Kiritsuke Knife: Uses, Single vs Double Bevel (2026)

A kiritsuke is a long Japanese kitchen knife with a flat edge and an angled reverse-tanto tip, the K-tip. Traditionally single-bevel and reserved for the head chef, most sold today are double-bevel and work as an everyday chef knife.

The kiritsuke has a reputation problem. It is the blade people describe as "difficult", "only for professionals", or "the knife the head chef is allowed to use" — and every one of those statements is about a knife that almost nobody outside a traditional Japanese kitchen actually owns. The kiritsuke most home cooks can buy is a different tool entirely, and it is no harder to use than the chef knife already on your board.

What is a kiritsuke knife?

Two features define it. The first is the profile: a long, near-flat edge with very little belly, which means the blade meets the board along most of its length at once. The second is the tip, cut at a steep angle rather than curving to a point — the reverse-tanto or K-tip shape that makes a kiritsuke recognisable across a room.

Traditionally the kiritsuke is a hybrid of two single-bevel blades: the usuba, a flat-edged vegetable knife, and the yanagiba, a long slicer for raw fish. One knife covering both jobs is why it carried the status it did — being trusted with it meant you were expected to do both jobs well.

What a kiritsuke knife is used for

The flat edge is built for push cutting: the blade goes forward and down through the food rather than rocking back and forth. That suits vegetables above all — long, even slices of cucumber, cabbage, daikon, anything where you want identical thickness across a whole pile.

The length handles proteins. A 9-inch kiritsuke takes a slice off a piece of boneless meat or a fish fillet in one pull, leaving a clean face rather than the ragged one a short blade gives you when it has to saw.

The tip does the fine work. Scoring skin, trimming silverskin, splitting a chilli, separating segments, detail cuts where you want to see exactly what the edge is doing. On a curved chef knife the tip sits low and you rotate your wrist to use it; on a kiritsuke it sits up at the top of the angle, in your line of sight.

What it is not for is bone, frozen food, or anything you would hit with force. A thin, flat, hard edge chips. That is what a cleaver is for.

Single-bevel vs double-bevel: the distinction that matters

This is the whole source of the "difficult knife" reputation, and it is worth being precise about.

A traditional single-bevel kiritsuke is ground on one side only, like a chisel. It cuts beautifully and it steers — the asymmetric grind pushes the blade sideways as it travels, and correcting for that takes real practice. It is also handed: a right-handed single-bevel is close to unusable in a left hand. This is the knife that earned the mystique, and it is genuinely a specialist's tool.

A modern double-bevel kiritsuke — sometimes called a kiritsuke-gyuto or K-tip gyuto — is ground evenly on both sides like any Western chef knife. It keeps the flat profile and the angled tip, drops the steering and the handedness, and behaves on the board like a chef knife that happens to have a better tip. Every kiritsuke we forge is this style, ground evenly on both sides, so it works the same in either hand.

If you have read that a kiritsuke is only for experts, the writer meant the first one. The second is what is sitting in most kitchens that own one.

Kiritsuke vs gyuto, santoku and bunka

All four are general-purpose Japanese knives. The differences are in profile and tip. For the full picture, see our Japanese Chef Knife Guide: Shapes, Steel & How to Choose.

Kiritsuke vs gyuto: a gyuto has a curved belly and a pointed tip, so it rocks as well as push cuts. The kiritsuke is flatter and its tip is angled. Choose the gyuto if you rock-chop herbs and garlic; choose the kiritsuke if you push cut and want the tip access.

Kiritsuke vs santoku: the santoku is shorter (usually 6.5 to 7 inches) with a rounded sheepsfoot tip and no real point. It is the more forgiving knife and the better one for a small board. The kiritsuke gives you reach and a working tip the santoku simply does not have.

Kiritsuke vs bunka: these are the closest relatives — a bunka has the same angled K-tip but a shorter, slightly taller blade. Think of the bunka as a kiritsuke scaled down to santoku length. If you like the tip but find 9 inches unwieldy, the bunka is the answer.

Is a kiritsuke good for beginners?

A double-bevel one, yes — with two caveats.

