A santoku is a Japanese all-purpose kitchen knife. Like a chef's knife, the santoku is used for just about every cutting job in the kitchen. The name means “three virtues" and may refer to the three types of foods it works well with—vegetables, proteins, and fruit. This santoku also features hollow-ground indentations on the blade to help reduce friction so the blade glides through the food more easily. When we first introduced the Shun Classic Hollow Ground Santoku to the market, it was named “Kitchen Knife of the Year" by Blade Magazine.