The Santoku bōchō (Japanese: 三徳包丁; "three virtues" or "three uses") or Bunka bōchō (文化包丁) is a general-purpose kitchen knife originating in Japan. Its blade is typically between 13 and 20 cm (5 and 8 in) long, and has a flat edge and a sheepsfoot blade that curves down an angle approaching 60 degrees at the point. The term may refer to the wide variety of ingredients that the knife can handle: meat, fish and vegetables, or to the tasks it can perform: slicing, chopping and dicing, either interpretation indicating a multi-use, general-purpose kitchen knife. The Santoku's blade and handle are designed to work in harmony by matching the blade's width and weight to the weight of the tang and the handle. History The Santoku knife design originated in Japan, where traditionally a Gyuto knife is used to cut meat, a Nakiri knife is used to cut vegetables and a Deba knife is used to cut fish. The Santoku knife was created in the 1940s. General usage As a general kitchen knife, a Santoku knife in Japanese is "Three Virtues" knife. It is used in the kitchen for cutting, slicing, and chopping. Design Santoku blade geometry incorporates the sheep's foot tip. A sheep's foot design essentially draws the spine ("backstrap") down to the front, with very little clearance above the horizontal cutting plane when the blade is resting naturally from heel to forward cutting edge. Providing a more linear cutting edge, the Santoku has limited "rocking" travel (in comparison to a German/Western-style chef's knife). The Santoku may be used in a rocking motion; however, very little cutting edge makes contact with the surface due to the extreme radius of the tip and very little "tip travel" occurs due to the short cantilever span from contact landing to tip. An example of this limitation can be demonstrated in dicing an onion—a Western knife generally slices downward and then rocks the tip forward to complete a cut; the Santoku relies more on a single downward cut and even landing from heel to tip, thus using less of a rocking motion than Western style cutlery. The Santoku design is shorter, lighter, thinner, and more hardened steel in the tradition of Samurai sword steel (to compensate for thinness) than a traditional Western chef's knife. Standard Santoku blade length is between , in comparison to the typical home cook's knife. Most classic kitchen knives maintain a