Masahiro, Yanagi, Betsussen, 210mm, Import from Japan

It slices thru fish and meat with such ease it's almost scary, so handle this knife with care!

When cutting, don't try to just push down the blade, instead use a sawing action.. it won't tug or pull the meat or sushi rolls when you do this... it will just slice right thru with ease.

DO NOT use oil to sharpen this knife. You must use a (water) wet stone. Depending on how much you use the knife will determine how often you need to sharpen it, however it seems to hold it's edge for a while.

Be careful of the blade as it can get nicks easily don't just throw it in the drain pan with your pots and pans. (I did this and wanted to cry.. but they rub out with the wet stone)

I don't know if this is normal for this type of knife or not, but the blade will develop a very light rust if you don't dry it off immediately and apply a very light rubbing of vegetable oil on it.

Overall, I just LOVE this knife. It has great balance and weight, the handle is incredibly comfortable and this knife makes everything soooooo much easier.

**** EDIT****

Well curiosity got the better of me and I discovered the following:

Yes, carbon blades have what is called a natural patina. AKA a natural very light/ orange rust is normal on carbon steel blades. Also, if you are like me and just don't want to see a "rusty" look, do as I suggested abovejust wipe with a little vegetable oil and you will have no visible patina to grate on your esthetic nerves.

I also learned that carbon steel is what allows the knife to obtain such an incredibly sharp edge and what makes them easy to sharpen.

In addition, carbon steel, white steel, and blue steel: no real difference except Blue steel does have a very slightly different composition that makes it marginally better quality. So don't be fooled by all the fancy jargon when shopping for your knife. Unless you are a professional chef who will use the knife 20 times in a single day, this is NOT gonna make the slightest bit of difference to any domestic user.

I also confirmed that the edges of the blade are indeed very prone to nicks b/c of the hardness of the metal (HRC 60-63) so yeah, you really do need to handle these kind of knives with care so that you don't nick the blade.