Sukenari | SKU: SUKE-VGXEOS-NIM-YA27EB

Sukenari VG XEOS Nimai Yanagiba 270mm, Ebony Handle with Single Spacer

Name: Sukenari VG XEOS Nimai Yanagiba 270mm, Ebony Handle with Single Spacer
Brand: Sukenari
SKU: SUKE-VGXEOS-NIM-YA27EB
Price: 649.95 AUD
Availability: InStock

$649.95

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St Peters, NSW —
2 Bishop St, Unit 2, St Peters NSW 2044
+61 2 8234 8818
Crows Nest, NSW —
107 West St, Shop 1, Crows Nest NSW 2065
+61 2 8234 8848
Pickup only
Prahran, VIC —
180 Commercial Road, Shop 1, Prahran VIC 3181
+61 3 8199 9948
Pickup only

Detailed Specifications

Line	Sukenari VG XEOS Nimai Mirror Finish
Profile	Yanagiba / Sashimi knife
Bevel Type	Single Bevel
Weight	200 g \| 7.1 oz
Edge Length	266 mm \| 10 15/32″
Heel Height	32 mm \| 1 17/64″
Width @ Heel	3.6 mm \| 9/64″
Width @ Mid	3.1 mm \| 1/8″
Width @ 1cm from Tip	1.1 mm \| 3/64″
Steel	VG XEOS \| Stainless
Blade Construction	Nimai - Stainless Clad
Hardness (HRC)	62 - 63
Surface Finish	Mirror Polish
Handle
Region	Toyama
Best for	Pro chefs

Free shipping for knives over AU$200 Australia wide.
World-wide shipping via DHL Express, 3 to 5 days.

Carbon steel is the traditional choice for a yanagiba, but it isn’t the only one worth considering. The VG XEOS Nimai line from Sukenari brings a modern stainless steel into a familiar single-bevel format. For those who enjoy preparing sashimi but would rather spend less time worrying about a reactive cutting edge, the appeal is straightforward.

Developed by Takefu Special Steel, VG XEOS is designed to combine high corrosion resistance with hardness and wear resistance. Its special melting process produces a fine microstructure, although Takefu keeps the exact composition undisclosed. Here, it forms the cutting steel in a traditional nimai construction—two layers, with a softer cladding supporting the hardened steel. It’s a combination of modern metallurgy and the established Japanese approach to building a single-bevel knife.

The yanagiba is all about the draw cut: using the length of the blade to slice through a piece of salmon or tuna in one controlled movement, rather than sawing back and forth. This remains a specialist tool, though. Single-bevel sharpening takes some learning, and the fine edge is intended for boneless fish and delicate slicing, not cutting through bones or frozen ingredients.

I’d put this line on the shortlist for chefs and enthusiasts who want traditional yanagiba geometry with a stainless cutting edge. Stainless doesn’t mean maintenance-free, so washing and drying after use still matter, but the core steel is less demanding than White or Blue steel. For sushi chefs and keen home cooks alike, that offers a practical reason to consider something beyond the traditional carbon-steel options.

Pros	Cons
Great for professionals Easy to look after	Mirror polish can be hard to maintain

Care Instruction

Don't cut hard things! Japanese knives are brittle so bone hacking is a NO NO!
Wash with neutral detergent after use, and wipe dry;
Please don't wash knife with dishwasher, it will damage the wood handle;
Be careful not to leave the knife close to a heat source for a long time;
It is a lot more dangerous to cut with a blunt knife than a sharp knife!
It is best to sharpen a Japanese knife regularly on a waterstone.

Sukenari

Sukenari, professional kitchen knives from Toyama

Sukenari Co. makes, sells and repairs professional kitchen knives in Fuchu-machi, Toyama City, under the registered mark 佑成. The company was founded in 1933.

The company's own greeting page explains the mark: its first character is written with the person radical and 右, meaning right, and carries the wish that these knives can become the cook's indispensable right arm.

A 2016 profile by TONIO, Toyama's industry support body, says the founder trained at an old-established Tokyo knife maker and opened the shop in his home region in November 1945, after a wartime evacuation there. Knife regions split forging, sharpening and handle fitting between specialists; that profile says Sukenari makes its knives start to finish under one roof, as that Tokyo house did. Its own site says craftsmen still make every stage by hand, one knife at a time.

The same profile credits Sukenari with honyaki in White 1, a very hard steel that is hard to work and that, it says, only a handful of makers in Japan can handle. It also describes know-how built for ZDP189, harder than White 1, and TONIO-backed forging trials, with metallurgy and measured heat treatment, that led to its ZDP189 wa-gyuto. The profile also tells of OEM work for other professional knife makers and wholesalers since the 2008 downturn. We first visited in April 2016, when Nobuo Hanaki, then president, showed us the forging.

