The Best Sushi Knives for Home Cooks (UK Guide)

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Updated September 2026 · 9 min read · UK Japanese knife specialists

Almost every "sushi knife" guide starts by listing three Japanese knives you have never held and finishes by suggesting you buy all of them. That is not how home sushi actually goes wrong. It goes wrong because the blade drags — it squashes the roll instead of parting it, tears the nori, and pushes the rice out of the end. Every one of those failures is a sharpness and geometry problem, not a knife-name problem.

So this guide does it the other way round: what a blade has to do to cut sushi properly, which of our knives do it, what the traditional specialist knives are genuinely for, and where the line is between "useful" and "you do not need this yet".

What actually matters in a sushi knife

Length, more than anything. A maki roll is about 5 cm across; a block of fish for sashimi is longer. You want to draw the blade through in a single pull, because every extra stroke is another chance to compress the rice or tear the fish. That means the edge needs to be meaningfully longer than the thing you are cutting. Seven inches works. Eight is better. This is the single reason the traditional sashimi knife is so absurdly long.

Sharpness, obviously — but a specific kind. Not "sharp enough to cut a carrot". Sharp enough that the blade's own weight starts the cut. A dull edge has to be pushed, and pushing is exactly what wrecks a roll. This is where harder Japanese steel earns its keep: VG10 and AUS-10 take a finer edge than softer Western stainless and hold it through a whole prep session.

A thin blade with low friction. A thick blade wedges. It forces the rice apart sideways as it descends, and the roll splays. Japanese-steel knives are ground much thinner behind the edge than European ones, which is why they release food rather than shoving it.

What matters far less than you would think: the knife's name, whether it says "sushi" on the box, and how many pieces came in the set. A very sharp 8-inch gyuto out-cuts a blunt yanagiba every single time.

The traditional three, honestly explained

A professional Japanese sushi kitchen does use specialist knives, and it is worth knowing what each is for — partly so you can recognise when you actually need one, and partly so you can spot a guide that is bluffing.

Yanagiba — the sashimi slicer. Long (often 240–300 mm), narrow, and ground on one side only. That single bevel lets it release a slice of fish with almost no lateral pressure, which is why sashimi cut with one has that glassy, unbruised face. It is a specialist's knife: single-bevel blades are handed (a right-handed one is genuinely awkward for a left-hander), they need a different sharpening technique, and they are not much use for anything else. We do not stock one.

Deba — the fish-breakdown knife. Short, thick-spined and heavy, built to go through the head and spine of a whole fish without chipping. If you are buying whole fish and filleting it yourself, this is the one traditional knife that earns its place fastest. Our deba knife guide covers it properly, and there is an 8-inch deba-profile blade in the Makito range at £89.99 if you want one.

Usuba — the single-bevel vegetable knife, used for the cucumber, daikon and garnish work that surrounds sushi rather than the sushi itself. Almost nobody needs one at home; a santoku or nakiri does the same job with a fraction of the learning curve. If you want the full family tree, see types of Japanese knives.

The best knife for cutting sushi rolls

Cutting maki is the job most home cooks are actually asking about, and the answer is a long double-bevel knife: a gyuto or a santoku. Not a yanagiba — its single bevel steers slightly to one side, which is exactly what you do not want when you are cutting straight down through a round roll.

Technique does as much work as the knife here. Wipe the blade with a damp cloth between cuts so rice does not build up and drag. Cut the roll in half first, then halve each half, rather than working along it — you get even pieces and fewer squashed ends. And let the blade do it: draw it back through the roll in one pull with almost no downward pressure.

If you only ever buy one knife for sushi, buy the longest sharp one you will happily use for everything else too. That is a gyuto.

Slicing sashimi without a yanagiba

You can slice very good sashimi with a double-bevel knife, and most home cooks do. The trick is to stop treating it like chopping. Set the heel of the blade against the far edge of the fish, draw the knife towards you in one continuous pull, and let the whole length of the edge pass through. No sawing, no downward push. A properly sharp 8-inch blade will do this cleanly.

