【Reading】でばぼうちょう

【English Name】Deba knife

The deba bocho is a type of Japanese knife (wabocho) created for breaking down fish, and is one of the indispensable tools for sushi chefs. Blade lengths vary widely from about 10 cm to 50 cm, but around 15–20 cm is considered standard.

Its greatest feature is that the blade is wide and has thickness and weight. The thick structure at the heel of the blade causes little damage to the edge even when cutting off a fish's head. From the middle of the blade toward the tip, it can also handle delicate work such as removing fins and innards and filleting fish into three pieces (sanmai-oroshi). It is basically single-beveled, but double-beveled versions also exist depending on the region.

A small, thinner version is also called an aji-kiri bocho (horse mackerel knife), and the basic principle is to use different sizes according to the target fish. There are also many derivative forms, such as the large, thin-bladed sake-kiri bocho (salmon knife) and the medium-sized aideba and funayuki knives.

Originally developed exclusively for fish, the knife is now also used to prepare meats and frozen ingredients. At sushi shops it is used daily in the process of breaking down whole fish purchased at market, making it an important tool that influences how the toppings (neta) turn out.