Kitchen knife (kitchen knife) - Hocho

Japanese: 包丁(庖丁) - ほうちょう

A knife for cooking. Originally, it was the name of a famous chef in ancient China, which appears in Zhuangzi, and by extension, it meant a person who cooks. In Japan, it also came to mean "cooking," and a cook was called a "knife-man" or "knife-user," and a knife used in cooking was called a "knife-tou," which was then shortened to "knife-tou." An example of a knife simply being called a "knife" is found in the Konjaku Monogatarishu, Volume 28, where it is called "a knife in a sheath." Before that, it was called a "tosu," which meant a small knife or short sword. In the section on the Naizenji in the Engishiki, 77 knives were recorded for offerings per year, including 10 for peeling oysters and two for cutting abalone.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

料理用の刃物。本来は《荘子》に見える古代中国の名料理人の名で，転じて料理する人をいった。日本では〈料理すること〉をもいうようになり，料理する人を包丁人，包丁者，料理に使う刀を包丁刀と呼ぶ風を生じ，さらに包丁刀を略して包丁というようになった。包丁刀を単に包丁と呼んだ例は《今昔物語集》巻二十八に見られる〈鞘（さや）なる庖丁〉あたりが古く，それ以前は小刀，短刀の意味で刀子（とうす）と呼んでいた。《延喜式》内膳司の条下には，供御用の刀子として年間77枚が計上され，その中には〈蠣（かき）〉をむくためのもの10枚，〈鰒（あわび）〉を切るためのもの2枚も含まれていた。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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