During the latter part of my year or so with a seriously sharp Masakane gyuto (Japanese style chef) knife the rationale behind the Japanese nakiri gradually became apparent.

Certainly I could finish out my tenure on Earth with only my chef knife but having transitioned to nearly vegan, and chopping lots and lots of veg, the long length and razor sharp tip of the chef has become....a bit of a hindrance and safety concern; so I splashed out on this: https://bernalcutlery.com/collection...36251612872856

The Masakane is SK steel. I'm not a fan of the small handle of this particular knife but the simple, pretty thin mono-steel, SK blade takes and holds a razor edge fabulously. It doesn't have the pedigree of the hand forged knives made of Hitachi "white" and "blue" steels sandwiched between softer steels but it does the job in outstanding fashion.

The Kaji-bei nakiri is iron clad white steel (Shirogami 2). The shorter length and blunt end will be very nice, easier and less dangerous to use for mass veg chopping. Obviously it will take and hold and serious edge. I considered waiting for a blue steel (Aogami 1 or 2) version to be restocked since it's supposed to give up a gnat's ass of sharpness for a bit more resistance to wear; but up in the knife steel stratosphere occupied by all of these steels I decided that for me there couldn't be a difference that made a difference.

It's on the way; user report later, but I can tell you that the thought of being able to whack lots of veg without having to be so extremely mindful of length and sharp tip is reassuring.