The Many Kinds Of Deba Knife

The Many Kinds of Deba Knife Alternate Text

The deba knife (出刃包丁) is one of the true "representatives" of Japanese knives. Also known as deba bouchou or deba, it's often the first item that comes to mind when people think "traditional Japanese knife."

The deba knife is for filleting fish, but did you know there are many kinds of deba knife? And they all serve different purposes!


The unique origins of the deba knife

Deba knives have very thick and wide blades, making them feel very heavy in your hand. Be prepared for a bit of a shock at the weight the first time you hold one.

The deba's heaviness is a unique and important characteristic. This weight means better blade stability when cutting through tough ingredients. For example, fish heads and bones should not go near Japanese knives. Yet, if it is a deba knife, that cuts through such items with ease.

The name deba bouchou has interesting origins. One prevailing theory is that the smith in Sakai who invented it had a very bucktoothed look. Sometimes names come from unique places!

There are many different types of deba, with varying lengths, widths, and weights. What is best for you depends on what purpose you're trying to meet with the knife. When buying your first single-edged knife, there's a very high chance it will be a deba or one of its variants.

Let's explore some types of deba below, starting with the basics.


Deba Knife - 出刃包丁

Deba Knife Alternate Text

This is a standard deba bouchou. If you ask to buy a deba knife from a knife store, this is likely what you'll get.

Deba knives have a large range, ranging from 100mm to over 240mm blade lengths. They come in 15mm increments, or half of 1 sun unit, which you can read about here. The handle size will also change to compensate for larger blades (and thus larger tangs).

Chefs use different deba knives depending on the size of the fish. A deba for a horse mackerel will differ from a deba for a yellowtail fish. This means a larger range of deba exists for better precision. A 15mm blade length difference for a professional can make all the difference.

For usage in the home, we recommend a 150mm blade length unless you often break down large fish. They're enough for most tasks, and more inexpensive as there's less steel involved in the knife.

Popular Deba Knives


Ai-deba - 相出刃包丁

Ai-Deba Knife Alternate Text

The ai-deba knife is a slimmer version of the deba knife. Slide through the images above to see comparisons!

Deba knives are thick and heavy. While this gives them great stopping power, it makes them trickier to wield.

The Ai-deba exists for those who want better ease of use. This comes at the cost of weight and stability, though. People still use a regular deba to cleave through thick bones or fish heads.

While an Ai-deba is thinner, that does not mean they aren't thick. They still have good stopping power and can come in handy if you're working with fish that don't have tough bones. Ai-deba knives have a smaller range (180mm to 225mm) but still come in 15mm increments. This allows for fine-tuning and getting an ai-deba that is perfect for you.

Popular Ai-deba Knives


Mioroshi Deba - 身卸出刃包丁

Mioroshi Deba Knife Alternate Text

The mioroshi deba or mioroshi has a thinner blade than the deba and ai-deba. Slide through the images above to compare a mioroshi against a regular deba. You'll see a noticeable difference!

The mioroshi's shape is a mixture of a deba and a yanagiba, making them amazing for filleting fish. But, the mioroshi's lack of thickness means it can chip on tough materials. It is best to be careful.

A mioroshi is lighter and easier to wield than deba or ai-deba knives. This makes them popular with fishmongers who fillet a lot of fish and need nimbleness. While mioroshi are in 30mm increments instead of 15mm, they come in longer sizes. Much like the mioroshi's shape, the maximum length (300mm) is between a deba (240mm) and a yanagiba (390mm). We recommend a 210mm length mioroshi, but if you have a larger home kitchen, a 240mm works too.

Popular Mioroshi Deba Knives


Ajikiri - アジ切包丁

Ajikiri Knife Alternate Text

The ajikiri existed for a single purpose - to fillet aji, known as horse mackerel in English. These days ajikiri are also used for other small fish with smaller bones.

An ajikiri is much shorter than the average deba. Ajikiri knives range from 90mm to 150mm, and are about half as thick as an ai-deba knife. This makes ajikiri light and maneuverable, perfect for nimbler tasks. This also makes them more inexpensive, as there's less steel used in forging the knife.

While ajikiri are more single-purpose than other deba types, they fill a role larger deba can't. An ajikiri might not be your first deba knife, but it's worth considering if you want to expand your range.

Double-edged versions of ajikiri knives are starting to enter the market too. They make for excellent multi-purpose knives that are wider than a petty knife.

Popular Ajikiri Knives


Funayuki - 舟行包丁

Funayuki Knife Alternate Text

Funayuki knives, sometimes called hunayuki knives translates as "boating knife" in English. As you'd expect, it's often used on boats by fishermen! Yet, it's not used for processing fish caught that day. It's a simple, light cooking knife so fishermen could stay out fishing for longer.

