Just holding this knife puts me in my happy place! I absolutely adore the look and the feel of this knife in my hands. But beyond that, I have never had a knife do its job as efficiently and as smoothly as with this knife. The shape of the rocking Santoku is perfect for every task that I do with a large profile knife. I get a great chop from the flat part of the blade and the full cutting motion with the curve at the front. The Rocking Santoku is pure genius and when you put it into the beautiful Artisan handle and blade you have reached perfection!