Oroshi hocho

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Using a Oroshi hocho knife to filet tuna at the Tsukiji fish market. The knife curves along the line of the spine.

Japanese knives, including a long Oroshi hocho, used to filet tuna at the Tsukiji fish market

Oroshi hocho (おろし包丁, literally: wholesale knife) and hancho hocho (半丁包丁, literally: half tool knife) are extremely long highly specialized knives used in Japan to fillet tuna and other large fish.

The oroshi hocho is the longer blade with a blade length of 150 cm in addition to a 30 cm handle, and can fillet a tuna in a single cut, although usually two to three 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 chassis. The hancho hocho is the shorter blade with a length of around 100 cm in addition to the handle. The hancho hocho is also sometimes called a maguro kiri ( マグロ切, lit. tuna cutter).

They are commonly found at wholesale fish markets in Japan, the largest of which is the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. They may also be found at very large restaurants, but they are not found in the regular Japanese kitchen, unless there is a frequent need to fillet tuna with a weight of 200 kg or more. To the untrained eye these knives are often confused with Japanese swords, however, they are not a weapon, but only a tool, although they have been used as weapons by Yakuza¹.

See also Japanese kitchen knives and the .

An oroshi hocho in use at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo

Hancho hocho, a half length blade at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo

Notes

• Note 1: , pg 26

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