kiritsuke knife

The single bevel edged Kiritsuke is a versatile knife that can be used to perform some of the tasks usually done by the Yanagiba and Usuba. The heel section of the knife is virtually flat and can be used just like an Usuba. However, because it a essentially a combination of two knives that were developed for very different tasks, this leads to several functional compromises which require considerable skill to workaround. In fact, in many Japanese food restaurants only the head chef is allowed to use them, therefore the single bevel edged Kiritsuke is often considered to be a symbol of expertise and status, or seniority. In appearance, the single bevel edged Kiritsuke resembles a wider version of the Kiritsuke Yanagiba and it shares the same ‘reverse tanto’ / ‘clip point’ tip, which is very useful for precise cutting. The heel section of the knife is virtually flat, and can be used like an Usuba, but the overall blade length is much longer than the typical Usuba. The larger 270mm-330mm sizes are perfectly capable of performing the long drawing cuts usually done with the Yanagiba.