Japanese table manner

Even if the most important things to avoid when using chopsticks are the ones relates to funeral ritual, it may be fun to know which are the other table manners.

Here is a list:

• Arai bashi (洗い箸): Washing chopsticks in soup
• Awase bashi (合わせ箸): Passing food from one’s own chopstick to someone else’s chopstick
• Chigai bashi (違い箸): Using a mismatched pair of chopsticks
• Choku bashi (直箸): Not using the serving chopsticks, but your own sticks to get food from shared plates and place it on your own plate or bowl before eating it
• Hane bashi (撥ね箸): Pushing away disliked food with chopsticks
• Hotoke bashi (仏箸): Standing your chopsticks up in a bowl of rice
• Kaki bashi (掻き箸): Holding a bowl to your mouth and shovelling food in
• Kami bashi (噛み箸): Chewing chopsticks
• Kara bashi (空箸): Picking up food but not eating it
• Kasane bashi (重ね箸): Eating just one dish continuously
• Komi bashi (込み箸): Stuffing too much food into your mouth
• Mayoi bashi (迷い箸): Hovering chopsticks over the dishes while humming and hawing about what to eat
• Mochi bashi (持ち箸): Grabbing a dish, glass, etc whilst holding chopsticks in the same hand
• Mogi bashi (もぎ箸): Sucking off grains of rice, etc, stuck to the chopsticks
• Namida bashi (涙箸): Allowing tears of soup to drip from your chopsticks
• Neburi bashi (舐り箸): Licking your chopsticks
• Saguri bashi (探り箸): Stirring soup trying to find that last chunk of tofu, etc
• Sashi bashi (指し箸): Pointing at people or things with chopsticks
• Seseri bashi (せせり箸): Poking or playing with your food using chopsticks
• Soroe bashi (揃え箸): Suddenly lunging at dishes with chopsticks ready
• Sukashi bashi (すかし箸): Rather than turning over a fish, picking away the meat from under the bones
• Tataki bashi (叩き箸): Making a noise by striking dishes with chopsticks
• Tsuki bashi, sashi bashi (突き箸・刺し箸): Spearing food then eating it
• Uke bashi (受け箸): Holding chopsticks when asking for more rice
• Utsuri bashi, watari bashi (移り箸・渡り箸): Aiming to pick up one dish, but then suddenly switching to another
• Watashi bashi (渡し箸): Resting chopsticks sideways across the top of dishes
• Yose bashi (寄せ箸): Pulling dishes closer with chopsticks

How to use chopsticks

As in every other countries, knowing table manner is a way to make a good impression.
In this post I explain you how to use chopsticks.

 

How to hold and use chopsticks

Hold the bottom chopstick between the bottom of the thumb and the tip of the ring finger. Close the thumb to stabilize the chopstick, never move it.

Pinch and stabilize the upper chopstick with fingertips of direction finger, middle finger and thumb. This chopstick is held like a pencil, and it is moved while eating, to pull food into the grasp of the chopsticks.

For etiquette, the right way to hold chopsticks is the following:

Pick up both of the chopsticks’ bottom with your eating hand.

Place the other hand’s palm at the top and under the chopsticks. Hold them firmly with the thumb of this hand.

Move your eating hand under the chopsticks and palm up.

Just place a little pressure on the upper chopstick with your eating hand’s index finger, to make it pivot on the index finger while keeping the bottom chopstick stationary.

Release the chopsticks from the other hand.

This procedure is the one that give you the better grip with less effort.

 

 

 

How to use chopsticks:

• Close the chopsticks to pick up food.
• Open the chopsticks to peel off or break into a part.
• The chopsticks should not cross each other while you use them.
• Chopsticks should be placed right-left direction (the tips should be on the left) and on a chopstick rest. When a chopstick rest is not available (like in restaurants that use disposable chopsticks) a person may make a chopstick rest by folding the paper case that contained the chopsticks.
• Disposable chopsticks (割り箸waribashi) should be replaced into the wrapper at the end of the meal.
• Reversing chopsticks to use the opposite clean end is commonly used to move food from a communal plate, and is acceptable if there are no communal chopsticks.
• To separate a piece of food in two, exert controlled pressure on the chopsticks while moving them apart from each other in order to tear the food.

Where to hold chopsticks:

The correct place to put your fingers while holding them is two-thirds of the way from the bottom.

