The Japanese word Gyuto (牛刀) literally translates to beef sword. The gyuto is the equivalent of the Western chef's knife, and is designed to cut everything: vegetables, meats and fishes. It is made to be used with the push-cut method, lifting the blade between each cutting motion, or with the rocking motion method. It is important that the blade is straight upon impact with the cutting board to avoid damage to the knife edge.
The city of Sanjo in Niigata Prefecture has been famous for its blacksmithing since the 1600s. In the early years, they mainly forged nails by hand. Then, from 1660, different forging techniques were introduced by blacksmiths from Aizu. Thanks to this, the blacksmiths of the city began to diversify their production. The quality of Sanjo's tools and knives enjoyed a strong reputation in Japan at that time, and it still does today.
SLD steel is Hitachi steel co.'s version of SKD-11, which is a wear resistant and relatively easy to maintain steel. This makes it an ideal steel for workhorse knives. With a hardness of 60-62 HRC, SLD steel blades retain their edge for a long time and have the ability to be sharpened to a razor sharp edge. Basically, SLD is used in the factory to cut other steels and, over time, has made its way into high-end Japanese cutlery.