What Are the Types of Japanese Cutting Techniques?

Updated August 2026 · 8 min read · UK Japanese-steel knife specialists

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Japanese kitchens treat knife work as a craft with its own vocabulary. Every basic cut has a name, and that name almost always describes the finished shape — hangetsu means half moon, sen means thousand, ran means disorder. Learn the shape and the name comes with it.

This matters for more than tradition. Cutting vegetables to a consistent shape means they cook at the same rate, sit better on the plate, and release flavour more evenly into a broth or stir-fry. Below are the seven cuts that cover almost everything a home cook needs, plus the Japanese-steel knives that make each one easy.

Why Japanese cuts have names at all

In most Western kitchens you'd say "slice it thin" and leave it there. Japanese cooking is more specific because the cut is treated as part of the recipe, not preparation for it. A miso soup asks for icho-giri daikon; a simmered dish asks for ran-giri carrot because the extra exposed surface soaks up more dashi.

Three practical things follow from a named, repeatable cut:

Even cooking. Pieces of the same thickness finish at the same moment, so nothing is raw and nothing is mush.
Texture. A thin usu-giri cucumber collapses into a dressing; a thicker wa-giri stays crisp.
Presentation. Uniform shapes simply look considered, which is a large part of why Japanese plating reads as calm.

The seven Japanese cutting techniques

Work through them in this order — each one builds on the last.

1. Hangetsu-giri — half moons

What it is: semicircular slices. Best for: carrot, cucumber, courgette, aubergine, daikon.

Halve the vegetable lengthways, then lay the flat cut face down on the board so it cannot roll. Slice straight across at an even thickness — 3–4mm for stir-fries, 5–6mm for simmered dishes. That flat face is the whole trick: it turns an unstable round object into a stable one, which is why this is the first cut to learn.

2. Wa-giri — full rounds

What it is: complete discs, cut straight down through an unhalved vegetable. Best for: cucumber, carrot, lotus root, aubergine.

Because the vegetable is still round it wants to roll, so keep your guiding hand curled into a claw with the fingertips tucked back behind the knuckles. Trim a thin sliver off one side first if you want a flat base to work from.

3. Usu-giri — very thin rounds

What it is: the same shape as wa-giri but paper-thin, roughly 1–2mm. Best for: garlic, ginger, spring onion, mushrooms, cucumber for pickling.

This is the cut that exposes a blunt knife. At this thickness you cannot force the blade through — the slice tears or fans apart instead of separating cleanly. If your usu-giri looks ragged, the edge needs a few minutes on a whetstone rather than more effort from you.

4. Icho-giri — quarter rounds

What it is: quarter-circles, named after the ginkgo leaf they resemble. Best for: daikon and carrot in miso soup, stews and simmered dishes.

Quarter the vegetable lengthways, keep the two flat faces down, and slice across. You get four small pieces per slice instead of one large one, so they cook faster and sit neatly on a spoon — exactly what you want in a soup.

5. Sen-giri — fine matchsticks

What it is: the Japanese julienne, around 1–2mm square. Best for: carrot, daikon, cabbage, ginger, garnishes and salads.

Cut the vegetable into flat planks first, stack two or three planks, then slice down through the stack. Squaring off the rounded sides before you start makes the stack sit flat and stops it sliding — the single biggest cause of uneven matchsticks. Our full guide to julienne technique walks through it step by step.

6. Ran-giri — rolled diagonal chunks

What it is: irregular wedge-shaped chunks, often translated as the "random cut". Best for: carrot, daikon, burdock, aubergine in braises and curries.

Cut diagonally through the vegetable, roll it a quarter turn towards you, cut again, and keep going. The pieces look haphazard but each one has a large angled face, which means more surface area soaking up the cooking liquid. It is deliberately irregular, not careless — aim for pieces of roughly equal volume even though the shapes differ.

7. Sogi-giri — wide angled slices

What it is: slicing at a shallow angle to the board so each piece is wider than the ingredient is thick. Best for: chicken breast, fish fillets, mushrooms, cabbage leaves.

