MIYABIKaizen 4 1/2-Inch Paring Knife

feels good in your hand, nice and light with good edge contour and sharpness retention. 4-1/4" inches is a good size for the majority of things outside of chopping

I am a professional chef. I replaced my 8" chef knife with a Miyabi Koh. I loved it immediately. I have been purchasing Zwilling/Henckel knives for 40+ years. The Miyabi brand of theirs is awesome. I purchased the Miyabi Kaizen 5" pairing knife because I needed something a little bigger than my Zwilling 4". It comes out of the box so sharp you can shave with it. The grip is extremely comfortable, the knife is light & the offset handle is great for knuckle clearance. I would recommend the entire Miyabi line to anyone. I will be purchasing more.

It sits on the counter all day because we use it all day. Superbly sharp, perfectly balanced, heavy in a good way, solid feeling in the hand. Beautiful. It will last a life time and is a joy to use. You won't regret it.

The knife came perfectly sharp and without a flaw. However I wish the width of the blade was much narrower ... half the present width. It's very difficult to turn the knife when the blade is embedded in, let's say, a piece of fruit. I have a very old, inexpensive paring knife that has a narrow blade and it's incredibly maneuverable. Unfortunately the steel dulls too quickly because it's a cheap knife. I looked on line and all the knives with good steel have big bellies.

Great knife, extremely sharp and high quality product. Love the design and the feel in the hand. Very happy wit this knife & I plan to get the whole set.

First thing I noticed was just how pretty this knife is. The fit and quality of this knife is second to none. Very comfortable in the hand. I've never seen such a sharp knife from the manufacturer. So far the edge just keeps going and going. I touch it up with a steel occasionally. It is by far the most amazing knife I have ever used. Very pleased with the purchase!

Very sharp

If you've never owned a high-quality Japanese knife and love to cook, you're really missing out. For years, I have had a full set of W*hof pro knives and there is no comparison. The reason is simple: High quality Japanese knives have a different grinding angle. In the Myabi's case, I believe it's around 12 degrees and my German knives are about twice that. In learning about this knife, I also learned more about sharpening and no longer use my W*hof sharpener. It's the wrong angle for this new knife and it never seemed to do much good anyway. So I'm using an inexpensive sharpening stone kit (again Japanese) that I found on Amazon. As for this knife itself, it's an incredibly useful size that is a frequent go to instead of my often too-small paring knives. The shape works really well for slicing and chopping. It feels great in the right hand because of the asymmetrical handle shape. It is a work of art and makes me smile when I grab it out of my knife block.