Santoku, nakiri, bunka or Chinese cleaver: which one to choose

September 29, 2026

From a distance, they are four big blades. In the hand, they are four ways of cutting. Before looking at the steel or the handle, the real question is simple: what do you cut most often, and how?

The four shapes, one sentence each

The santoku is the Japanese all-rounder: a 16 to 18 cm blade, an almost straight edge and a tip that curves down. Vegetables, meat, fish: it does everything well.

The nakiri is the vegetable knife: a rectangular blade, a dead-straight edge, no real tip. It cuts straight down, and the edge meets the board along its whole length, so cucumber slices no longer stay joined together.

The bunka looks like a santoku with a tip cut at an angle. That fine tip is for precise work: dicing a shallot, scoring fish skin, freeing a piece of meat.

The Chinese cleaver has a wide rectangular blade and some weight. It slices, it chops, it crushes garlic with the flat of the blade and it works as a scoop to carry what you just cut to the pan. Note: it is a kitchen knife, not a bone cleaver.

Our knives, side by side

Knife	Blade	Best for	Less suited to
Aogami No.2 santoku	18.4 cm, carbon steel core	Everything, with a very fine edge	People who won't dry their knife
Damascus bunka	21.1 cm, stainless Damascus	Everything, plus precision work	Very small hands, it is long
Damascus nakiri	18 cm, stainless Damascus	Vegetables, herbs, large amounts	Boning, tip work
Damascus Chinese cleaver	19 × 9.2 cm, powder steel core	Chopping fast, in volume, and carrying	Bones, frozen food

Three questions to choose

1. What do you cut most?

Mostly vegetables: the nakiri. A bit of everything: the santoku or the bunka. Large amounts, for a family or Sunday batch cooking: the Chinese cleaver, which gets through a bunch of leeks in seconds.

2. How do you cut?

Japanese blades have a flat edge. They like being pushed forward or pulled back, with the blade staying almost flat on the board. If you are used to rocking the blade back and forth with the tip on the board, that is the Western chef's knife motion, and its blade is more curved. In that case, a chef's knife will suit you better: our 21 cm Damascus chef's knife, on its own, or the one in our 3-piece Damascus set.

3. How much care will you give it?

The Aogami santoku has a carbon steel core: it takes a finer edge than stainless steel and keeps it longer, but it must be dried after every use or it will stain. The Damascus blades of our other knives are stainless: more forgiving, they tolerate a knife left on the counter for a few minutes. The details are here: what a knife's steel really tells you.

If you only get one

The santoku or the bunka (and, for a first good knife, our CHF 109 Damascus santoku). They are the two shapes that cover the most situations. If you get two, add a small paring knife for peeling and in-hand work: it is the pairing most chefs suggest for everyday cooking.

And for bread

None of these straight blades is made for a thick crust: it slides over it, then crushes the crumb when you push. Bread needs a serrated blade, which saws through the crust without pressure. It keeps its bite for a long time, because the hollows between the teeth hardly ever touch the board. Ours: the 20 cm Damascus bread knife.

What these blades don't like

Bones and frozen food. A thin, hard blade chips. Bones need a cleaver.
Glass, stone or marble boards. They dull an edge in a few cuts. Wood and plastic are the only good surfaces: which board to choose.
The dishwasher and a loose drawer. The first damages the edge and the handle, the second knocks the blades together: where to store your knives.

And even an excellent knife eventually loses its edge. Ten minutes on a stone brings it back: sharpening a knife on a whetstone.