Where a yanagiba genuinely wins is on the last few percent: the cut face is flatter and the slice releases with less drag, which matters when you are plating forty of them. For a Saturday night at home it is a refinement, not a requirement. If you want to read up on what you are actually plating, nigiri vs sashimi is a good short explainer, and the best Japanese fish knife for filleting covers getting the fish ready in the first place.

Our picks for sushi at home

Four knives we would actually hand someone making sushi at home, in the order we would recommend them. All are double bevel, all are in stock, and every price and rating below was checked on the live product page on 8 September 2026.

Quick comparison

Knife	Length	Steel	Price	Best for
Haruta Gyuto — our pick	8"	VG10	£89.99	Rolls and sashimi in one pull
Haruta Santoku	7"	VG10	£89.99	Prep work and standard maki
Minato Santoku	7"	AUS-10	£79.99	Trying sushi without overcommitting
Chikashi Chef Knife	8"	Damascus	£96.99	Highest rated, best looking
Makito deba-profile blade	8"	Damascus	£89.99	Breaking down whole fish

Prices and Judge.me ratings verified on the live product pages on 8 September 2026.

Keeping it sharp enough to matter

This is the part that decides whether your sushi looks like sushi. A knife that cut beautifully in March will squash rice in September if nothing has touched the edge in between, and no amount of buying the right knife fixes that.

Every double-bevel knife on this page is ground at roughly 15° per side — a 30° total edge. Sharpen it back to that angle on a whetstone every few months and hone it between times. Our guide to the correct Japanese knife sharpening angle covers how to find and hold it, and how to sharpen on a whetstone walks through the strokes.

One thing worth knowing before you buy: a single-bevel yanagiba is sharpened differently and less forgivingly than anything here. That maintenance commitment, not the price, is the real reason we would steer a home cook towards a double-bevel blade first.

Frequently asked questions

What knife do I need to make sushi at home?

One long, thin, very sharp double-bevel knife. An 8-inch gyuto is the best single choice because it draws through a whole maki roll or a block of fish in one pull. You do not need a sushi knife set.

What is the best sushi knife for a beginner?

A double-bevel santoku or gyuto rather than a traditional single-bevel yanagiba. Double-bevel blades work in either hand, are far easier to sharpen, and are useful for the rest of your cooking. The Minato Santoku at 79.99 pounds is the cheapest sensible starting point.

What is the best knife for cutting sushi rolls?

A long double-bevel knife, not a yanagiba. Cut the roll in half, then halve each half, drawing the blade back in one pull with almost no downward pressure, and wipe the blade between cuts so rice does not drag.

What is a yanagiba used for?

Slicing sashimi. It is long and ground on one side only, so it releases a slice of raw fish with very little lateral pressure and leaves a flat, unbruised cut face. It is a specialist slicer and does little else well.

Do I need a deba knife for sushi?

Only if you are buying whole fish and filleting it yourself. A deba is thick and heavy so it can go through head and spine without chipping. If you buy ready-prepared fillets, it adds nothing.

Can I use a santoku knife for sushi?

Yes. Its flat edge cuts straight down through a roll, which is exactly the motion you want, and it is excellent on the vegetable prep around the sushi. On a very wide roll you will notice the shorter blade, which is the only reason we put the 8-inch gyuto first.

What is the difference between a sushi knife and a sashimi knife?

In practice they are used interchangeably to mean a yanagiba, the long single-bevel slicer. Strictly, sashimi is raw fish sliced on its own, so a sashimi knife is a slicer; sushi also involves rice and rolls, which a shorter double-bevel knife handles perfectly well.

What angle are Japanese sushi knives sharpened to?

A double-bevel santoku or gyuto is sharpened at about 15 degrees per side, giving a 30 degree total edge. A traditional single-bevel yanagiba is ground on one face only, so its 10 to 15 degree bevel is the entire edge, which is why it is so much keener and so much more directional.

Do you sell a yanagiba?

No. We stock double-bevel Japanese-steel knives, so the closest thing we sell to a sashimi slicer is the 8-inch gyuto. We would rather say so than recommend something else while implying it is the same knife.

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