Recommended the best Chinese cleaver! Introducing Chinese knives crafted by Japanese artisans.

When you pick it up, you will feel at ease with its standard silhouette, as if it were a Chinese knife. The blade length is about 210mm (mine is a 21cm model), the blade width is about 95mm, and the weight is just under 500g, which is a good weight balance. The blade is made of special stainless steel containing molybdenum (so-called “INOX steel”), a medium-hard steel that is resistant to rust and easy to resharpen.

In fact, it seems that the blade is carefully sharpened one by one by a craftsman at the factory, and it sharpened well right out of the box (all Sakai Kohyo knives are honed to perfection, if you ask me). I tried using this knife in a Chinese restaurant for all-round use, from vegetables to meat, and was impressed by its solid sharpness and ease of use.

First of all, when cutting vegetables, I do not feel any stress in daily-use preparations such as chopping cabbage into chunks and peppers into thin strips. The blade thickness is about medium, so even fine shredding can be done rather smoothly. When cutting carrots into thin strips, the blade tip did not jam or bounce in the middle of the cut, and the chopping continued in a steady rhythm. The cross section is smooth enough, and the sharpness is such that the moisture from the vegetable oozes out. Thanks to its weight, the blade is stable on the cutting board, making it easy to make rhythmic thumping cuts. Other knives are too light and the blade tends to bounce, but this Sakai Takayuki Inox is moderately heavy and hits the cutting board with a small thump, giving you a pleasant sensation of rhythmic chopping. The sturdy plywood handle with a flange (mouthpiece) is easy to grip and soft against the hand even after prolonged use.

The handle and blade have a tight fit, so there is no gap between the handle and the blade, making it hygienic and safe to use. Even when I used it roughly, there was no loosening of the handle or blurring of the blade, and it was the most reliable work tool I have ever used.

The sharpness is just the right balance of not too sharp and not too dull, and it has the nostalgia of being able to handle any kind of material. For example, even in simple tasks such as chopping chives or green onions, the blade tip goes straight down without blurring, so the finished product is beautifully aligned. The cross section of the green onion is well moistened, and the green part can be cut in a standing position without being crushed, so the aroma stands out when used as a condiment. Even when cutting hard foods, such as pumpkin for miso soup, if you put the tip in and push it with the center of gravity, it will cut the pumpkin in half stably. Because the blade is of medium thickness, the cross section of the pumpkin is a bit angular, but this is more suitable for use in simmered dishes, as it allows the flavor to soak in. As I used the knife over time, there were times when I felt that the sharpness had become dull, but thanks to the medium-hardness stainless steel, it is not difficult to resharpen the blade with a whetstone. After a few minutes of sharpening, the sharpness of the blade was restored and I was able to return to work. The toughness of the blade, which can be easily rebuilt even after daily heavy use, makes it truly a professional tool.

The Sugimoto Cutlery Chinese Kitchen Knife No. 6 (Roku-go) is a legendary piece in the world of Chinese kitchen knives. Even among professionals, it is known as “Sugimoto when it comes to Chinese knives,” and I myself have admired it since my training days. When I first held it in my hands, I was shocked by its surprisingly thin blade (blade thickness: approx. 3.3 mm) and light weight (approx. 430 g). Even for a Chinese knife of the same 220mm x 110mm size, the Sugimoto No. 6 feels one size lighter than the Fujijiro Atsuha or Jikko Ginzo, which weigh around 500 grams. The blade is made of high-purity Shiragami No. 2 steel (carbon steel), and the ultimate sharpness obtained in exchange for the ease of rusting is truly exceptional. In fact, the bite you feel the moment you pick up the knife is similar to that of a finely honed Japanese kitchen knife, and when I tested it against a newspaper, the weight of the blade alone cut right through it.

I am in love with the performance of the Sugimoto No. 6, but at the same time I am acutely aware of the delicacy of its handling. Because it is a high-purity carbon steel, if left even slightly damp, a thin layer of rust will quickly appear. In fact, after chopping a large amount of onions, I was alarmed when a faint reddish-black reaction began to appear on the edge of the blade after just a few minutes of leaving it for a few minutes without rinsing. It is sensitive to acid, which can affect the flavor and color of some foods you cut. For example, when cutting onions, the cross section may turn slightly brownish, which is due to the reaction of the iron in the blade. When cutting pickled vegetables (pickles), it is essential to work quickly and wipe off the blade immediately to prevent the metallic smell from transferring to the cut end.

When I tested this Shun Classic Chinese knife (175 mm) in preparing Japanese food, I was amazed at its sharpness. With a blade length of 175 mm, the compactness of this knife makes it feel as if you are controlling a large vegetable cutting knife. When cutting cabbage into thin strips, the thin blade goes right in, and each piece is light and fluffy, as if it contains air. In fact, even a large cabbage was easily cut with just the weight of the knife and the sharp edge of the blade, and there was no need to put any effort into crushing the cabbage. Carrots and daikon radishes also have a smooth cross-section and retain their moisture well, so they look fresh when made into salads. The crispness of the vegetables stands out because the cells of the ingredients can be cut without crushing them, and the sharpness of the blade is useful even for professional use.