 

This is a video that explain how to move, how to separate, and other fun and interesting things on chopsticks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3vBqX1NTBc

The story of chopsticks

Chopsticks originated in ancient China with the Shang dynasty (1766-1122 BC), The first chopsticks were probably used for cooking, stirring the fire, serving or seizing bits of food, and not as eating utensils.

It was not until the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 BC) that chopsticks came into normal use for both serving and eating, acquiring the present shape.

By 500 AC, chopstick use spread from China to other Asian countries, including Japan.

While the ancient Chinese character for chopsticks (箸 d̪jwo-; pinyin: zhù; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tī/tū) was latter replaced with a different character, in Japanese it is still in use with the phonetic reading of “hashi”.

This reading was given because, at first, they were a single piece of bamboo connected at one end (折箸 oribashi）. This connection resemble a bridge, that in Japanese is also called "hashi" (橋).

By the 10th century AC, they began to be made as two separate pieces and used in pairs, as they are today.

Originally, they were used strictly for religious ceremonies.

Chopsticks are still important in traditional Japanese funeral rites, in the ritual treatment of the cremated remains.

Guests use a pair of mismatched chopsticks (one stick of wood and one of bamboo) to put the bone fragments leftover of the deceased in the urn, starting with the feet to ensure the upright orientation of the body within the urn.

This because they believe that the world of the alive and the dead are separate by a river. To help the dead to go from one bank to another through an imaginary bridge (hashi), they use chopsticks (hashi).

Another funeral ritual is to offer incense, or to stuck a departed family member’s personal pair of chopsticks in the bowl of uncooked rice, and place it upon the family altar as an offer.

For these rituals, it is forbidden to pass food directly from one person’s chopsticks to another’s, to use a mismatched pair of them, and to stick chopsticks in a bowl of rice and leaving them in a vertical position.

Soon chopsticks started to be used for casual eating as well.

This because, as the Chinese cooking methods, Japanese, before stir-frying the food, cut it into tiny pieces, making easy to them to manipulate the food with chopsticks.

In the 17th century AC, the wood began to be lacquered to make them more durable, waterproof and easier to clean.

Plus, the ornate designs make them some of the most attractive and unique chopsticks in the world, reflecting the highly artistic culture of the islands.

Japanese chopsticks are shorter than most chopsticks from other countries. They are typically 7-9 inches long (20-23cm), rounded, and tapered to a point.

Nowadays, chopsticks are usually made of bamboo, sandalwood, pine or plastic, and more expensive sets are made of lacquered wood, silver or even jade.

Note:

In Japan chopsticks were are also known as otemoto (おてもと), since て means hand and もと means the area under or around something. The preceding お

o is used for politeness.

This word now is just used on the wrappers of disposable chopsticks.

 

 

 

 

Umi no Hi

Presto sarà il Giorno del Mare (海の日 umi no hi) quindi in Giappone, festa nazionale che cade sempre il terzo lunedì di luglio.

Quindi quest’anno sarà il 15.

Nel 1874, il governo Meiji commissionò a Robert Napier & Sons, un cantiere navale, di costruire la nave a vapore Meiji-Maru.

Il nome della nave fu scelto dal 16enne Imperatore Mutsuhito.

Meiji e il nome dell’Era in cui governò ed ha il significato di “regole sagge, illuminate”. Maru è il suffisso che viene aggiunto alla maggior parte delle navi e si oensa che desivi da un suffisso simile che viene aggiunto per esprimere il proprio affetto verso ciò che si possiede, come bambini e spade.

Quando la nave fu completata, nel 1876, l’Imperatore salpò per un’ispezione del nord est del Giappone, attraverso la regione del Tōhoku, partendo da Aomori, facendo un piccola sosta a Hakodate e terminando a Yokohama il 20 luglio dello stesso anno.

Anche se l’origine di questa festa risale al 19vesimo secolo, fu nel 1941 che, in onore di quel giorno, l’Anniversario del Mare (海の記念日 umi no kinenbi, 20 luglio) fu proposto dal Ministro delle Comunicazioni, Shozo Murata, per commemorare il viaggio intrapreso dall’Imperatore sulla Meiji-Maru.

Ma ancora non diventerà una festività nazionale, se non nel 1996, prendendo il nome di Giorno del Mare.

