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A row of Japanese kitchen knives displayed against a dark background

Japanese Knives

What to buy after the block set — which shape, which steel, which size, and what each one asks of you in return.

Hone & Handle earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. It does not change what we recommend or the order we rank things in — here is how we choose and here is the full disclosure.

You already own knives and you already know which one you reach for. This section is about what to buy next, and about the three decisions that actually matter.

The upgrade is not really about the word "Japanese". It is about numbers you can check on a manufacturer's own page. A Wüsthof Classic 8-inch is 58 HRC with a 3mm spine and weighs 265g. A Tojiro DP gyuto at 210mm is 59 to 60 HRC with a 1.9mm spine and weighs 187g. Those are two different tools doing the same job, and the difference is something you feel on the first sweet potato.

The three decisions

  1. Shape. A gyuto is the Japanese chef's knife and the right first purchase for almost everyone — same role as what you already use. A santoku is shorter and flatter and suits a small board. A nakiri is flat, tall and tipless, and it cannot touch protein. All ten shapes explained.
  2. Size. 210mm, and measure your cutting board before you argue with that. A 240mm gyuto overhangs a standard home board and you stop using the tip. Size guide.
  3. Steel. VG-10 at around 60 HRC is the default and it deserves to be: fine edge, good retention, stain resistant, easy to sharpen. Powder steels like SG2 hold an edge roughly twice as long and are harder to sharpen and easier to chip. VG-10 against SG2.

Match the knife to the complaint

What your current knife is doing wrong, and what fixes it
The complaintThe fix
Heavy and tiringA lighter Japanese knife — 170 to 190g rather than 265g
Wedges in dense produceA thinner spine — under 2.5mm
Goes dull within a weekA whetstone, first. Then harder steel.
Too long for my boardA 165mm santoku or a 180mm gyuto
Vegetable slices stay joinedA flat edge — a nakiri

Before you buy anything

If your complaint is that the knife goes dull rather than that it feels wrong in the hand, a stone will help you more than a purchase will — and it costs less. Read why your knife is not sharp first. We would rather you spent nothing here than bought the wrong thing.

The rules you take on with the knife

  • No bone, no joints, no frozen food, no prying. Keep a cheap heavy knife for those.
  • Hand wash and dry immediately. The dishwasher is out, for stainless as well as carbon.
  • Soft board only — rubber, hinoki or end-grain wood. Glass, stone, ceramic and bamboo all chip thin edges. Which boards work.
  • Never a pull-through sharpener. It reprofiles a 15-degree edge toward 20 and tears steel out of hard blades. The explanation.
  • Store it sheathed or racked, never loose in a drawer — which chips more tips than cutting does.

What to buy alongside it

A knife is a third of the purchase. The other two thirds are a 1,000-grit stone and a board that is kind to the edge, and both cost less than the knife. A maintained inexpensive knife outperforms a neglected expensive one every single day, which is the single most useful thing on this site.

Start at your first Japanese knife if you want the whole decision in one page, or go straight to the gyuto roundup if you have already decided on the shape.

What to buy

A thin-bladed Japanese chef's knife slicing vegetables on a wooden board

Best gyuto

Best Gyuto Knives

Four gyutos worth owning, with the 210mm versus 240mm question settled and the chipping risk stated plainly.

Our top pick: Tojiro DP Gyuto 210mm (F-808)

A short flat-profiled kitchen knife slicing onions on a board

Best santoku

Best Santoku Knives

Three santokus worth owning, and an honest account of why a santoku suits some kitchens and frustrates others.

Our top pick: MAC Professional 6.5" Santoku (MSK-65)

A rectangular-bladed knife slicing through red cabbage

Best nakiri

Best Nakiri Knives

Two nakiris worth buying, what a flat tipless blade actually does better, and who should not buy one at all.

Our top pick: Tojiro DP Nakiri 165mm (F-502)

A home cook chopping vegetables with a thin-bladed knife

Best under $200

Best Gyuto Under $200

Three gyutos in the band where performance stops scaling with price, and a plain account of what more money buys.

Our top pick: Tojiro DP Gyuto 210mm (F-808)

A group of kitchen knives arranged on a wooden surface

Best for home cooks

Best Knives for Home Cooks

The three-knife kitchen: which knives actually earn drawer space, and which block-set pieces never get used.

Our top pick: MAC Professional 8" Chef's Knife with Dimples (MTH-80)

Head to head

A thin-bladed chef's knife cutting produce on a board

Gyuto vs Chef Knife

The gyuto is a chef's knife rebuilt thinner and harder. Side-by-side numbers from both traditions, and when each wins.

A flat-bladed knife cutting through red cabbage

Nakiri vs Chef Knife

Where a nakiri genuinely beats a chef's knife, where it cannot compete, and which to buy first.

A short-bladed Japanese knife slicing onions

Santoku vs Nakiri

Same length, different jobs: which of the two 165mm Japanese knives belongs in your kitchen.

Japanese kitchen knives arranged against a dark background

Gyuto vs Bunka

What a bunka's reverse-tanto tip actually does, how it compares to a gyuto, and whether it is worth hunting one down.

A patterned steel blade photographed close up

Kiritsuke vs Gyuto

What a kiritsuke is, why the single-bevel version is a professional tool, and why a gyuto is usually the right buy.

A small kitchen knife peeling a potato

Petty vs Paring Knife

Why a petty and a paring knife are different tools, and which of them your kitchen is actually missing.

Two kitchen knives resting side by side

Japanese vs German Knives

Japanese and German kitchen knives compared on published hardness, spine thickness and factory edge angle — with one common myth corrected.

Guides

A cook preparing vegetables with a thin-bladed knife

Your First Japanese Knife

The five decisions behind a first Japanese knife, answered in order, plus the stone you should buy alongside it.

A display of Japanese kitchen knives of several shapes

Japanese Knife Types

A plain-language guide to the ten Japanese knife shapes, and which three a home kitchen actually needs.

A notebook and kitchen tools laid out on a counter

Japanese Knife Sizes

Japanese knife lengths in mm and inches, which suits which board, and the measurement to take before ordering.

Common questions

What makes a Japanese knife different from a Western one?

Two measurable things: hardness and thickness. Japanese kitchen knives typically run 59 to 61 HRC with spines under 2.5mm; Western knives typically run 56 to 58 HRC with 3mm spines. Harder steel takes a finer edge and holds it longer; a thinner blade separates food instead of splitting it. The cost is that a hard thin edge chips where a soft one rolls.

Which Japanese knife should I buy first?

A 210mm gyuto in VG-10 or an equivalent stainless at 59 to 61 HRC. It does the same job as the chef's knife you already use, so nothing about your technique changes, and it is the most versatile shape. Santoku and nakiri are better second knives than first ones.

Are Japanese knives fragile?

Specific rather than fragile. They will chip on bone, frozen food, glass, stone, ceramic or bamboo boards, and on a twisting cut. Keep them off those and a 60 HRC knife is perfectly durable in normal kitchen use.

Do Japanese knives need special sharpening?

They need the right angle — usually 15 to 16 degrees per side — and they need a stone rather than a pull-through sharpener. A 1,000-grit whetstone and a ceramic honing rod covers everything.

Sources