Lay the ingredient flat, hold the knife at roughly 30–45° to the board, and draw the blade towards you in one long stroke rather than sawing. Because the cut face is broader, the piece cooks faster and takes marinade better. This is a pulling cut, which is why Japanese-steel knives with their thin, hard edges do it so well — and why a sawing motion belongs to a serrated bread knife, not to this.

Which knife suits which cut

You can do all of these with one good knife. But some shapes are noticeably easier with the right blade profile.

Cut	Best blade	Why
Hangetsu, wa, icho, usu	Nakiri	Flat edge meets the board along its whole length — no rocking, no uncut hinge
Sen-giri	Nakiri or santoku	Tall blade gives knuckle clearance over a stacked pile
Ran-giri	Santoku or gyuto	Slight curve helps you drive through dense carrot and burdock
Sogi-giri	Gyuto or petty	Longer, narrower blade completes the angled stroke in one pass

If you only want one knife, a santoku handles all seven competently — that is what the name santoku, "three virtues", refers to. If vegetables are most of your prep, a nakiri is the more comfortable specialist. Our santoku vs nakiri comparison covers the trade-off in detail.

Grip, stance and the mistakes that ruin a cut

The grip. Pinch the blade itself, not the handle: thumb on one side of the blade just ahead of the handle, index finger on the other, remaining three fingers wrapped round the handle. It feels odd for a day and then feels obviously correct, because you are steering the blade rather than waving the handle. More on the pinch grip here.

The guiding hand. Curl your fingertips back so the flat of the blade rides against your middle knuckles. The knuckle becomes your depth gauge — move it back a couple of millimetres between cuts and your slices come out even without you measuring anything.

Stance. Stand at a slight angle to the board with your dominant foot half a step back, and leave a hand's width between you and the counter. Square-on and too close forces your elbow out and the blade drifts.

Three common mistakes:

Rocking a flat-edged nakiri like a Western chef's knife — it is designed for a straight up-and-down chop.
Pushing harder instead of sharpening. A thin Japanese-steel edge should fall through a cucumber under its own weight.
Cutting on glass, stone or ceramic. Use a wooden or soft plastic board — a hard surface will chip a hard edge, and the board you choose matters more than most people think.

Knives that make these cuts easy

All three below are Japanese VG10 Damascus steel, double-bevelled and suitable for right- or left-handed use.

Frequently asked questions

What are the basic Japanese cutting techniques?

The seven basic ones are hangetsu-giri (half moons), wa-giri (full rounds), usu-giri (very thin rounds), icho-giri (quarter rounds), sen-giri (fine matchsticks), ran-giri (rolled diagonal chunks) and sogi-giri (wide angled slices). Each is named after the shape it produces rather than the motion used.

What is the difference between wa-giri and usu-giri?

They produce the same round shape; only the thickness differs. Wa-giri is a standard round of roughly 3 to 6mm, thick enough to stay firm when cooked. Usu-giri is a very thin round of about 1 to 2mm, used for garlic, ginger, spring onion and quick pickles where you want the piece to soften almost immediately.

Which knife is best for Japanese cutting techniques?

A nakiri is the traditional choice for vegetable cuts because its dead-flat edge meets the board along its full length, so nothing is left joined at the bottom. A santoku is the better single-knife answer if you also cut meat and fish. For long angled sogi-giri slices, a longer gyuto or a narrow petty knife works best.

What does ran-giri mean and why is the cut irregular?

Ran-giri is often translated as the random or rolled cut. You slice diagonally, roll the vegetable a quarter turn, and slice again. The resulting chunks look irregular but each has a large angled face, which increases surface area so the pieces absorb more of the cooking liquid in braises and curries. Aim for pieces of similar volume even though the shapes differ.

Is sen-giri the same as julienne?

In practice, yes. Sen-giri produces fine matchsticks of roughly 1 to 2mm square, which is the same result as a French julienne. The Japanese approach tends to be slightly finer and is usually done by stacking flat planks and slicing down through the stack rather than by cutting each plank separately.

Why do my slices come out uneven?

Usually one of three things. The vegetable is rolling because you have not created a flat face to rest it on. Your guiding hand is not curled into a claw, so there is no knuckle to gauge thickness against. Or the edge is blunt, which makes you push and the blade wander. Creating a flat face and sharpening the knife fixes the great majority of uneven cuts.

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