Nakiri Knife (called Usuba or Vegetable Knife) is one of the traditional Japanese knife. It usually used to cut vegetables and various cooking methods such as chopping, slicing, and mincing vegetables.
Since vegetables can be cut smoothly, cooking time can be shortened if you use it well.

What is Nakiri Knife?

Nakiri Knife is mainly used for cutting vegetables.

The blade is thinner than other knives, and you can cut vegetables without crushing them. Some people call it Usuba Knife or Vegetable Knife. In general, there are two types of blades, Kanto (Eastern Japan Style) and Kansai (Western Japan Style), and the purpose of usage is a littlie bit different.

What are merits of using Nakiri Knife?

It make it easy to cut vegetables with a little force.
The top of blade is not sharp so that you can cut them smoothly.
It's useful for chopping cabbage or onion.
Because the blade is thin, sharp and straight, you can use it to cut hard vegetables such as radish and pumpkins.
The wide blade is convenient to cut large vegetable.

What are demerits of using Nakiri Knife?

The demerit is that it is difficult to cut meat and fish.
Because the tip of the nakiri knife is curved, the blade does not fit to cut meat and fish. If you cut them with a strong press force, it may cause tooth spills.

Also, because the blade of the nakiri knife is wide, it may hard to store it in the kitchen knife stand. It is recommended to check in advance whether there is a storage space in your kitchen.

How to choose Nakiri Knife

16.5 cm blade length is recommended

Among some nakiri knives, the most convenient blade length for home use is about 16.5 cm. If you're not sure which length is right for you, get 16.5 cm length blade. If you need to cut long or big vegetable, you should get a longer one. It is also useful when you put vegetables on the blade and move them to the pot.

Choose a blade material that suits your needs

There are three types of materials for the blades of nakiri knife.

1.Hagane

Hagane blade is relatively soft material, so it is easy to cut food smoothly. Also, it is possible to adjust to your favorite sharpness by sharping it by yourself. However, it can be rust easily, so careful handling is required, such as diligently wiping off water during cooking. By using it for a long time, it will become more familiar to you and you will feel comfortable with cooking.

2. Stainless or Ceramic

Stainless steel is relatively inexpensive and easy to clean. The sharpness depends on the item, but the more sharpness you want, the more expensive you should choose because the sharpness is in proportion to price.
Some stainless steels are made of a mixture of metals such as molybdenum. They are resistant to rust and have high durability.

If you use Nakiri knife for the first time, we recommend you to try stainless steel because it's inexpensive and it doesn't rust easily. Stainless steel blade has a long-lasting sharpness, even if they are not sharpened frequently.

Ceramic blade is also rust-free, but if you drop or hit it, the blade may be chipped.

It's important to choose which blade type you get.

As you can see this page below, we have popular Japanese brands of Nakiri knives.

We hope you find the one if you don't have it yet. We are sure you will find it's great to have it when you cut vegetables.