A good knife changes the way you cook. A great Japanese knife changes the way you think about food. I bought my first yanagiba twelve years ago, and the difference it made to my sashimi slicing was immediate and profound. Since then, I have accumulated a collection that some might call excessive, but each knife earns its place.

Japanese knives differ from their Western counterparts in several fundamental ways. They tend to be harder, thinner, and sharper. Many are sharpened on only one side (single-bevel), which allows for a more precise cut but requires a different technique. They are also, generally speaking, more delicate — you would not use a yanagiba to break down a chicken carcass.

The Essential Knives

If you are building a collection from scratch, here are the knives I consider most useful, roughly in order of priority.

Gyuto. This is the Japanese equivalent of a Western chef’s knife and is the most versatile blade you can own. It handles vegetables, boneless proteins, and herbs with equal confidence. Blade lengths typically range from 210mm to 270mm. For most home cooks, 240mm hits the sweet spot.

Petty. A small utility knife, usually between 120mm and 150mm. It handles detail work — trimming, peeling, and precision cuts that feel awkward with a larger blade. I use mine constantly.

Yanagiba. The sashimi knife. This long, single-bevel blade is designed for pulling cuts through raw fish, producing slices with clean surfaces that catch the light. If you make sashimi or nigiri at home, this is non-negotiable. A 270mm blade is standard.

Deba. A heavy, thick-spined knife designed for breaking down whole fish. It can cut through small bones and cartilage that would damage thinner blades. If you buy whole fish from the market, a deba makes the process dramatically easier.

Nakiri. A vegetable knife with a flat, rectangular blade. It excels at producing thin, even cuts of vegetables and is particularly good for the kind of precise julienne work that Japanese cuisine demands.

Steel Types

Japanese knives are made from a range of steels, and understanding the basics helps with purchasing decisions.

Carbon steel (hagane). Traditional and still preferred by many professional chefs. Carbon steel takes an extremely sharp edge and is relatively easy to sharpen. The trade-off is that it is reactive — it will rust and discolour if not dried immediately after use. The patina that develops over time is considered part of the knife’s character.

Stainless steel. More forgiving in terms of maintenance, and modern Japanese stainless steels like VG-10 and R2/SG2 can achieve impressive sharpness. For most home cooks, a good stainless knife offers the best balance of performance and practicality.

Clad construction. Many knives use a hard core steel wrapped in softer stainless cladding. This gives you the edge retention of a hard steel with the corrosion resistance of stainless on the sides of the blade.

Choosing Your First Knife

If I could give only one piece of advice to someone buying their first Japanese knife, it would be this: hold it before you buy it. Balance, handle shape, and weight are personal preferences that no amount of online research can resolve.

That said, a few guidelines help narrow the field. Spend between $150 and $300 for your first serious knife. Below that, you are compromising on steel quality. Above that, you are paying for aesthetics and craftsmanship that, while beautiful, do not meaningfully improve function for a beginner.

Start with a gyuto. It is the knife you will reach for most often, and learning to use it well teaches fundamentals that transfer to every other blade.

Sharpening and Maintenance

A knife is only as good as its edge, and Japanese knives need to be sharpened on whetstones rather than with the honing steels common in Western kitchens. The hardness of Japanese steel means a honing rod can chip the edge rather than realign it.

You need two stones: a medium grit (around 1000) for regular sharpening and a fine grit (3000-6000) for polishing. The technique takes practice but is not difficult. Soak the stone, hold the knife at a consistent angle (typically 10-15 degrees for single-bevel, 15-20 for double), and draw the blade across the stone in smooth, even strokes.

Sharpen every few weeks with regular use. Between sharpenings, keep the edge aligned by stropping on leather or on the fine stone with very light pressure.

Daily Care

Wash Japanese knives by hand immediately after use. Never put them in a dishwasher. Dry them thoroughly, especially carbon steel blades. Store them on a magnetic strip, in a knife roll, or in blade guards — never loose in a drawer where edges can knock against other utensils.

With proper care, a good Japanese knife will last decades and only improve with age as the steel develops its character and you develop your own relationship with the blade. There are few tools in the kitchen that repay attention and respect so generously.