This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ehn (talk | contribs) at 13:04, 15 August 2010 (Removed period). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 13:04, 15 August 2010 by Ehn (talk | contribs) (Removed period)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Maguro bōchō" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Maguro bōchō (マグロ包丁, lit. "tuna knife") or maguro kiri bōchō (マグロ切り包丁, lit. "tuna cutter") is an extremely long, highly specialized knife used in Japan to fillet tuna and other large fish.
The maguro bōchō is a longer knife with a blade length of 40 cm (16 inches) to 150 cm (60 inches) in addition to a long handle. It can fillet a tuna in a single cut, although usually two people are needed to handle the knife and the tuna. The flexible blade is curved to the shape of the spine to minimize the amount of meat remaining on the tuna carcass.
They are commonly found at wholesale fish markets in Japan, the largest of which is the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. They may be found at very large restaurants, but they are not used in a regular Japanese kitchen, unless there is a frequent need to fillet tuna with a weight of 200 kg (440 pounds) or more.
To those unfamiliar with Japanese knives they may be confused with Japanese swords. However, they are not a weapon but a tool, although they have been used as weapons by Yakuza.
Notes
- Bestor, Theodore C. Tsukiji: The Fish Market at the Center of the World. University of California Press, 2004, p. 26.