Deba

Japanese Knives

For Cleaning Fish

These knives are used to chop off the head of a fish, cut fish, bones and all, and fillet a fish into 3 pieces. Since it is usually used to cut with force, the blade is thick. A Mioroshi knife has the positive qualities of both a sashimi knife and a deba knife, and is commonly used at fish shops.

  • Deba

    Deba

    Generally, the bottom 2/5 of the edge is used for chopping and top 3/5 is used for cleaning fish. Depending on the length of the knife, it is used for large fish like Japanese amberjack and bonito or for small fish like horse mackerel. You can cut a fish, bones and all, by using its weight.

  • Mioroshi

    Mioroshi

    It is a knife like a cross between a sashimi knife and a deba knife, and is commonly used at the fish market. The blade is long and is thicker than shobu but thinner than deba.

  • Ajisaki

    Ajisaki

    It is thinner than a deba knife and is used to clean horse mackerel. Usually, it is sold in lengths of 90 mm to 120 mm. Besides migaki (*), kurouchi (**) is also popular.

    *A knife that is silver overall like you see frequently, by polishing the "ji" (the base of the knife made by smiths).
    **A knife with the kireha part polished while leaving the obverse side of the "ji" black.

  • Aideba

    Aideba

    A deba knife made thinner which is usually used by people who feel deba is too heavy. Because it is thinner, it is easier to chip than deba.

  • Sakekiri

    Sakekiri

    It looks like a deba knife but its width at the heel of the knife is wider and the blade is a little thinner. It is used to cut large fish like salmon, bones and all.

  • Funayuki

    Funayuki

    It is said that it was originally a knife which fishermen took along to their ships. It is an all-purpose knife that can be used not only for cleaning fish but for cutting vegetables as well.