Japanese Chopstick Etiquette

Japanese chopsticks can vary in shape but are shorter and lighter weight than the Chinese version. Those for everyday use are made of woods such as bamboo, pine, cypress and white birch. Chopsticks for more formal use are often slightly longer and made of cedar, ivory or lacquered wood inlaid with abalone or mother-of-pearl.

The Etiquette of Using Chopsticks

Question: I’ve been invited to dinner at a Japanese restaurant and would like to know the traditional customs governing chopstick etiquette.

Answer: The Japanese custom of eating with chopsticks, hashi, was adopted from China almost 2,000 years ago, according to Susan Fuller Slack, author of “Japanese Cooking.” She goes on to explain that chopstick and table etiquette were developed by court aristocracy and Buddhist clergy between the 12th and 15th centuries. Later, during the Edo period (1603-1868), these customs became popular throughout the country.

Japanese chopsticks can vary in shape but are shorter and lighter weight than the Chinese version. Those for everyday use are made of woods such as bamboo, pine, cypress and white birch. Chopsticks for more formal use are often slightly longer and made of cedar, ivory or lacquered wood inlaid with abalone or mother-of-pearl.

Traditional customs still followed today include:

• At the beginning of the meal, chopsticks are picked up with one hand, then transferred to the other for eating.
• Ends of chopsticks are moistened before use by dipping them into soup or hot tea.
• The clean, unused ends are used for taking food from a communal serving dish unless a pair of serving chopsticks is provided for everyone’s use.
• When not in use, the ends of chopsticks should be placed on special chopstick rests, hashi-oki, pointing toward the left. Do not lean chopsticks against a food dish.
• Chopsticks should not be scraped together to remove pieces of food.
• Do not point with chopsticks.
• Never pass food from person to person with chopsticks.
• Do not permit chopsticks to stand upright in dishes of food.

 By Joan Drake, Times Staff Writer, 1986

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