Santoku-Bocho: The Japanese Kitchen Knife
By Kaku Nanashi The santoku-bocho is a ubiquitous fixture in the contemporary Japanese kitchen. Although it doesn't perform any specific tasks particularly well, it's characteristics make it suitable for just about anything. The direct translation of the name "santoku-bocho" is "three virtue kitchen knife". The "three virtues" refer to fish, seafood, and meat (the three foods one would need a knife for) and the santoku's purported ability to cut these foods in many ways. A more practical translation for "santoku" would be "all-purpose". The pre-Meiji era Japanese diet was mostly seafood, vegetables, and rice. Accordingly, the most popular home kitchen knife at the time was the nakiri-bocho ("knife for cutting greens "), a thin, cleaver-shaped knife used to cut vegetables. More meat started to appear in the Japanese diet during the Meiji Restoration due to western influences. This lead to the prolifera...