The first is technique. If you rock-chop everything, a flat blade will feel wrong until you switch to push cutting, which takes about a week of cooking to become automatic. It is a small adjustment, not a skill barrier.

The second is the tip. That sharp angle sits high and forward and it is genuinely pointy. It is not dangerous in normal use, but it will find your knuckle if you are careless during a wash-up, and it is the part of the blade most likely to chip if you drop the knife or lever with it.

A true single-bevel kiritsuke is not a beginner's knife, and we would not recommend one as a first Japanese blade.

Our kiritsuke knives

Four hand-forged kiritsukes, all double-bevel, across our Japanese chef knives range. Every one is hand sharpened and oiled before it ships, with a 99-day home trial and a free lifetime guarantee behind it.

Torii 9" Kiritsuke

The everyday one. Nine inches of hand-forged 7Cr17MoV high-carbon steel on an octagonal maple wa-handle, at 149 grams — light for its length, which is what stops a long blade feeling like work. The near-flat edge push cuts cleanly and the K-tip handles the detail. If you want to find out whether the shape suits you, start here.

Bara Forge 9" Kiritsuke

Layered forged steel around a 10Cr17MoV core at 60 HRC, finished with a stabilised burl wood handle and our rose mosaic pin. It carries more weight than the Torii, which some cooks prefer for longer slicing work through meat and fish.

Silver Dynasty 8" Kiritsuke

Eight inches of hand-hammered Damascus — 67 layers around a cobalt-enriched 10Cr15CoMoV core, hardened to 60±2 HRC — on a full tang olive wood burl handle, so no two are grained alike. The shorter length makes it the easier Damascus kiritsuke to handle on a normal home board.

Damascus Dynasty 8" Kiritsuke

The same 67-layer construction and 60±2 HRC core in a black forged finish, with a full tang black walnut handle. The textured black surface releases food as you cut, which matters more with a flat profile than a curved one — flat blades have more contact area for a potato slice to cling to.

If you would rather cover the fine work at the same time, the Torii Kiritsuke & Petty Duo pairs the 9" Kiritsuke with a 6" Petty in matching steel. Larger combinations live in our knife sets.

Caring for a kiritsuke

The rules are the ones that apply to any thin, hard Japanese blade, and the tip makes them matter more. Cut on wood or soft plastic, never stone, glass, ceramic or a metal tray. Wash and dry by hand immediately — do not leave it in the sink and do not put it in a dishwasher, where it will knock against other items and take the edge or the tip with it.

Store it in a block, on a magnetic strip or in a sheath rather than loose in a drawer. Do not use it to pry, scrape food off the board with the edge, or cut through bone. Our hand-forged knife care guide covers oiling and long-term storage.

Questions we get asked

What is a kiritsuke knife used for?
Everyday prep: push cutting vegetables, slicing boneless meat and fish along the flat edge, and detail work with the angled tip. It is a general-purpose knife, not a specialist one — as long as you keep it away from bone.

Is a kiritsuke better than a chef knife?
Not better, different. A chef knife rocks; a kiritsuke push cuts and offers a far more usable tip. If your cutting style is already push-based, a kiritsuke will feel like an upgrade. If you rock everything, a gyuto will suit you more.

Why were kiritsuke knives reserved for the head chef?
Because the traditional single-bevel version replaced two specialist knives — the usuba for vegetables and the yanagiba for fish — and using it well meant you had mastered both disciplines. It was a marker of rank, not a rule about who was permitted to touch it.

What size kiritsuke should I buy?
Eight inches for a standard home board, or if you are coming from an 8-inch chef knife; nine inches if you have the counter space and slice a lot of meat or fish. Below 8 inches the shape starts to overlap with a bunka.

Shop the range: Japanese Chef Knives — every blade hand sharpened and oiled before it ships, with a 99-day home trial and a free lifetime guarantee. The sharpest blades you will ever use, or your money back.

Keep reading: Gyuto Knife Guide: Sizes, Uses & How to Choose (2026) · Santoku vs Bunka vs Chef Knife: Which to Choose (2026) · What Is a Nakiri Knife Used For? Uses, Cuts & Care

The Cooking Guild