What is the difference between a Japanese and Western knife?

The difference between Japanese and Western knives

Japanese knives might somehow imply that they are made for Japanese cuisine. So, what do we mean by Western knives? If you don’t know the difference between the features, let’s start with these two types of knives.

Characteristics of Japanese knives

Recently, stainless steel knives have been manufactured, but Japanese knives are basically made by combining steel and soft iron . To combine soft iron and hard steel, The good points of these two metals are that they produce knives that are difficult to break and sharp.

Japanese knives have double-edged blades, but in very rare cases they may only have one . Their sharpness is the best and It allows cutting without damaging the cross-sectional structure of the ingredients. Japanese knives are therefore recommended for handling fish, decorating and slicing .

Since the blade is delicate due to its sharpness, it is easy for the blade to tip over and you have to be careful when cleaning it .

Typical examples are the Deba knives and sashimi knives . Sashimi knives are also called Yanagi blade knives. In addition, thin blade knives, vegetable knives, eel knives, eel knives, fugu knives, and noodle knives that cut soba and udon are also classified as Japanese knives.

Characteristics of Western Knives

Western knives are generally double-edged . The primary purpose of Western knives is to cut meat, therefore, the objective The main one is the "push cut", in which the force is firmly applied to cut the meat fibers. On the other hand, sashimi knives are "out" to give you the opportunity to pull them towards you.

There are different types of knives depending on the purpose of use, but I think the ones you are familiar with are "chef's knives" and "Santoku knives" . Due to their different possibilities, they are increasingly used at home as All-purpose kitchen knives . Western knives are sorted into several categories, such as small knives, ridged/carving knives, meat knives/butcher knives, slicers, butter knives, cheese knives, etc.

What materials are kitchen knives made of?

The materials of kitchen knives are roughly divided into “steel”, “stainless steel” and “ceramic ”.

Stainless steel and ceramic are mainly used for Western knives, and steel is often used for Japanese knives, but of course there are also Japanese ceramic knives and Western steel knives. It is a good idea to choose the type of kitchen knife according to the intended use and the kitchen knife that suits you according to the characteristics of the material.