A paring knife is as essential as your chef knife.  It handles all of those small tasks like peeling apples or potatoes, removing blemishes from fruit, or if you're really good, making beautiful creations from fruits and veggies.  All of these require a very sharp knife which is exactly what you get when you're buying Miyabi.  They are authentic, from the small Asian edge to the rounded wooden handle.  Incredible hardness for edge retention and beautiful Damascus design.