Anche se all’inizio cadeva sempre il 20 luglio, nel 2003 fu sposatta al terzo lunedì di luglio.

Questo grazie al sistema legislativo chiamato Felice Lunedì (ハッピーマンデー制度), che era stato creato per muovere alcune festività di lunedì in modo da creare weekend lunghi.

Questa fesività ha lo scopo di ringraziare l’oceano per i suoi doni (cibo) e per augurare prosperità al Giappone.

Il Giappone in fatti è circondato dall’oceano, è costituito da 6852 piccole e grandi isole e i prodotti marini sono un’abbondante risorsa di cibo.

L’oceano ha anche una grande influenza sul clima e sulle condizioni ambientali del Giappone e nell’atichità era il mezzo attraverso il quale gli stranieri e la loro cultura arrivavano.

Il Giorno dle Mare è anche il primo giorno di vacanza di tutto il periodo estivo.

La stagione delle piogge finisce, arrivano le giornate calde, molte scuole chiudono e c’è la sensazione che l’estate sia veramente iniziata.

Per celebrare sia il Giorno del Mare sia l’inizio dell’estate, molte persone approfittano di questa vacanza per recarsi al mare.

Durante i 12 giorni che vanno dal 20 al 31 di luglio, chiamati la Stagione Marina (Umi no shunkan 海の旬間), molti eventi, come presentazioni sulle ricerche marine, pubbliche visite ad instituti marini e concerti sull’acqua, sono tenuti in tutto il Paese.

Note:

nel 1898 il Meiji-Maru fu ristrutturato e usato per più di 50 anni come nave da addestramento dalla Tokyo Nautical School.

Fu ritirata nel 1964 e posta, dove ancora si trova, alla Tokyo University of Mercantile Marine, ma dopo essere stata usata da più di 5.000 cadetti cadde in rovina.

Nel 1978 fu dichiarata Proprietà Culturale del Giappone e fu stilato un piano 8ennale per riportarla al suo vecchio stato di gloria.

Ora è preservata come monumento del Giappone dell’era Meiji.

Il 20 luglio, la Tokyo University of Mercantile Marine apre al pubblico ed è possibile sia vedere la Meiji-Maru.

Umi no Hi

Soon will be the Ocean Day (海の日 umi no hi) here in Japan.

This is a Japanese national holiday celebrated on the third Monday in July, so this year will be the 15^th.

In 1874, the Japanese Meiji government commissioned to Robert Napier & Sons, a Scottish shipyard, the construction of the Meiji-Maru, a lighthouse service steamship.

The ship's name originates from the one selected by 16-year-old Emperor Mutsuhito.

"Meiji" meaning "enlightened rule" and it is the name for his era of reign. "Maru" is the suffix attached to the names of most Japanese ships, and is thought to come from a similar ending which was added as a term of endearment to cherished possessions like boy's names and swords.

When the ship was completed in 1876, the Emperor used it to take an inspection tour of northeastern Japan, around the Tōhoku region, starting in Aomori, briefly stop in Hakodate, and ending in Yokohama on July 20^th .

Even if the origins of this holiday extend back to the late 19th century, it was in the 1941 that, in honor of that day, the Marine Memorial Day (海の記念日 umi no kinenbi, July 20^th), was proposed by the Communication Minister, Shozo Murata, to commemorate the Emperor's safe voyage on the Meiji-Maru.

But, it still would not become a national holiday until 1996, renamed Ocean Day.

Though it was originally observed on July 20^th, in 2003 it was moved to the third Monday in July. This was due to the Happy Monday System legislation (ハッピーマンデー制度), which tried to move some holidays to make more three day weekends.

This holiday has the meaning to thanks the ocean for its blessings (seafood), and to wish for the prosperity of Japan.

In fact, Japan is surrounded by the sea, made up of 6852 small and large islands, and the marine products supply Japan with an abundant food source.

The sea also has a great influence on the country’s environment and climate and since ancient times, foreign cultures have been introduced to Japan by way of the sea.

The Ocean Day is the first holiday in the summer months. The raining season over and the hot long days come. Most of the schools close and there is a feeling that summer is start.

To celebrate both the Ocean Day and the starting of summer, a lot of people use this vacation to go to the see.