People now also use funayuki knives as small, convenient, single-edged home-use knives. We recommend funayuki quite often in our store for this need. Like the ajikiri knife, double-edged funayuki are now also starting to appear.

Funayuki knives are like a smaller version of a mioroshi deba knife. Compared to mioroshi, they are thinner, lighter, and have a shorter blade length. They are still thicker than a yanagiba, meaning they can cut vegetables too. This makes them a popular complementary knife to santoku or gyuto knives. While they are less versatile, they bring that unique single-edged sharpness.

In short, they make amazing multi-purpose knives in the home. They're great for those who want a small single-edged knife that can handle many tasks. Yet, a funayuki does not replace a deba knife in the kitchen. If you wouldn't bite into it with your teeth, don't cut it with a funayuki.

Popular Funayuki Knives


Fugu-deba - ふぐ出刃包丁

Fugu-deba Knife Alternate Text

The fugu-deba, much like the ajikiri is for one type of fish. In this case, that is blowfish or fugu. Yet, unlike other deba knives that can handle many kinds of fish, these are single-purpose. While ajikiri are now used for cutting many smaller fish, fugu-deba are only used for fugu and tough fish.

As the picture above shows, they have a shorter cutting angle. This sometimes means they are not as thick.

There is a less visible difference though, and it is very major. Fugu-deba are rather blunt!

Fugu have rock-like bones, so fugu-deba have very different cutting edges. This is to prevent the blade from chipping on those thick bones. But, it makes the knife less multi-purpose as a result.

This knife is only used for fish with strong, dense bone structures. Fugu is the top of that chain, but these knives work on some eels too. An eel knife serves that purpose better, but.

This is a less common knife, with less variety out there. Still, it is an important part of Japanese cuisine and is still used by chefs worldwide daily!

Popular Fugu-deba Knives


Rare Deba Knife Variants

There are so many deba variants that we can't introduce them all, but here are some rarer ones. We don't sell these on our website, but we have them in our store in Osaka, so please visit us take a look!

  • Sakekiri Deba (鮭切り出刃) - Used for filleting salmon.

  • Kashiwa Deba (かしわ出刃) - Used for butchering whole chickens. Kashiwa is "chicken" in Kansai dialect.

  • Barankiri (バラン切り) - Used for preparing decorative balan leaves, and sometimes clams.

  • Yo-Deba (洋出) - Used as a thick, double-edged deba for heavier work. Comes with a Western-style handle.

Deba knives are wonderful because they show how knives exist for a specific purpose and excel at it. Most people only need one deba variant, or two if they want to experiment. Yet, some people will have a large selection of weights, styles, and lengths to suit their purposes.

Plus, the possibilities are endless when you factor in Western-style handled deba knives. Our G-Line VG-1 series is an example of a Western-handle deba. You can even get Kiritsuke-deba variants, like our Kirameki Blue Steel model available in-store!

See a quick recap below, explore our deba collection here, or ask us if you ever have questions!

We will be dedicating a seperate article to Ko-deba as well, so please look forward to that.

Type of Knife Benefits Used On

Deba

  • Great at breaking down fish
  • Heaviness means they can break fish heads and thicker bones
  • Large variety of sizes

Fish of almost all kinds

Ai-deba

  • Less thick and heavy than regular deba
  • Still performs like a deba, just smaller

Slightly smaller fish with lighter bones

Mioroshi Deba

  • Thinner than an Ai-Deba
  • Good for filleting and processing

Fish where only filleting is required

Ajikiri

  • Designed for horse mackerel
  • Can handle any small fish with good stopping power

Aji and other smaller fish

Funayuki

  • A smaller version of a mioroshi deba
  • Used by fishermen frequently on a boat
  • Now seen as a great home-use knife

Fish that make enough food for one or two portions

Fugu-deba

  • Bluntness provides great stopping power
  • Great at getting through thick bones

Fugu and other fish with thick or very hard bones

Sakekiri

  • Specialises in breaking down larger fish

Salmon or other bigger fish

Kashiwa-deba

  • Great at breaking down any poultry
  • Uses fishcutting techniques

Poultry like chicken, turkey, or duck.

Barankiri

  • Used for decorative baran cutting
  • Also used with clams and other tiny seafood

Decorative baran leaf, and small seafood like clams

Yo-Deba

  • Double-edged
  • Western-style handle
  • Great at heavier work

Fish of almost all kinds

Popular Western-style Deba