass.

For whom: anyone who wants a single knife, or who cooks meat.

The santoku: the straight cut

Shorter blade, taller, dropped tip. The edge is nearly straight, so it does not roll. You cut top to bottom, the slice falls, you move along.

The movement is easier to keep even than the rocker, and less tiring over a large quantity. The height of the blade shields your fingers and doubles as a scoop for carrying the dice to the pan.

For whom: anyone who mostly cuts vegetables and fish, and dislikes the rocking motion.

The nakiri: the specialist

Rectangular blade, no belly, no tip. The edge meets the board from end to end, which guarantees that every stroke cuts the whole slice.

It is the shape that gives the most regular juliennes and the finest chiffonades. In exchange, it does not pierce, does not bone and does not trim.

For whom: anyone who cooks a lot of vegetables and already owns a versatile knife.

Three shapes you will be offered elsewhere

These three keep coming up in Japanese catalogues, and we do not sell them. Worth knowing what they do before buying one out of curiosity.

The kiritsuke

A gyuto whose tip is cut on a slant, in a clean diagonal. The blade is flatter than a gyuto’s, so it rocks less, and the angular tip works flat to score or incise.

In Japan it was the knife of the head of the kitchen, in the hierarchical sense. Traditional Japanese versions are ground on one side only, which calls for a trained hand and a particular sharpening; western double-bevel versions handle like a stiff gyuto. Either way the tip is fragile and snaps the first time you pry with it.

For whom: anyone who already masters the gyuto and wants a precise tip. We do not sell it.

The bunka

The kiritsuke’s little brother: 16 to 18 cm, the same slanted tip, the blade height of a santoku. It sits exactly between the two, versatile on the board, precise at the tip.

It is the fashionable shape, and it is the choice of someone who already owns a versatile knife and wants a second, sharper-handling one. For a first blade, the santoku does the same job without a tip to look after.

For whom: a second knife, after the gyuto or the santoku. We do not sell it.

The deba

Nothing like the other two. A thick, heavy, short blade ground on one side only: it is a fish knife. You use it to scale, to lift fillets, to part a head or a backbone. Its weight does the work the edge cannot do delicately.

A deba does not cut vegetables, does not slice meat, and its single bevel has to be reset on a stone on one face only. It is a fishmonger’s tool, excellent for anyone filleting fish every week, pointless for everyone else.

For whom: anyone working whole fish. We do not sell it, and none of our knives replaces it: our 15 degree blades must not touch a bone.

The table, if you want to decide quickly

If you…	Take
have only one knife to buy	the 20 cm gyuto
cut mostly vegetables, in quantity	the 17.5 cm nakiri
want a versatile knife without the rocking motion	the 18 cm santoku
already own a good chef’s knife	the nakiri, or the paring knife
are after a precise tip	the kiritsuke or the bunka, elsewhere
fillet whole fish	the deba, elsewhere

What does not change

Whatever the shape, the steel is the same, the angle is the same, the care is the same. A single 1000 / 3000 stone maintains all three, and the same rules apply: no dishwasher, no bone, no glass board.

Frequently asked