Gyuto knives are versatile Japanese kitchen knives for the preparation of fish, meat and vegetables. This type of knife is also ideal for finely chopping herbs. Gyuto knives are distinguished from other all-purpose knives by their slightly wider and often longer blade. The tapered shape of gyuto blades is similar to that of classic western kitchen knives. The typical blade length ranges from about 180mm to 270mm and is therefore ideally suited for larger cuts. As a rule, Japanese Gyuto knives are ground on both sides.

You can think of the Gyuto knife as the Japanese equivalent of the widely used Western kitchen knife/all-purpose knife. Gyutos are true multi-purpose knives. So, this type of knife allows many different tasks in the kitchen to be easily accomplished by hand. In most cases, the Gyuto is used to process meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. The round tapered blade allows rolling on the cutting surface, even chopping of onions is well doable with this blade geometry. Due to the pointed blade of the Gyuto knife, precise work such as cutting into meat or garnishing work is well possible.

Similar to a cleaver for herbs, a Gyuto knife can also be rolled over the cut material from the base of the blade to the tip and thus chop the cut material or cut it very finely. The high blade of the Gyuto knife also allows contact of the back of the knife with the knuckles in this cutting technique. This ensures a clean knife guidance, which in turn contributes to safety when cutting. With the Gyuto knife, slicing can be done both towards the body (pulling) - and away from the body (pushing).

The center of gravity of Gyuto knives from Japan, which is often towards the tip of the knife, makes them much more agile to handle compared to Western all-purpose knives and allows for more precise work. Gyutos usually have a length of 170-300 mm, but there are exceptions up and down. For normal use, blade lengths of 170-240 mm are perfectly adequate, although professional and ambitious hobby chefs also like to reach for the longer versions to really be equipped for everything that needs to be processed in the kitchen. If you compare the Gyuto with the Santoku knife and Bunka, then the Gyuto can be the best alternative for meat.

Gyuto and Santoku knives belong to the category of Japanese all-purpose knives. The field of application of both types of knives has a large intersection, but there are also clear differences. To better understand these differences, you need to take a closer look at the blade geometries. The Gyuto knife has a longer tapered blade tip and therefore a smaller blade height than the Santoku knife. This blade tip is especially advantageous for cutting meat. This is particularly evident when precisely cutting through tendons or cutting into rinds. The rocking-motion technique can also be optimally applied with the Gyuto. The Santoku with its higher blade has slight advantages when processing vegetables (especially large vegetables!), but this always depends heavily on the preferences of the particular cook. TIP: If you are looking specifically for a vegetable knife, you should get a Nakiri knife.