Yoshimi Kato VG10 Etched Black Damascus Santoku 175 mm with K&S Teak wood 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 its hardening hardness, measured straight after quenching. 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 a hardening hardness of 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 SG2 runs 61 to 65 HRC depending on the maker. Takefu also calls SG2 a powdered stainless high-speed steel.

Yoshimi Kato is known for hand-forged Damascus knives with thin geometry and strong cutting performance, working primarily in SG2 and Aogami Super steels from his workshop in Echizen's Takefu Knife Village. He is the third-generation representative of Kato Knife Manufacturing, which was established in 1948. His reputation rests on precise heat treatment of premium steels and distinctive Damascus patterns.

Kato also produces knives for the Masakage brand. In recent years he has drawn inspiration from his friend Yu Kurosaki, another Takefu Knife Village smith, and developed newer designs such as the Hyo line. His new gallery and workshop recently opened next to Kurosaki's gallery in Takefu, reflecting the close creative relationship between the two makers.

Yes. Yoshimi Kato is the third generation of a smithing house in Echizen, Fukui, founded in May 1948, and he is its representative today.

The company, Kato Uchihamono Seisakusho, is in Echizen City, with its knife department at Takefu Knife Village. The first generation founder was a certified traditional craftsman, and the second generation began knife smithing in 1949.