“Sushi Knife” and “Sashimi Knife” refers to "Wa-bocho" or the traditional Japanese style kitchen knives in a narrow sense. But now they sometimes represent whole Japanese kitchen knives worldwide outside Japan.

The Hocho is considered the most important tool for professional and amateur cooks, and a Japanese proverb says "The Hocho is the soul of the cook". Here, we're pleased to show you the comprehensive and detailed explanation about Japanese Sushi & Sashimi knives in this article.

1. General of Sushi and Sashimi Knives (Japanese Chef Knife)

Why so sharp?

In the high-end series for professional use, the Japanese-style kitchen knives are generally said still have better sharpness than the Western-style ones because of the better combination of production method, structure and materials, and are indispensable existence in the Japanese-style dish which requires delicate handling and razor-sharpness for especially slicing raw fish for Sashimi and Sushi in which a cutting end surface divides superiority or inferiority. Originally, all Japanese kitchen knives - Hocho - clearly show their relation to the Samurai sword. The blades are forged traditionally in multiple layers, with an inner core of hard and brittle carbon steel, forgewelded with a thick layer of soft and more ductile iron steel sandwiched around the core so that the hard steel is exposed only at the cutting edge. Only this elaborate procedure ensures an optimum synthesis of breaking strength and ultimate sharpness.