Yanagiba translates as “willow blade” since the narrow, long and curved blade shape on the back side resembles a willow leaf. The specialty of the Yanagiba is slicing fish in a precise and clean way for cutting sashimi or nigiri for example. It can also be used for filleting certain fishes and slicing meat. The very fine cutting edge can be damaged easily, so we advise you to be careful with bones. The concave back of the knife (urusaki) creates an air gap between the fish flesh and the blade, making it easy to detach the blade from the fish flesh, while the bevel on the face of the knife (shinogi) makes it easy to detach the piece of fish being sliced. The Yanagiba is generally found between 210 mm and 330 mm.
Ginsan translates to : "silver number 3", this type of steel falls into the category of stainless steels and is therefore easier to maintain than traditional carbon steels. Ginsan is one of the only stainless steels that can be forged in the traditional way like high content carbon steels. This makes it one of the most pleasant stainless steels to sharpen.
