Santoku vs Nakiri: Which Japanese Knife to Buy

Shun's Classic santoku is a 7 inch, 178 millimeter blade with a VG-MAX cutting core clad in 34 layers of stainless Damascus on each side, ground to a 16 degree edge on each side. The hollow-ground version adds a row of shallow indentations above the edge that Shun says reduce friction so the blade glides through food, which in practice means slices of cucumber and potato fall away instead of riding up the blade. Shun lists it at 7.1 ounces with a 5 inch D-shaped ebony PakkaWood handle, handcrafted in Japan. When it was introduced, Blade Magazine named it Kitchen Knife of the Year.

The profile is what makes it general-purpose. The edge is flat enough for a straight push cut through an onion, the spine curves to a point that will core a pepper or trim a chicken thigh, and the 7 inch length is short enough to feel precise on a small board. It handles boneless meat and fish as happily as vegetables.

Skip it if you rock-chop herbs by habit or break down whole birds; a Western chef's knife does both better. And treat the edge with respect: 16 degrees is fine and hard, so no bones, no frozen food, no twisting in a squash.

This is the Classic nakiri with Shun's blonde PakkaWood handle: a 6.5 inch, 165 millimeter rectangular blade on the same VG-MAX core and 34-layer-per-side Damascus cladding as the santoku, ground to the same 16 degrees per side. Shun lists it at 7.6 ounces, a little heavier than the santoku because the blade carries its full height all the way to the end. The ebony-handled version is the same knife; at the time of writing it was not sold by Amazon itself, which is why the blonde is here.

Shun describes the nakiri as a knife for push cuts rather than rocking, and that is exactly how it feels. The edge is dead flat, so the whole length meets the board at once and nothing gets left hinged at the bottom of a slice. The tall blade keeps knuckles clear and scoops what you have cut. On a pile of carrots, cabbage or scallions it is faster and cleaner than any santoku or chef's knife.

Skip it as a first knife. There is no point for coring, trimming or scoring, the short flat blade is awkward on meat, and it is $60 more than the santoku. Buy it as a second knife for a vegetable-heavy kitchen.

The Classic 8 inch is forged from one piece of high-carbon stainless steel, hardened to 58 HRC, with a full bolster and a triple-riveted synthetic handle. The listing gives an 8 inch blade, a 5 inch handle and a weight of 8.5 ounces, made in Solingen. Wusthof sharpens its Western knives to about 14 degrees per side, a touch sturdier than Shun's 16 on softer steel.

It rocks through parsley, carves a chicken, and goes through a butternut squash without the owner worrying about the edge. If one knife has to do everything, this is the shape. Our chef's knife vs santoku comparison sets it against Wusthof's own santoku.

Victorinox stamps this santoku from stainless steel in Switzerland, with a Granton edge (the same idea as Shun's hollow grind) and a textured Fibrox handle made for wet hands. The listing says it has been made in Switzerland since 1884, is built for professionals who use knives all day, and carries a lifetime warranty against defects in material and workmanship. Victorinox lists the blade at 6.7 inches and calls the knife dishwasher safe, though hand washing keeps any edge longer.

It is softer steel than the Shun, so it dulls faster and sharpens more easily, and it will never look like a Damascus blade. For a cook who wants to find out whether the santoku shape suits them before spending $130, it is the obvious way to find out.