During the twelve days between July 20^th and 31^st, called Marine Season (Umi no shunkan 海の旬間), various events are held in many parts of the country, including presentations on marine research, public visits to marine institutes, concerts on the water, and so on.

Note:

In 1898 the Meiji-Maru was changed to a full-rigged ship and used for more than 50 years as a moored training vessel by Tokyo Nautical School. She was retired from service in 1964 and moved to her present site at Tokyo University of Mercantile Marine, but after being used to train more than 5,000 cadets had fallen into disrepair. In 1978 she was designated as an "Important Cultural Property of Japan" and an eight-year plan was drawn up to restore Japan's oldest surviving iron ship to its original glory. Today, she is preserved as a monument of Japanese shipbuilding technology and seamanship from the Meiji era.

On July 20th, the Meiji-Maru opens to the public and special events will be held at the Tokyo University of Mercantile Marine to celebrate the Ocean Day, including a special lecture entitled "The Voyage of Dutch Ship 'Die Liefde,' which reached Japan in 1600." 

The art of bow

Living and working in Tokyo for a Japanese company, I am used to see bow every day.
But I was curious to know when and why this “culture” was born.

So I searched a little bit and I found out, as I wrote in my first post, that etiquette in Japan was coded by Ogasawara clan, in order to beat enemies.

The bow  (お辞儀 ojigi) is a technique used with this propose.

If you think about it, the posture of the bow (stretched arms, joined feet and glace down) is a submissive one.

In fact, you lose contact with your enemy and you expose to him neck and back for just a couple of seconds, as long as the bow must last, as a proof of your pacific intentions.

Nowadays, the bow is used as a greeting, an apology, to introduce oneself, to thank someone, to congratulate, in sport, in religion, etc.

The depth of the bow, calculate in grade, vary with the position of the person.

An older person or a person with a higher status will make a less deep bow.

If you are a tourist in Japan, a gesture similar to a nod with the head will be enough to know.

This gesture is used to excuse oneself or to thanks someone.

But if you intend to live in Japan longer, you will be in need to know the other type of bow as well.

1)    Eshaku (会釈), 15 degrees.

     This bow is used to greeting co-workers or costumers.

It is used to thanks and to apology in an informal way.

2)    Keirei (敬礼), 30 degrees.

This bow is used for greeting companies’ boss and for people higher in status or in age, and to ask for a favor.

It is used to thanks and to apology in a formal way.

 

3)    Saikeirei (最敬礼), 45 degrees.

This bow is used just when you meet important people and when you want to apology or thank someone with great emphasis.

4)    Dogeza (土下座)

In this case, you seat on you knee and put gracefully your hand and face on the floor in front of your knee.

Nowadays, people perform this type of bow just in martial art or to excuse for some really big problem they caused.

While to greetings friends and to be polite to clerks a 15 degrees bow or a nod is all you need, in other situations it may be difficult to understand if you are in a higher position.

A 30 degrees bow will be your better choice.

 

 

 

L' arte dell' inchino

Abitando a Tokyo e lavorando in una compagnia giapponese, di inchini ne vedo tutti i giorni.

Ero quindi molto incuriosa di sapere quale fosse il significato dietro questa “cultura”, e di sapere quando avesse preso piede.

Sono andata un pò alla ricerca e ho trovato, come ho scritto nel mio primo post, che l’etichetta in Giappone fu inventata dal clan degli Ogasawara per confondere l’avversario facendosi credere indifesi.

L’inchino (お辞儀 ojigi) è una delle tecniche usate a questo scopo.

Infatti, se ci pensate bene, la posizione corretta dovrebbe essere braccia

lungo il corpo (per gli uomini) o unite davanti alle gambe (per le donne), piedi uniti e

sguardo basso.

In questo modo si perde contatto visivo con l’avversario, mostrandogli collo e schiena

per un paio di secondi, durata media di un inchino.

L’inchino ora, invece, è usato per ringraziare, scusarsi, quando ci si incontra per la prima volta o anche quando si incontra un conoscente, nello sport, in un tempio per portare rispetto agli Dei, per ringraziare un cliente che ha appena comprato qualcosa, per congratularsi, ecc.

La profondità dell’inchino, calcolata in gradi, dipende dalla posizione che una persona ha in una data situazione.

Chi ha una posizione o un’età minore, si inchina maggiormente.

Anche nel caso di un inchino fatto per scusarsi, la profondità dell’inchino determina la serietà delle scuse.

