Japanese domestic knife use

It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of the population, worldwide apparently, pay little to no attention to their kitchen knives and sharpening thereof. Enthusiasts such as ourselves are the exception obviously but everyone else just seems to use any old piece of crap floating around in a drawer or some overpriced, slickly marketed piece of crap sitting in a knife block which came with their set.

Which got me thinking. What do Japanese nationals use in their homes? Given that they have some of the best and most beautiful knives in the world right on their doorstep, what do Mr and Mrs Average use in their homes? Do they use the knives we lust after or do they use the same crap the rest of the world does?

Just curious.

The question has come up here before and from what I remember, members in Japan have said the average home cook has no particular interest in the high end blades we lust over.

I would not be surprised if the most common knife was a santoku. Japanese homes I've visited are rather small compared to American homes. It's probably impractical to wield a large 240mm gyuto.

If you look in the "standard" section of Watanabe's website, you'll see a number of santokus, nakiris, and debas.

The Santoku is the most common - if one knife. It is aptly called a Bannou knife. Some households will have a gyuto, nakiri, petty. Western handles are nearly universal, both carbon and stainless blades are common. Younger Japanese housewives in urban areas usually buy fish pre-cut and packaged. Whereas in rural areas, towns with fisheries, older people will certainly have Deba or two and at least a Yanagiba. Any household where the someone goes fishing will have them as well. As mentioned, many Japanese homes have small kitchen work areas and the Manaita (cutting board) doesn't allow comfortable use (or need) for much more than 165/180mm blade length. A 210 is a "big"knife for a home.

Henckels

I bet if you go back several decades and into the hinterlands of Japan you would have seen some interesting blades. Now there isn't much left in the way of "hinterlands" or local blacksmiths.
Being a Chuka enthusiast myself, I would think China might have some local cleaver use that would be interesting to see or hear about. Granted, not high-end blades to be sure.

Thanks everyone for your input but particularly KenHash for your detailed information. The limited space explains why small santoku are popular but I'm curious as to why Western handles are so prolific. Is there any particular reason for that? Is it because the santoku is a relatively modern style of knife driven by Western influence?

OliverNuther said:

Thanks everyone for your input but particularly KenHash for your detailed information. The limited space explains why small santoku are popular but I'm curious as to why Western handles are so prolific. Is there any particular reason for that? Is it because the santoku is a relatively modern style of knife driven by Western influence?

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The professional chefs here are probably aware, but there are two "main" styles of cooking in Japan. The first is Washoku 和食, which is the traditional Japanese cuisine and that includes uncooked fish dishes like sashimi. The other is Yoshoku 洋食 which refers to Western cuisine. While Yoshoku can be traced to the Nanban 南蛮　cuisine brought to Japan by the Portugese in the 1500s, it is the Meiji era (1868-1912) where most of the Western cultural influence entered Japan. And this is when the traditional wabouchou 和包丁 began to get replaced by western styled
youbouchou 洋包丁。In fact the earliest name for a Gyuto was Youbouchou. based on a French (I think) Chef knife.
From here, the Japanese diet shifted to include more meats than before, and western dishes became popular. And along with the dishes, western styled cooking knives became popular. BTW, some of these western dishes have become "Japanized" over the last 100 years and aren't really thought of as "western" anymore. Similarly, Youbouchous aren't really seen as "western" anymore either.
Today Wabouchou is seen mostly in use by older people, rural areas and predominantly by chefs in Washoku restaurants where some of the beautiful knives seen here can be found. But for most Japanese born after WWII traditional Wabouchous are looked upon as old fashioned and
tools of professional washoku chefs. Sorry for the lengthy answer but hope it answers your question.

If you have access, watch Bourdain's Parts Unknown season 8 show 7. most of the show is following Michelin star chef Masa Takayama to various places in Japan. almost all the cutting is done with a santoku style blade except at the prep/serving area of a high end sushi restaurant. when preparing basic home cooked food, even Chef Takayama used a 6-7" santoku exclusively.

KenHash said:

But for most Japanese born after WWII traditional Wabouchous are looked upon as old fashioned

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This is the answer right here. Being trendy and conforming is at the heart of Japanese culture, and since 1950 that has meant embracing technology and modernity. One of the Takamura brothers said that something like 90% of Japanese knifemakers are no longer in business.

**Wabouchou = anything not a factory made, western handled santoku/gyuto

aaamax said:

I bet if you go back several decades and into the hinterlands of Japan you would have seen some interesting blades. Now there isn't much left in the way of "hinterlands" or local blacksmiths.
Being a Chuka enthusiast myself, I would think China might have some local cleaver use that would be interesting to see or hear about. Granted, not high-end blades to be sure.

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China is something I have a lot more experience with than Japan. Your basic rectangular cleaver is universal in a wide range of sizes and weights. Most of the younger generation prefer a cleaver with a western style handle and consider the carbon steel versions old fashioned. Meat cutters and fish mongers do have a variety of other style knives you seldom see outside the local areas.

