{"id":16278,"date":"2025-10-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wjsanxing.com\/?p=16278"},"modified":"2026-07-30T21:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:35:09","slug":"the-tool-started-as-a-radish-slicer-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wjsanxing.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/31\/the-tool-started-as-a-radish-slicer-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tool Started as a Radish Slicer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mandoline that sits in professional kitchens worldwide began as a solution to one specific Japanese kitchen problem, and the shape of the tool still reflects that origin.<\/p>\n

Iwakuni, 1940<\/h2>\n

The founder, Uyuki Yamamoto, designed a slicer for daikon radish in Iwakuni City, in Yamaguchi prefecture. The company was formally established five years later, taking its name from the product.<\/p>\n

The first version was made of wood, and it was bought almost entirely by hotels and restaurants rather than households.<\/p>\n

That commercial origin explains a great deal about the design: it was built for volume, for speed and for repeated daily use rather than for occasional home cooking.<\/p>\n

Wood to Plastic<\/h2>\n

The move from a wooden body to a moulded plastic one is the single largest change in the tool’s history.<\/p>\n

Plastic is lighter, does not absorb water, does not warp, disassembles cleanly and can be moulded to tight tolerances around the blade. It also survives being dropped on a tiled kitchen floor, which wood does not.<\/p>\n

What did not change was the blade: still stainless steel, still ground and finished by hand. Catalogues describing the current range at benriner<\/a> retailers still lead on that, because it is the part that determines how the tool cuts.<\/p>\n

Why Daikon Specifically<\/h2>\n

Japanese cooking uses enormous quantities of very finely cut daikon, and the technique it demands is exacting.<\/p>\n