Shun Classic Santoku Knife 18cm (7")

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.

KAI, the company behind Shun, says VG-MAX builds on the VG10 formula with more carbon for strength and durability, additional chromium for wear and corrosion resistance, and increased tungsten, which it says makes the steel very fine-grained so the edge can be extremely sharp.

KAI attributes corrosion resistance and strength to molybdenum, and impact resistance and carbide formation to vanadium. KAI uses VG-MAX in its Shun Classic and Premier series.

Yes. KAI launched Shun in 2000, and its own history page calls it a premium knife (高級包丁). KAI traces its history to 1908, when Saijiro Endo began making pocket knives, and the company was established in Seki, Gifu, in 1920.

Seki Magoroku is also a KAI brand. KAI says it carries the craft and spirit of the swordsmith Seki no Magoroku into modern knifemaking, fused with KAI's own technology, and its top tier is the Master Line.

Imayo (いまよう) is a series inside KAI's Seki Magoroku line. KAI says its hammered tsuchime pattern gives a luxurious look, and that its high-hardness blade is finished with a three-step sharpening process for a sharp edge with long-lasting cutting performance.

It is one of the series on KAI's Seki Magoroku knives page.

Some of them can. On KAI's Seki Magoroku knives page, three series are stated as dishwasher-safe: the 10000ST, Moegi and Wakatake. KAI also says the 10000ST is suitable for boiling disinfection.

KAI does not state dishwasher use for the other series, Imayo included, so we suggest washing and drying those by hand.