Usuba is the classic Japanese vegetable knife with a single-bevel edge. The straight, thin blade is designed for precise and elegant vegetable cutting — from fine julienne strips to the traditional katsuramuki technique, where the vegetable is peeled into a paper-thin sheet.

Usuba comes in two variants: the rectangular Kanto-usuba and the slightly rounded Kamagata-usuba from the Osaka tradition. Both require some knife skill, but reward the owner with results no Western knife can match.