NAGOMI Regular Petty 155mm

A petty knife is the small blade you reach for more than any other once it is in your kitchen, and the NAGOMI Regular Series Petty 155mm is built to be exactly that workhorse. At 155mm it sits in the sweet spot between a paring knife and a gyuto, long enough to handle a chef’s worth of small jobs but nimble enough for the fiddly work a big blade cannot manage cleanly.

NAGOMI is made by Mitsuboshi Cutlery in Seki, the cutlery heart of Japan, where the company has been making blades for over 140 years. The name “Nagomi” means harmony, and the Regular Series is built around that idea: honest, dependable knives that do their job without fuss or fragility. This is the line we point people to when they want a genuine Japanese knife that earns its keep rather than sitting in a drawer being precious.

The petty knife is the Japanese answer to a utility blade. It handles everything too small or too detailed for your main knife: peeling and trimming, slicing shallots, segmenting citrus, breaking down a chicken thigh, cleaning up a fillet, topping and tailing beans. If you have ever grabbed your gyuto for a job it was too big for, this is the knife that fills that gap. Most cooks who buy one end up using it daily.

Steel and Construction

The Regular Series uses 440A molybdenum stainless steel at 58 HRC in a monosteel build, meaning the blade is a single steel throughout rather than a hard core clad in softer sides. That keeps it simple and tough. 440A is a properly stainless, corrosion resistant steel that takes a clean working edge and is very forgiving to look after, which is exactly what you want in a knife you will use every day and not baby. The western Pakka handle adds a little weight in the hand that a lot of people prefer, giving the knife a balanced, planted feel rather than the lightness of a traditional Japanese handle.

Maintenance and Care

Hand wash and dry it straight after use. Being stainless, it is far more relaxed than a carbon blade, but no good knife belongs in the dishwasher. Keep it off bones, frozen food, and hard squash, since those are how edges chip on any knife. A few passes on a whetstone when it starts to drag will keep it sharp for years. That is the whole routine.

Best for: home cooks who want one small, reliable Japanese knife for everyday prep, anyone after a stainless and low-maintenance second blade to sit alongside a gyuto, and first-time Japanese knife buyers who want genuine quality without a high-maintenance carbon steel.

Kitchen Samurai Ease of Use Rating: 9 out of 10. Stainless, forgiving, well balanced, and the right size for almost everything. About as easy as a good Japanese knife gets.

HRC: 58

Made in Japan.

Free shipping on orders over R1,500.