A kitchen knife is called “ho-cho” (or “bo-cho”) in Japanese. Japanese kanji for the word “kitchen knife” is “包丁” and the correct spelling, if written with western letters, is “hou-chou” or “bou-chou”. Some of Japanese knives have the word “hocho” or “bocho” incorporated into their names.
Japanese knives generally are divided into single bevel knives and double bevel knives.
Double bevel knives have a bevel on both sides of the blade. Single bevel knives have a wide grind on the open side (right side) of the knife. The opposite backside of the knife looks flat. The wide grind on the open side of a single bevel knife is called “kireha” (translates from Japanese as “blade road“). Kireha is generally ground at a very acute angle. Most of the sharpening on a single bevel knife happens on the kireha side.
Double bevel knives
Double bevel knives include gyuto (Japanese equivalent to a western chef’s knife), santoku (knife used in the home kitchen), nakiri (knife used mostly for cutting vegetables), sujihiki (western type slicer) and petty knife. There are even more double bevel knife types in Japan. Double bevel knives can be made both with traditional Japanese handles and with western type handles as well.
Japanese double bevel knives are manufactured both as a monosteel version and as a laminate version, where several different layers of steel unite into one blade. Typical lamination methods include “san-mai” and “warikomi” laminate, where hard steel core is sandwiched between two layers of softer steel. Another popular lamination method is known as “damascus” laminate.
Japanese double bevel knives have more often than not a more asymmetrical grind. Instead of more typical western grind, when the edge is ground symmetrically at 50/50 ratio, Japanese prefer a 70/30 ratio. Some knives are even ground at 90/10 ratio. Asymmetrical grind generally allows the edge to have a more accurate angle, which results in a more sharper edge.
Single bevel knives
Common single bevel knives include yanagiba (sashimi slicer), takobiki (square tipped sashimi slicer), deba (japanese filleting knife), usuba (professional knife for vegetables). There are many other single bevel knife types in Japan. Single bevel knives are more often than not being outfitted with japanese style handles.
Japanese single bevel knives are manufactured both as a mono-steel version and as two (or more) layer laminate. Mono-steel versions are called “honyaki” and laminated versions made out of two layers are called “kasumi“. Damascus patterned, many layer laminated single bevel knives are commonly being called “kitaeji“. In laminated versions the layer of the hard steel creates the cutting edge of the knife and softer steel layer creates most of the body of the knife.
One unique feature of japanese single bevel knives is a hollow part on the backside of the blade. This hollow part is called “urasuki” in Japanese. To find urasuki on your single bevel knife, just look at it’s backside, the one that appears flat. There is actually a slight hollow grind on this flat looking side of your knife. This hollow grind part is the urasuki. Thanks to the urasuki feature a single bevel knife can cut much better. The concave pocket of air in the urasuki prevents the food from coming into contact with the whole blade, thus reducing friction. Urasuki also provides some other benefits as well.
Japanese kitchen knives are generally made out of much harder steel than their western counterparts. Harder steel allows for much greater edge retention – that is why Japanese knives stay sharp for much longer than western knives. Another benefit of harder steel is that the knife blades manufactured in harder steel can be made thinner than blades made out of softer steel. That translates into less weight and that is why Japanese knives of similar size are lighter than their western counterparts.
We at hawatari have put together a list of the more common (and less common) Japanese knife types and styles. The list can be found in Japanese knife types section.
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