Oh man, my pet peeve! I use yanagiba, usuba, and very occasionally the real kiritsuke in my job.
People think a real kiritsuke is multi-purpose, but in reality it's even more specialized than a yanagiba or usuba imo. As others have said, it was designed to be both a cross between an usuba and yanagiba - the caveat being that it does each job less well than their counterparts. The person who uses this knife is usually at the top of the kitchen hierarchy and not busting out a thousand plates of sashimi in a night. Think of this person as overseeing the kitchen, making adjustment to plates, and in a pinch pushing something out themselves. In this scenario, a real kiritsuke makes sense because this person can use one knife to do most things he need and can overcome the innate deficiencies of the knife with technique and experience.
For somebody without the technique and experience, a kiritsuke is a knife that does the job of two incredibly specialized knives, just less well. It is NOT a multi-purpose knife in the sense that it is usually described as by most people.
The kiritsuke yanagiba is just a fun variation on the yanagiba (though in my experience is somewhat less practical than a standard yanagiba). Yanagiba have a natural curve to them that works very well for pull cuts for slicing sashimi in one go. By adding the k-tip, you by nature reduce the amount of curvature you get. For the hobbyist or itamae doing a small amount of covers in a night, it's not a big deal. For somebody in an izakaya pumping out literally hundred of plates of sashimi, a yanagiba is going to feel a lot better.
Someone else said it earlier, but a real kiritsuke is going to have a higher height and usually wider shinogi. It's also going to have a flatter profile. A kiritsuke yanagiba is should still have some of the signature curvature of a yanagiba.
The counterpoint to all of this, as @bsfsu mentioned is that a lot of people make whatever they think will sell and call it whatever sounds cool. I saw a "kiritsuke deba" the other day. I can't think of any good reason for it. Purely just making crap to sell regardless of it's useability.
People think a real kiritsuke is multi-purpose, but in reality it's even more specialized than a yanagiba or usuba imo. As others have said, it was designed to be both a cross between an usuba and yanagiba - the caveat being that it does each job less well than their counterparts. The person who uses this knife is usually at the top of the kitchen hierarchy and not busting out a thousand plates of sashimi in a night. Think of this person as overseeing the kitchen, making adjustment to plates, and in a pinch pushing something out themselves. In this scenario, a real kiritsuke makes sense because this person can use one knife to do most things he need and can overcome the innate deficiencies of the knife with technique and experience.
For somebody without the technique and experience, a kiritsuke is a knife that does the job of two incredibly specialized knives, just less well. It is NOT a multi-purpose knife in the sense that it is usually described as by most people.
The kiritsuke yanagiba is just a fun variation on the yanagiba (though in my experience is somewhat less practical than a standard yanagiba). Yanagiba have a natural curve to them that works very well for pull cuts for slicing sashimi in one go. By adding the k-tip, you by nature reduce the amount of curvature you get. For the hobbyist or itamae doing a small amount of covers in a night, it's not a big deal. For somebody in an izakaya pumping out literally hundred of plates of sashimi, a yanagiba is going to feel a lot better.
Someone else said it earlier, but a real kiritsuke is going to have a higher height and usually wider shinogi. It's also going to have a flatter profile. A kiritsuke yanagiba is should still have some of the signature curvature of a yanagiba.
The counterpoint to all of this, as @bsfsu mentioned is that a lot of people make whatever they think will sell and call it whatever sounds cool. I saw a "kiritsuke deba" the other day. I can't think of any good reason for it. Purely just making crap to sell regardless of it's useability.
