Kai
Kai Wasabi Black Santoku 165mm
An affordable entry to the range, a stain-resistant santoku that is a genuinely good everyday knife.
- SteelKai stainless
- Length165mm
- TypeSantoku
Japanese Knives
Harder steel, finer edges and precise work.
TojiroBest first Japanese knife
Tojiro DP Gyuto 210mm
The standard first Japanese chef's knife: VG10 steel, keen straight out of the box, and a fraction of the boutique names. If you buy one Japanese knife, buy this.
- SteelVG10
- Length210mm
- TypeGyuto, chef's
Tojiro
Tojiro DP Sujihiki Slicer 270mm
A long, narrow slicer for carving brisket and joints in single clean strokes without dragging. The Japanese answer to a carving knife.
- SteelVG10
- Length270mm
- TypeSlicer
Kai
Kai Shun Classic Chef's Knife 200mm
A Damascus-clad VG-MAX blade that is as beautiful as it is sharp. A step up in price and refinement from the Tojiro.
- SteelVG-MAX, Damascus clad
- Length200mm
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How to choose
Japanese knives are ground from harder steel at a finer angle, so they take and hold a keener edge than western knives. For precise work, slicing raw fish, trimming, portioning, they are in a class of their own.
The trade is fragility and upkeep. Hard steel chips if you hit bone with it and rusts if you leave it wet, so a Japanese knife is for clean cutting on a board, never for jointing or splitting. Most cooks want one Japanese knife for finesse and one western knife for everything rough.