Twenty years ago or so, buying a Japanese kitchen knife, if you lived outside of Japan , was a process. In the early days of Internet commerce, most people were limited to just a handful of major Japanese knife manufacturers at the local branch of their kitchen store chain, where they competed for retail space against their German counterparts. These days, there are multiple online stores that specialize in bringing over the work of individual Japanese knife shops, and the influence of fine dining as pop culture (see: over 20 years of Top Chef combined with the success of The Bear, and several seasons of Chef's Table ) has made knife-curious home cooks more interested in hunting down unique, hand-forged blades.

The top picks

The best Japanese gyuto : Kazan Arare by Shibata Gyutou 210mm

Another top-performing Japanese chef’s knife: Togiharu 440 Wa-Gyuto 8.2"

The best budget traditional Japanese chef’s knife: Akira-Saku White #1 Funayuki Gyutou 180mm

The best hybrid Japanese chef's knife : Misono UX10…