What is a Nakiri knife?
The Nakiri knife (菜切包丁) is the vegetable knife of Japanese cuisine. Its name literally means "cutting vegetables". It is immediately recognizable by its rectangular blade, flat from end to end, like a small cleaver – but unlike a cleaver, the Nakiri is thin and light, designed for precision, not for force.
The Japanese Nakiri knife intended for domestic use is double-beveled (sharpened on both sides), which makes it easy to handle for everyone, right-handed or left-handed. Its professional single-beveled version, the Usuba, is another story – we'll come back to that below.
What defines a Nakiri: a flat and rectangular blade, thin and light, double-beveled, sharpened at 15°, with a hard steel core. A blade designed for a single, but excellent, mission: vegetables.
What is a Nakiri used for?
The Nakiri does one thing, and it does it better than any other knife: cutting vegetables. Its geometry was designed for that.
The flat blade, full contact
Unlike a chef's knife or a Santoku whose edge is slightly curved, the Nakiri has a perfectly straight edge. When you lower the blade, it touches the cutting board over its entire length at the same time. The result: the slice is clean and complete, without that last filament holding carrot or cucumber slices together.
The height of the blade
The Nakiri is tall. This gives you room for your fingers (the famous claw grip), and allows you to use the flat of the blade as a scoop to transport cut vegetables to the pan or salad bowl. A detail that saves a lot of time in practice.
What the Nakiri is NOT made for: meat with bones, whole fish, hard pieces. Its thin 15° blade would chip. For that, you keep a gyuto, a boning knife, or a cleaver.
Nakiri, Santoku or Usuba: don't confuse them
Three Japanese knives that are often confused. Here's how to distinguish them.
| Knife | Shape | Bevel | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nakiri | Rectangular, flat | Double | Vegetables, domestic use |
| Santoku | Dropping spine | Double | Versatile (meat, fish, vegetables) |
| Usuba | Rectangular, flat | Single | Vegetables, professional use |
In short: if you are looking for a specialist vegetable knife that is easy to live with, it's the Nakiri. If you want a single knife for everything, look instead at the santoku. The single-bevel Usuba, on the other hand, requires real technique and is for experienced cooks.
The vegetable cutting technique
The Nakiri is handled like the santoku: vertically, from top to bottom, never rocking. But its totally flat blade makes this gesture even more effective – provided it is done correctly.
The classic mistake: trying to "saw" back and forth. On a Nakiri, this gesture is useless and results in irregular cuts. The flat blade is made to drop straight onto the vegetable – let it do the work.
How to choose your Nakiri
Four criteria separate a Nakiri that will last you for years from an item that dulls in three months.
1. Steel and hardness
The #1 criterion. Aim for a hard steel core, around 60 HRC or more, capable of holding a fine edge at 15°. VG10 is a reference: stainless, durable sharpness, corrosion resistant. Steel that is too soft will make the flat blade unnecessarily frustrating, as the slightest loss of edge is immediately noticeable when cutting.
2. Blade flatness
The edge must be perfectly straight, without hollows or curves. This ensures full contact with the board. A poorly sharpened blade will leave areas that do not cut well.
3. Damascus (optional but appreciated)
A Damascus Nakiri knife dresses the hard core with a folded cladding: unique aesthetics, good resistance, slight food release. The pattern doesn't improve the cut itself, but it's a nice bonus for a blade you use every day.
4. Length and handle
16 to 18 cm covers most needs. The handle, made of wood (wa or Western style), must be comfortable and well-balanced with the blade.
Our recommended Nakiri
Our Shadow Forge Nakiri ticks all four boxes: a VG10 core, a perfectly flat 67-layer Damascus blade, sharpened at 15°, and a balanced handle. At €80, it's one of the best value for money options for getting into Japanese vegetable cutting – far from the prices of luxury brands.
Maintaining your Nakiri: the critical 15°
Daily care first: wash and dry by hand, immediately, never in the dishwasher. Use a wooden or plastic cutting board, never glass or stone.
For sharpening, the Nakiri presents a particular challenge. Since its blade is flat and thin, adhering to the 15° angle is even more critical than on a curved knife: any irregularity in the angle results in an area that cuts less well, immediately visible when the edge no longer touches the board uniformly.
For a VG10 core, diamond abrasives are necessary, and maintaining a perfectly regular 15° along the entire length of a flat blade, freehand, is one of the most difficult sharpening exercises. This is why a guided-angle rotary sharpener is particularly suited to the Nakiri: it mechanically imposes the 15° on the entire blade, its diamond discs bite into the VG10, and the edge remains regular from one end to the other – without any learning curve.
🎁 Free: The Rotary Sharpener Guide
Receive our Japanese knife maintenance manual for free: how to keep your blades sharp at 15°, grit selection, and step-by-step techniques.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Nakiri knife used for?
The Nakiri is the Japanese specialist vegetable knife. Its rectangular, flat, and thin blade allows for remarkably uniform slicing, julienning, and dicing with a simple vertical motion. Its blade height also facilitates transferring cut food to the pot. However, it is not designed for meat with bones or whole fish.
What is the difference between a Nakiri and a Santoku?
The Santoku is versatile (meat, fish, vegetables) with a dropping spine blade, while the Nakiri specializes in vegetables with an entirely rectangular and flat blade. The Nakiri offers full contact with the cutting board, ideal for clean vegetable cuts, whereas the Santoku is more versatile but slightly less effective solely on vegetables.
Is the Nakiri a vegetable cleaver?
No, despite its rectangular shape. A cleaver is heavy and thick, made to chop bones and hard pieces with force. The Nakiri, on the contrary, is a thin and light blade, designed for precision on vegetables. Using it on bones would chip its fine 15° sharpened edge.
How to use a Nakiri knife?
You cut with a vertical, top-to-bottom motion, without rocking. The flat blade touches the entire cutting board at once, resulting in complete and clean slices. The hand holding the vegetable curls into a claw to guide the blade and protect the fingers. For julienne and brunoise, you first slice, then recut the slices into sticks or cubes.
What is the best Nakiri knife?
The best Nakiri is one with a hard steel core (around 60 HRC or more) to hold a fine 15° edge, with a very flat blade and a balanced handle. A Damascus Nakiri with a VG10 core offers one of the best value for money: durable sharpness and a beautiful blade, without paying the price of luxury brands.
How to sharpen a Nakiri knife?
The Nakiri is sharpened at 15°, and this angle is even more critical than on other knives because its blade is thin and flat: the slightest irregularity is visible in the cut. For a hard core like VG10, diamond abrasives are necessary. A guided-angle rotary sharpener mechanically imposes the 15° and ensures a consistent edge along the entire length of the blade, without any learning curve.
