East Meets West with the Top 10 Japanese Knives!

The sharpness of these light weight knives, as well as their ability to cut neatly and intricately, are just some of the reasons they are gaining popular throughout the world. Japanese knives are often more visually appealing than their Western equivalents, displaying some of the artisanship that arose from the forging of samurai swords.

Japanese producers increasingly offer Japanese knives that merge Japanese materials and methods with Western knife designs, recognizing that conventional single beveled Japanese blades are not necessarily as ideal for Western culinary procedures. In this post, we’ll look at Japanese knives that are the result of East meeting West and what they may offer to our kitchens. We also look at how to correctly use a Japanese knife and how to care for it to prevent the danger of corrosion and blade damage. We also go through some of the greatest Japanese knives to help you decide which one is perfect for your slicing and dicing requirements.

Things to Consider Before Buying Japanese Knives

Japanese knives have grown in popularity in recent decades, owing to both globalization and the sharpness of their blades. The sharpness of the blade is undoubtedly the most popular aspect of Japanese knives, but the way the blades are forged allows them to stay sharp for longer before needing to be re-sharpened. Japanese knives often have these capabilities because to the high carbon content of the steel.

While traditional Japanese knives are still created and sold in the United States, we are witnessing an increase in the number of Japanese-made Western-style blades. Western-style knives, such as chefs knives, are made using traditional Japanese forging processes and materials.

The traditional Japanese knife, or Wa-Bocho, dates back to samurai soldiers, and kitchen knives are made using the same hand forging processes used to construct samurai swords.

A chef’s talents in Japanese cuisine are emphasized, among other things, by their meticulous knife skills while preparing and presenting meals. A Wa-Bocho is often a single bevel blade or kataba, with the edge ground on just one side of the blade. Unlike a Western knife, which is doubly beveled for cutting through harder things like meats, the kataba enables delicate products to be sliced fast and accurately without hurting them.

Many Japanese-made Western-style knives are double beveled, despite the fact that double beveled blades were not manufactured in Japan until after WWII. It may take some getting accustomed to using a single bevel blade, but if you want to make fine cutting, it is worth the effort learning how to use one correctly.

Japanese knives are extremely popular due to their beauty. Japanese knives often have a Damascus pattern, which is created by stacking two steels to form a visual pattern down the length of the blade. Certain blades are also tsuchime finished, which is when dimples are placed to the completed blade (typically by hand) to give a hammered and uneven surface that aids in the prevention of food adhering to the blade.

The Difference Between Japanese and Western/European Style Knives

A Japanese knife is much lighter in weight and has a thinner blade than its Western equivalent. The metal between the blade and the handle also maintains its weight down and enables the balance of the knife to move more towards its tip for precise control. The bolster on European knives balances the weight of the blade and adds weight behind the knife edge for added cutting strength.

A Japanese knife should never be used for heavy-duty cutting tasks like chopping through tough vegetables or bones because it will usually chip or even break the blade, whereas a Western or European knife with its thicker and more robust blade is better suited to cutting through harder foods, though it will require more frequent sharpening to keep its edge sharp.

The Japanese knife is more suited to precise and detailed cutting, and its relatively flat blade with a curvature towards the tip helps it to create long and clean slices compared to a Western blade’s curved profile, which allows it to be employed in the rocking technique of chopping.

A typical European steel knife has a Rockwell hardness value of 52 to 56, but a typical Japanese knife has a grade of 58 to 65. The harder the steel, the longer it will take to sharpen the edge.

A Japanese knife has a finer edge of between 10 and 15 degrees, as opposed to a Western knife, which has an angle of roughly 20 to 22 degrees. The narrower angle of the Japanese knife allows it to cut through food with less force from the hand.

The harder the blade, however, the more brittle it gets, which is why Japanese knives chip easily.

Types of Japanese Knives

Traditional Japanese knives feature oval, octagonal, or D-shaped handles (wa-handle), which are commonly made of exotic woods, but Western knives constructed using Japanese methods sometimes have a triple riveted Western handle, also known as a yo-handle, which adds weight to the knife.

A santoku is a Japanese knife that may be used to slice, dice, and mince. A gyuto knife is as versatile as a Santoku knife and looks similar to a Western chefs knife, yet it is lighter in weight and sharper. The gyuto is often used to chop meat in Japanese cuisine, although it may also be used to cut vegetables and fish. A deba knife is a more durable knife for slaughtering fish and fowl, yet it should be avoided when cutting through larger bones since this can chip the blade.

The nakiri, or vegetable cutter, has a rectangular blade similar to a tiny cleaver and is commonly equipped with a single bevel blade; it is used for vegetable preparation employing a push-cut cutting method. Larger veggies may also be peeled using it. A yanagiba, or willow leaf knife, is fashioned like a willow leaf and has a smaller blade that is ideal for making fish fillets and sushi because it can cut through a block of fish in one smooth pull-cut without damaging the texture or look of the fish.

A chutoh, like its Western counterpart, the carving knife, is used for slicing fish and meat, while a shotoh, the Japanese equivalent of a paring knife, is used for peeling and chopping fruit and vegetables.

