Today, these knives are usually made of stainless steel. In the past, however, to follow tradition, were made of carbon steel as katana: even now the knives have the same value of the latter, because the inside is made up of steel hard and brittle, while the external consists of a steel softer and more malleable (sometimes steel): in this way, the hard steel only occurs only on the cutting edge.

• Features
• Types

Features

Most of the fine Japanese cutlery industries are located in Sakai. Here, in the sixteenth century they began to produce knives for cutting tobacco, when it was imported by the Portuguese in Japan. The deba bocho first, followed by the other models were produced in the Edo period (1603-1687), or, more precisely, Genroku era (1688-1704). Today, the creation of kitchen knives and articles related to them has a major role in the economy of Sakai. Unlike western knives, Japanese kitchen knives are beveled on one side only, because this is usually Arrotati to be sharp on one side only.

From the image, it appears that the Japanese knives, can be angled on one side and the remaining side dish, or angled on both sides of knives with a single angle are harder to use than those with angles on both sides , but they get a better and more precise cutting. Normally the angle is made on the right side, this is because most of the person holding the knife with his right hand. There are also blades for left-handed but cost more. It should be noted that, although angled on one side, however, several knives are sharpened on both sides (is not a general rule, as certain knives are valuable only on the hardened steel plate and are sharpened only on the angle) .

Types

The professional Japanese cooks are accustomed to having a personal set of knives, which is used only by them, some even have two sets of knives personal alternate between them every day. After being used, the first evening, the knives are sharp and then left to rest for a day so that you remove any metallic taste or odor that may be passed to foods cut with knives. Among the models we used:

• Deba bocho: cleaver for fish
• Usuba bocho: Vegetable
• Unagisaki hoch: to cut the eel
• Soba kiri: for soba
• Udon kiri: for udon
• Hanche hoch: to fillet tuna
• Oroshi hoch: to fillet tuna
• Santoku: sushi knife
• Nakiri bocho: Vegetable standard
• Yanagi ba: for sashimi
• Tako hiki: for sashimi
• Fugu hiki: for fugu sashimi-specific