This seasonal Chinese knife was a great help in delicate tasks such as preparing fish and meat. For example, when shaving chicken thighs, a simple pull is enough to cut cleanly through to the muscle. The blade is so smooth that the cross section looks as if it had been cut with a sashimi knife, and the surface where the meat fibers have been cut shines brightly. Thanks to this, the meat is cooked evenly, and even in stir-frying, the meat is juicy and not tough. It is no wonder that this knife is said to be a ” favorite of professionals.” In fact, I feel that this knife is an all-around player that can handle everything from vegetables to meat. The wide blade is especially useful for scooping up chopped ingredients and transferring them to a pan, and it speeds up the transfer of ingredients from the cutting board. It is also useful in the field of Chinese cooking, as garlic can be easily crushed by placing the flat side of the blade against it and giving it a push.

The TOJIRO PRO Chinese 220mm (F-630) by Tojiro surprised me with its hefty weight the moment I first held it. With an overall length of 330 mm and a blade length of 220 mm, it is a heavyweight knife weighing approximately 520 g. It is the embodiment of the truism that “a Chinese knife is also a weapon by its weight. In fact, this weight was of great use in preparing stir-fried vegetables with pork chashu , which is stir-fried in a wok. When slicing a block of pork shoulder into thick slices against the fibers, the weight of the knife can be used to rhythmically slice off with a thump. Since the blade proceeds to push and break the food without any extra effort, the stability of the knife is excellent even when cooking something that requires vigorous pounding through the entire bone. As an experiment, we applied the blade to a joint of a chicken wing and found that the blade was able to cut the joint without the need to strike it with a hammer. The cut surface was not as smooth as that of a thin-blade knife, but the meat fibers were not crushed too much, even though it was cut through to the bone. Thanks to the inertia created by the weight, even hard carrots and burdocks can be cut with a feeling of **”just press the blade against it “**, which is reassuring, as if you were using a professional slicer.

As I used this TOJIRO PRO Chinese knife more and more, I was amazed at how well it held its edge. Once sharpened, the sharpness of the blade shows little sign of dulling even after slicing a large amount of food in the course of my work. In fact, even after chopping dozens of green onions and slicing cabbage into strips, the edge remained almost intact and sharp enough to cut through paper. This is the benefit of the VG10 steel, which has a hardness of around 60, and it is a great help in a busy kitchen because it cuts long and is rust-resistant, reducing the frequency of resharpening.

The craftsmanship of this piece shines through from its beautiful base metal and imposing style. It feels solid and stable in the hand, and while the size is standard at 220 mm (blade length) x 110 mm (blade width), it weighs about 520 grams, which gives it a solid weight. The first thing that surprised us was that the edge of the blade was smooth like a mirror surface and sharp enough to easily push through paper, probably because the craftsman has been applying the blade to the blade since it was purchased. In fact, when I tried cutting thick Chinese cabbage, the blade went in as lightly as if I was peeling a laurel leaf with a thin-blade knife. It is a three-piece kitchen knife made of a stainless steel called GINJIGAMI No. 3 (GINZAN), which is claimed to have a sharpness approaching that of carbon steel despite being stainless steel, and it is no wonder that this is the advertising claim. Even soft vegetables such as tomatoes and eggplants could be cut without crushing them, and the cut was so clean that the cloudy surface of the knife was reflected on the cross section. The feature of Ginzo steel is that it is resistant to rust and easy to sharpen, and the feeling of the knife on the whetstone is pleasant and crisp, giving the impression that the blade is attached in a short time. In fact, when I cut a piece of newspaper after sharpening, it sliced through without getting stuck, and I felt that the ease of sharpening and sharpness of the blade is to the liking of professionals.

The more I used the Ginzo Chinese knife, the more its high-quality construction became familiar to my hand. The handle is Japanese style with an octagonal ebony style wooden handle and a buffalo horn style muzzle, which is both luxurious and practical (you can choose the handle material and muzzle as an option). My knife has an ebony handle with a buffalo horn muzzle, which fits well when gripped, and allows me to control the heavy blade well. The balance of the knife’s center of gravity is designed to be closer to the blade, so that when you insert the blade into the food, the tip of the blade naturally moves down. This allows the user to cut food using gravity and the weight of the blade, which reduces the strain on the arm even when working for long periods of time. In fact, even when shredding large quantities of cabbage or slicing onions, the weight of the blade seems to do the job on its own, and I simply control the direction in which the blade is traveling. A sign of knife sharpening is that the crispness decreases as the sharpness dulls, but this Ginzo is less likely to show such signs, and I am impressed that the edge holds up well into the evening.