Japanese Knife Forging

Japanese knives are constructed of hagane or carbon steel utilizing traditional forging and grinding processes used to make samurai swords.

Numerous knives are made in Sakai, which was famous for producing samurai swords in the 1400s. With the Meiji restoration in 1868, the creation and possession of Japanese swords (katana) was prohibited, displacing artisan swordsmiths who knew no other craft and whose expertise and abilities had been handed down from prior generations.

As a result, swordsmiths rapidly learned to make knives for the household utilizing their expertise and equipment, since knife sales were not regulated as sword sales were, and they still sold for a premium price. This ancient artisanship is being applied in the making of Japanese knives today.

The blade material is heated to 2192F or 2372F before being molded by hand or machine in Japanese knife forging. Forging hardens the blade, making it sharp and durable. The knife is then heat treated, honed, sharpened, cleaned, and polished before being fitted with a handle. Several of these techniques may still be accomplished by hand by highly trained bladesmiths.

Traditional Japanese knives are divided into two categories based on whether they were forged using honyaki or kasumi.

Honyaki, also known as true-forge or true-fire, refers to the process of forging a blade from a single piece of exceptionally high carbon steel, such as white steel (shirogami) or blue steel (aogami), resulting in a high gloss blade. This forging is done entirely by hand, similar to how samurai swords were manufactured. It is very time demanding and can only be done by skilled bladesmiths. This kind of traditional Japanese knife is the most costly, and it is difficult to sharpen and maintain.

Kasumi makes knives out of soft iron (jigane) and either high carbon steel or stainless steel. While the blades are not as sharp as those forged using honyaki, they are less costly to purchase and sharpen. The word kasumi translates to mist, which characterizes the hazy look of the knife’s soft-iron body.

Japanese Knife Cutting Tips

If you’re new to using a Japanese knife, take your time and cut gently at first until you’re comfortable with it.

Rather of chopping up and down, a Japanese knife should cut in a fluid slicing motion, similar to a handsaw cutting back and forth through a log. The knife should be purposefully thrust forward and downward before being drawn back towards the body.

If you need to apply a lot of pressure with a Japanese knife, try a different one or inspect the meal for hard bits. You should also avoid wedgeing or prying with the blade as this may damage the blade edge or break the tip. A Japanese knife should not be used to chop bones, frozen meals, hard seeds, or vegetables with thicker skins like pumpkins or melons.

Cutting surfaces made of granite, glass, ceramic, or tile are too hard for a Japanese knife. A soft wood cutting board should be used instead. Scratching the cutting board with your thumb nail is the simplest technique to determine if the surface is soft enough for a Japanese knife. If the surface can be scraped, it is soft enough.

Looking After Your Japanese Knife

Japanese knives, or indeed any good knife, should never be put in a dishwasher. Instead, after using it, wash it by hand with a mild dish soap that does not include citrus extracts or bleach (since these may cause corrosion) and dry it with a soft towel that will not damage the surface of the blade.

It should never be allowed to air dry or be kept soaking in water since this increases the danger of corrosion and causes micro-corrosion (small chips on the cutting edge of the blade).

Humidity also increases the danger of blade corrosion, so if you live in a humid area, your Japanese knife is more likely to acquire rust spots. Moisture will cause the knife’s hardwood handle to expand and even deform if it has one.

Japanese knives should be kept in a knife case, sheath, or block at all times.

Skilled Japanese chefs sharpen their knives on a regular basis, but for the average home user, once a month should serve to maintain the edge uniform and the angle proper on the blade. Sharpening a Japanese knife should always be done using a Japanese whetstone; using a metal sharpener can harm the blade. Weekly honing will assist in keeping the edge sharp between sharpenings.

A coarse grit stone (120 to 400 grit) may be used to remove chips and sharpen a dull blade. A medium grit (800 to 2000) stone may be used for small chips and regular sharpening, while a finishing stone (3000 to 8000) can be used to remove tiny scratches, remove remaining burrs, and polish the blade.

What procedures are used to sharpen a Japanese knife depends on how it is constructed, whether it is single or double beveled, and the angle of its ground edge, therefore you need follow specific guidance from the manufacturer on how to sharpen the knife. If you are not comfortable sharpening it yourself, most premium manufacturers provide sharpening services (as well as chip repair) for a little fee.

Conclusion

We looked at traditional Japanese knives as well as Japanese knives that are a combination of East and West methods and aesthetics in this post. While Japanese knives are well-known for their sharpness and ability to keep a sharp edge, this also increases the brittleness of the blade, making it more prone to chipping or even shattering. Since the blade is also comprised of high carbon steel, it is more prone to corrosion.

Having a Japanese knife does need additional care over time; nevertheless, with most top Japanese knife makers giving lifetime guarantees, it is apparent that with proper care, Japanese knives may last a lifetime. We hope you liked reading our post on the greatest Japanese knives, and that if you haven’t already, you now feel confidence in purchasing a Japanese knife for your kitchen.