Tako hiki (タコ引, literally, octopus-pull), yanagi ba (柳刃, literally, willow blade), and fugu hiki (ふぐ引き, literally, pufferfish-puller) are long thin knives used in the Japanese kitchen, belonging to the group of Sashimi bocho (Japanese: 刺身包丁) to prepare sashimi, sliced raw fish and seafood.
Similar to the nakiri bocho, the style differs slightly between Tokyo and Osaka. In Osaka, the yanagi ba has a pointed end, whereas in Tokyo the tako hiki has a rectangular end. The tako hiki is usually used to prepare octopus. A fugu hiki is similar to the yanagi ba, except that the blade is thinner and more flexible. As the name indicates, the fugu hiki is traditionally used to slice very thin fugu sashimi.
The length of the knife is suitable to fillet medium sized fish. For very large fish such as Tuna longer specialized knives exist, for example the almost two meter long Oroshi hocho, or the slightly shorter Hancho hocho.
Most fugu nowadays is harvested in the spring during the spawning season, and then farmed in floating cages in the Pacific Ocean.
As fugu are aggressive and have sharp teeth, in captivity the mouths of fugu are often sewn shut to avoid the fish injuring each other.
According to the Fugu Research Institute, 50 percent of the victims were poisoned by eating the liver, 43 percent from eating the ovaries and 7 percent from eating the skin.
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