What are Honyaki Kitchen Knives?

Knife

Honyaki kitchen knives are traditional Japanese chef's knives used for various different tasks in the kitchen. A honyaki set can include utensils for slicing (takobiki), sashimi preparation (yanagiba and deba), vegetable chopping (usuba) and eel preparation (unagi), as well as an oyster knife, spike and tweezers. Modern Honyaki kitchen utensils are commonly crafted from aluminium or stainless steel for strength and durability.

Each Honyaki utensil has been specifically designed for a particular purpose in food preparation, such as filleting fish or making julienne strips. These designs have been honed and adapted over hundreds of years of expert use, making the utensil you hold in your hand today exceptionally suited to cutting, slicing, dicing or hacking apart.

Honyaki utensils were originally formed from the same carbon steel used to make katanas, the traditional, deadly swords used by Japanese Samurai. Carbon steel is very hard and brittle, making for a precise, sharp and effective cutting edge to the utensil. Today, the more expensive sets feature a similar construction, with an inner core of carbon steel mostly surrounded by a layer of soft but corrosion resistant steel.

Some solid carbon steel honyaki utensils are still being manufactured and sold, however, and have a very elite following of professional chefs and Japanese cultural pedants. Because these models have a singular construction, they typically retain a sharp blade for much longer than other frequently used utensils. This is useful because they can be very difficult to sharpen and should be taken to a professional sharpener or skilled chef for maintenance.