What’s most interesting to me is the contrast between the German, Japanese, and the Japanese Fusion approach to smaller knives. For the Germans, it was an unending variety of utility knives–several inches shorter than the Chef’s, slicer, and bread knife. The Japanese approach was to maintain the profile, but shorten the length–a petty knife.
Kai used Shun to produce something new. Shun preserved the concept of utility, but introduced it in both a Western and a Japanese fusion way. I bumped into the Japanese fusion way with my t" utility when I purchased the serrated version for lefties–functioning as a single bevel knife.
