Hatsukokoro Hayabusa VG10 Damascus Tsuchime Santoku 180mm Ebony Handle

The gyuto came to Japan with the beef-eating culture of the Meiji era, and that is where its name comes from. Tojiro says it is used for all kinds of cooking, which is why it is also called the chef's knife.

The santoku is a household knife that combines the good points of the nakiri and the gyuto. Tojiro describes it as all-purpose, from vegetables to meat and fish, double-bevel and built on the same construction as a Western knife.

Choose a gyuto if you want more length and reach. Choose a santoku if you want a shorter all-purpose knife. Tojiro's own size figures: gyuto 150 to 210mm for household use and up to 360mm for professional use, santoku 165 to 170mm for household use.

Match the shape to your stroke. Rock chopping keeps the tip on the board and rolls the curved belly through the food, so a gyuto or a Western chef's knife suits it, and Japanese knives rock fine as long as you rock gently.

Up-and-down chopping, the Chinese style, wants a straight run of edge, so a nakiri, usuba, santoku or bunka suits it better; a curved edge chopped straight down easily leaves pieces joined. Neither shape is better; it depends on how you cut.

A Japanese dictionary explains the name of the santoku (三徳包丁) as coming from the three things it handles: meat, fish and vegetables. The same dictionary entry points from the santoku to the bunka (文化包丁), treating the two as one knife.

One Japanese knife maker guide distinguishes the two by the tip. It says that in the Showa era the bunka was made with its tip cut at an angle, and the santoku came after it by rounding that tip.

Yes, it can. Takefu, which makes VG10 (V金10), lists it among its stainless steels, and the JSSA notes that stainless strictly means rust-resistant, not rust-proof.

Takefu lists VG10's chromium content as 15% and describes its corrosion resistance as excellent. We recommend drying the knife after washing.

Takefu, the steelmaker behind VG10, gives HRC 60 or more as a standard value. The hardness of a finished knife depends on its maker.

Takefu says the steel's 15% chromium, 1% molybdenum and 1.55% cobalt give it high hardness and a long-lasting edge, and that it is easy to sharpen.

Both are Takefu blade steels, and they differ in class and in what Takefu publishes about each. Takefu lists VG10 as a stainless steel with 1.00% carbon, 15.00% chromium, 1.00% molybdenum, 0.25% vanadium and 1.55% cobalt, at HRC 60 or more.

Takefu describes SG2, its Super Gold 2, as a blade steel created by powder metallurgy, lists its composition as not disclosed, and gives HRC 62 or more. Takefu also calls SG2 a powdered stainless high-speed steel.

Hatsukokoro (初心) is a brand, not a forge. H&K, a company founded in 2013 and based in Amagasaki, Hyogo, created it in 2019.

H&K names the producer for some lines, for example Shinkiro by Takahiro Nihei in Fukushima, Ginyou by Yoshihiro Yauji in Echizen and Kurosagi by Motokyuichi Hamono in Nagasaki, and keeps others confidential. Some knives we stock carry the maker in the title, such as Hatsukokoro x Yoshikane SKD Nashiji.

The name comes from the Japanese proverb 初心忘るべからず, which means don't forget your original intention. The company read it gently as hatsukokoro rather than shoshin.

H&K created the brand in 2019, six years after the company was founded, and chose the name for its knife line.