VG10 · Migaki · 280 g
Only 1 left · Ships from Prague
Every blade on this site gets its own trading card - tier-colored, kamon-stamped, and built around the seven specs that actually predict how the knife behaves on the line. Steel. Hardness. Edge. Length. Handle. Finish. Origin.
“The vegetable yanagiba — paper-thin slices that read like glass.”
“The vegetable yanagiba — paper-thin slices that read like glass.”
The vegetable knife. Tall, flat, single-bevelled - the blade that makes katsuramuki possible (a daikon peeled into a single continuous sheet of vegetable).
Flat edge demands board contact, not rocking. A traditional Japanese kitchen tool that rewards practice - and ruthlessly punishes a tired wrist.
The usuba and the art of vegetable knife workEight flat sides give the blade vertical alignment in your grip. The dominant Japanese kitchen handle - the one professional chefs reach for first.
Ambidextrous. Comfortable in any grip style - pinch, hammer, or finger-tip. The geometry tells your hand where the edge is pointing without looking down.
Where this blade earns its keep - and where it's the wrong tool.
Warm water + a soft sponge. No dishwasher, ever - the heat warps the handle and the detergent eats the edge.
Wipe to bone-dry the moment it leaves the sink. Standing water is the enemy - even on stainless.
Stainless doesn't need daily oiling. If you're putting it away for more than a month, a thin pass of camellia oil keeps the steel happy.
Daily use: dry and rack. No oil required.
A 1000-grit waterstone every few weeks. Stropping between for a longer life on the edge.
A saya for storage. A stone for the edge. An oil for the steel.
1000-grit waterstone. The workhorse grit for kitchen edges.
Camellia (tsubaki) oil. Food-safe. A thin pass keeps the steel quiet.
“Sakai Kikumori Usuba 210mm is the traditional vegetable specialist - tall, flat, single-bevelled. VG-10 holds the edge like carbon but forgives the morning sink, running at HRC 60-61. In the kitchen, that means it makes katsuramuki possible and rewards practice the way few Western tools do. It sits in our catalog because it earns its keep on a working line, the geometry is honest, and the steel is what the maker said it is. We've held it. That's what gets a knife on this site. ”
- Ethan
Yes - the chromium content in the steel passes a thin oxide layer over the surface that resists rust under normal kitchen use. You still hand-wash and dry it like any good knife (no dishwasher, no soaking), but you don't need the daily oil-wipe routine a carbon blade needs.
No knife you care about should go in a dishwasher. The heat warps the handle, the detergent dulls the edge, and clattering against other dishes chips the bevel. Hand-wash with warm water and a soft sponge, then dry immediately.
HRC stands for "Rockwell Hardness, scale C" - a measurement of how hard the steel is. Higher numbers mean the steel holds an edge longer but is also more brittle. This knife is 60-61 HRC, which is the working sweet spot for Japanese kitchen blades.
Different routine from a double-bevel. The front bevel (omote) is the only side you grind: lay it flat against a 1000-grit waterstone at the angle the maker ground it (around 10-15 degrees, follow the existing bevel line), full-length strokes, light pressure, until you raise a burr along the full edge. The back of the blade (ura) is concave - the "urasuki" hollow - and must stay flat. Lay the back of the blade flat against a fine finishing stone (5000-grit minimum) and pull it across, no angle, just enough to remove the burr. If you grind angle into the ura you destroy the geometry that makes the blade cut. Never use a pull-through sharpener on a single-bevel.
We ship from our EU warehouse in Prague. Free across the EU on orders over €80, ~3-5 business days. Outside EU: standard rates apply, customs handled at destination. Tracking on every order.
30 days, no questions asked. Ship it back, we refund. Damage from misuse (hitting bone, frozen food, dropping) isn't covered - but normal 'this isn't right for me' is. Email office@smartsushichef.com to start.
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