The Santoku Knife is a Japanese variant of the chef's knife. The Santoku, which translates to "three ways," is a flexible knife that can be used for slicing, dicing, and mincing, among other things. This 18cm Santoku Knife, which easily slices through vegetables, fruit, and meat, was originally crafted and invented for Japanese homemakers who wanted to recreate Western-style cuisine in their kitchen (not to be confused with the other Western-style Japanese knife - Gyoto). Since Japanese chefs usually used forward and backward cutting strokes or a straight up and down slice, the Santoku knife's blade had no curve. This meant that the rocking motion on a cutting board could not be accomplished. The Santoku knife, which was relatively unknown ten years ago, has grown in popularity to the point where, ironically, there are variants of the Santoku knife being crafted with a curved blade to allow the rocking motion in the United States. 18cm Santoku Knife.