We list ZDP-189 hairline gyuto, K-tip gyuto and santoku; ZDP-247 hairline or Damascus gyuto, K-tip gyuto, santoku and sujihiki; SG2 hairline or Damascus gyuto, K-tip gyuto, gyu-hiki and santoku; HAP40 slim K-tip gyuto and mirror polished yanagiba; VG XEOS Damascus gyuto; VG10 Damascus yanagiba; YXR7 petty; Aogami Super hairline gyu-hiki; Blue 2 deba, K-tip yanagiba and Kanto usuba; White 2 K-tip kiritsuke and K-tip yanagiba. We also list an SG2 honyaki yanagiba, including a K-tip, an SG2 nimai (two-layer) sakimaru takobiki, and VG XEOS nimai yanagiba and kiritsuke yanagiba.

“A Toyama maker of professional kitchen knives since 1933.”

Est. 1933 | 昭和8年

Known for Knives made start to finish under one roof

Website sukenari.jp Instagram @sukenari_official Read more about Sukenari

Knife details

Profile

Yanagiba

柳刃

Sashimi knife · Single bevel

Long single-bevel sashimi slicer with a pointed tip. One clean draw cuts raw fish.

62–63

HRC Hardness

Composition not published

Steel

VG XEOS

Stainless · Takefu Special Steel

Takefu blade steel made by a special melting method; Takefu cites high corrosion resistance and hardness.

Construction

Nimai - Stainless Clad

二枚・ステンレス

2 layers · single bevel

Two layers, single bevel: hard steel on the back, stainless cladding over the other.

Finish

Mirror Polish

Mirror polish

Polished to a true mirror that shows hamon or damascus clearly. Every scratch shows.

Frequently asked questions

What is a yanagiba knife used for in sushi preparation?

A yanagiba (柳刃包丁) is a sashimi knife for slicing raw fish. A knife maker's guide says a sashimi knife cuts without breaking the fibres of the flesh, and that it is longer and narrower than other knives because slicing sashimi with crisp edges needs the length.

The whole length goes through one pulling cut. The Sakai cutlery association calls the yanagiba the sashimi knife used mainly in the Kansai region.

What size yanagiba should I buy?

Size a yanagiba to the fish you prepare: a knife maker's guide gives 270 to 360 mm for professional use and 240 to 270 mm for home use, with 270 mm at home if you slice larger fish.

The guide says the whole length goes through one pulling cut, so do not choose too short a knife, and at home it points to the size of your board and your work space. We list the yanagiba (柳刃) from 210 to 360 mm, some made for left-handed use.

Can a yanagiba cut through fish bones?

No. The Sakai cutlery association describes the yanagiba (柳刃包丁) edge as so acute that it cannot be used on hard things such as bones.

For bones the association describes the deba (出刃包丁), whose heel is used to hit them.

Is VG XEOS a powder steel?

No. Takefu, which developed VG XEOS, says a special melting method gives it a fine microstructure that improves wear resistance, strength and hardenability.

Takefu says X refers to a new material combining corrosion resistance with hardness, while EOS refers to the dawn of a new stage in cutlery.

Is it Sukenari or 佑成?

Sukenari's own site carries both names together, titled the official site of 株式会社スケナリ with 佑成 named as a registered trademark. 佑成 is the house mark that appears on the blades.

So one house answers to both names: Sukenari is the company, 株式会社スケナリ, working from Fuchu machi in Toyama City, and 佑成 is its mark on the steel.

Are Sukenari knives handmade?

Yes. Sukenari says its knives are made by craftsmen by hand, one at a time, at its workshop in Fuchu machi, Toyama City.

The Sukenari lines we stock carry the workshop name in their titles.

What does the Sukenari mark 佑成 mean?

The workshop says the 佑 of its registered mark 佑成 (read Sukenari) is written with the person radical and 右, right, and that the character carries the wish for its tools to become the cook's indispensable right arm.

The company's own site title reads 登録商標佑成 (registered trademark), and 佑成 is the house mark on its blades.

Reviewed by K&S Staff · Last updated 7 July 2026

Sukenari VG XEOS Nimai Yanagiba 270mm, Ebony Handle with Single Spacer

Availability

Detailed Specifications

Sukenari

Knife details

Yanagiba

VG XEOS

Nimai - Stainless Clad

Mirror Polish

Frequently asked questions

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Sukenari VG XEOS Nimai Yanagiba 270mm, Ebony Handle with Single Spacer

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