Wow, impressive amount of detailed info. Thank you everyone and again KenHash in particular for the history and background. I will look up that Parts Unknown episode thanks Scott; I like Bourdain's work.

It seems ironic that younger Japanese are trying to embrace Western culture while, mostly Western, groups like us are trying to preserve traditionalJapanese culture, Wa handles, hand made blades etc. it reminds me of sitting in the food court at the local shopping centre the other day; I was eating nori rolls and the 2 Japanese at the table next to me were eating KFC and Macdonalds! East meets West meets East.

Thank you everyone for sharing your time and knowledge.

I looked the Parts Unknown episode up and watched it. Look for No. 6 rather than 7 but I didn't see a lot of santoku in it. Deba, nakari, and gyuto mostly.

Super interesting thread, thanks.

@OliverNuther "It seems ironic that younger Japanese are trying to embrace Western culture while, mostly Western, groups like us are trying to preserve traditionalJapanese culture"

And if both groups are better off for it?

It's interesting that this was posted because I just asked my wife 2 days ago as to what she used when she was in Japan. She pointed at a gyuto knife on my mag strip and said "that one, but smaller." She ended up throwing it away. She couldn't figure out why it rusted right away. Of course, she didn't know it was carbon so she bought another knife that said stainless. I asked her if the knife had a kanji engraving and she said yes it did. She was so mad because it cost her so much to buy it. For all I know, it was a Shig that somehow eludes me so much. 😀 She said that normal household cooks don't really value knives as much as we do here. It's no wonder she still doesn't understand my fondness with Japanese knives.

I try to tell people cultural appropriation is a good thing. It's MISappropriation which is terrible.

LifeByA1000Cuts said:

@OliverNuther "It seems ironic that younger Japanese are trying to embrace Western culture while, mostly Western, groups like us are trying to preserve traditionalJapanese culture"

And if both groups are better off for it?

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Then it's a good thing. All parties get what they want and traditional skills aren't lost to history.

Dave Martell said:

Henckels

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Funnily enough, I actually saw a lot of Wusthof and Henckels at high-end stores in Japan including some interesting damascus stuff. One of my Japanese friends who loves cooking also told me he dreamt of buying a Wusthof some day.

I was wondering about something slightly different: is there a knife knut community in Japan and if so, what kind of knives do they have?

Drosophil said:

I was wondering about something slightly different: is there a knife knut community in Japan and if so, what kind of knives do they have?

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I think they call them blacksmiths. :rofl2:

There is certainly a custom knife community and at least one great knife magazine that covers kitchen cutlery fairly often. Of course, that doesn't mean the average housewife is overly interested in handmade blades.

@Silky into what style of cooking is he?

Silky said:

Funnily enough, I actually saw a lot of Wusthof and Henckels at high-end stores in Japan including some interesting damascus stuff. One of my Japanese friends who loves cooking also told me he dreamt of buying a Wusthof some day.

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The grass is always greener....

Silky said:

Funnily enough, I actually saw a lot of Wusthof and Henckels at high-end stores in Japan including some interesting damascus stuff. One of my Japanese friends who loves cooking also told me he dreamt of buying a Wusthof some day.

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Yup. That's something of a remnant of the "adoration of all things Western" that started in the late 1800s and still continues. You see quite a lot of BMWs. Mercedes and Jeeps on the Roads in Japan. Its very fashionable to be using German brand knives among the well to do younger set.

Mid seventies I encountered Japanese admirers of fairly outdated Zeiss-Ikon and Leicaflex cameras, ignoring what their Nikon, Canon and Olympus where capable of. But the German cameras were crazy expensive in Japan due to huge import taxes.

So is there truth to Zwilling Cermax and Miyabi not being as targeted to western markets as it seems?

@Benuser yes, but if literature from that time can be believed, even Germans still considered a Leitz or Contax a notch above everyone else, japanese being seen as second highest grade but still getting a lot of respect. And IIRC there was a Leitz-Minolta cooperation on a few 70s cameras ... XE and/or XD series, still well respected in the chemical-film crowd today?

Trigger Warning! 70's film cameras are a deep rabbit hole

I'm quite aware people in Germany saw a Leicaflex as superior in the mid seventies, but I just wondered Japanese did the same, while their Nikon had some fifteen years advantage.

LifeByA1000Cuts said:

@Benuser yes, but if literature from that time can be believed, even Germans still considered a Leitz or Contax a notch above everyone else, japanese being seen as second highest grade but still getting a lot of respect. And IIRC there was a Leitz-Minolta cooperation on a few 70s cameras ... XE and/or XD series, still well respected in the chemical-film crowd today?

Trigger Warning! 70's film cameras are a deep rabbit hole

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It may be a rabbit hole but every pro I know has a pile of them someplace in a closet gathering dust. I know I do. Those that didn't adapt to digital are no longer shooting for print magazines.