[Indigo Bocho] Kurouchi Stainless Tsuchime Gyuto 21cm

Rust-resistant stainless × kuro-uchi × tsuchime — a serious knife for everyday use.

The second knife most homes reach for, after the santoku. For larger ingredients.

Product features

Traditional kuro-uchi, worked over with a tsuchime hammer finish struck by hand — a combination you will not find anywhere else.

Kuro-uchi is an Edo-period method: the face of the blade is deliberately left unpolished so that the black oxide film stays on it. Until now that meant carbon steel, which takes the film readily and cuts beautifully but rusts just as readily. Here we have managed kuro-uchi in rust-resistant stainless instead — the edge of a Japanese knife, with upkeep a home kitchen can actually live with.

Engraving

Engraving can be added from the options on this page.

For the full specification, see the Name Engraving page.

On this series, hand-cut characters are hard to read against the finish, so engraving is done by laser.

If you would still prefer hand-cut characters, please write "hand engraving" in the order notes at checkout.

Specifications

• Type: Gyuto
• Steel: SUS stainless steel with Tsuchime hammered finish
• Blade length: 21cm
• Blade grind: Double bevel (right- or left-handed)
• Handle wood: Hiba (Japanese cypress)
• Handle finish: Indigo dyed with waterproof coating
• Made in: Japan (Osaka + Tokushima)

About the Gyuto

The gyuto arrived in Japan from the West in the Meiji era, along with the habit of cooking meat. Abroad it is known as a chef's knife.

Its blade is narrower than a santoku's — it was made for meat.

Cooks who often work with large ingredients have taken to it as a longer, roomier all-purpose knife.

Slimmer and sharper in profile than a santoku, it is the second most popular shape in the range.

About Indigo Bocho

Indigo dyeing has been part of everyday life in Japan for centuries, valued for the antibacterial and deodorizing qualities long attributed to it. The Indigo Bocho brings that craft to a kitchen knife, so that how a knife performs and how it looks are settled together. Each one joins Sakai bladesmithing, an Osaka tradition, to the indigo dyeing rooted in the history of Tokushima. Putting artisans from different regions and different disciplines on the same object is the whole point: each craft is worth more for standing next to the other. There is a wider aim as well — one product that supports several craft regions at once, and helps keep Japan's traditional skills in working use. We hope you enjoy what the two crafts make together.