Fatta questa piccola premessa, è bene dire che un visitatore in Giappone avrà occasione di inchinarsi maggiormente per ringraziare commessi o per scusarsi con i passanti nel caso in cui dovesse pestargli un piede o andargli addosso.

Credetemi, di gente ce ne è davvero tanta e, anche non volendo, a volte tutto ciò può capitare.

In questi casi, un piccolo gesto naturale in avanti del capo vi sarà più che sufficiente.

Questo cenno del capo è usato per scusasi di piccoli “incidenti quotidiani”, per ringraziare o per salutare conoscenti e persone che si incontrano tutti i giorni.

E’ anche il tipo di inchino che si riserva ai subalterni o alle persone più giovani.

 

I vari tipi di inchino sono: 

1)    Eshaku (会釈), inchino a 15 gradi o cenno di saluto

       Questo tipo di inchino è usato per scusasi, per salutare i colleghi e come gesto di     
       saluto verso i clienti che ci passano di fianco.

       Questo inchino è il meno formale di tutti.

2)    Keirei (敬礼), inchino a 30 gradi o di rispetto

       Questo tipo di inchino è riservato per il proprio capo o quello di un’altra società e per
      chi è di posizione o età maggiore alla nostra. Viene usato anche quando si saluta
      un cliente e quando si chiede un favore.

       Questo tipo di inchino è usato nelle situazioni più formali.

3)    Saikeirei (最敬礼), inchino a 45 gradi o di reverenza

      Questo inchino viene riservato per incontri con persone veramente importanti,   
      come capi di stato o personaggi di alto riliento. Inoltre viene utilizzato sia per   
      scusarsi sia per ringraziare profondamente, trasmettendo enfasi col corpo.

 

4)    Dogeza (土下座), o le scuse profonde

       In questo caso ci si inginocchia e si portano mani e viso davanti alle ginocchia, per
       terra.
       Nella vita di tutti i giorni, questo inchino non si vede ormai più. In fatti è riservato
       per scuse formali per qualcosa di veramente grave che si è fatto.

Mentre per inchinarsi ai commessi e agli amici basta un inchino a 15 gradi, negli altri casi, se si è insicuri della posizione sociale e dell’età dell’altra persona, un inchino a 30 gradi è più indicato.

 

 

L'origine dell'etichetta giapponese

L’etichetta giapponese ha radici nell’era Muromachi (dal 1336 al 1573), periodo in cui la classe militare fece la sua ascesa. 

In particolare, Ogasawara Sadamune (1294-1350) fu un elemento chiave per permettere a Kougon, cugino dello Shogun, di salire al trono.

Come segno di riconoscimento, Kougon investì Ogasawara a ufficiale in carica all’etichetta di corte.

Il pro-nipote di Sadamune, Nagahide Ogasawara (1366-1424), continuò l’opera dell’avo e compilò il primo testo sull’etichetta giapponese, il Sangi ittō ōsōji (三議一統大双紙), “Le tre arti unificate”: equitazione, tiro con l’arco ed etichetta.

La stirpe Ogasawara era composta da grandi samurai; questo codice quindi serviva ai condottieri per trasmettere al nemico segnali di resa e di inoffensività, salvando loro la vita.

Per questo motivo, l’etichetta giapponese richiede movimenti calibrati e perfetti anche nel modo in cui ci si siede e ci si inchina, tali da confondere il nemico ed essere sempre pronti ad attaccare.

Anche la più piccola fessura tra le braccia ed il corpo o un comportamento diverso potevano essere pericolosi.

Fino al periodo Edo, il testo del clan Ogasawara rimase di conoscenza solo della nobiltà e della classe dei samurai.

A quel tempo, l’etichetta era vista come una qualità mascolina e un’abilità che, se acquisita, era in grado di salvare la propria vita.

Dopo il periodo Edo, la classe dei commercianti aveva acquisito abbastanza ricchezza da permettersi di studiare.

Il clan Ogasawara decise di rendere pubblica a questa classe di nuovi ricchi il Sangi ittō ōsōji.

                    

The origin of Japanese etiquette

The Japanese etiquette was formalized in the Muromachi age (1336 – 1573), the period that saw the rise of the military class, by Sadamune Ogasawara (1294-1350), member of the Ogasawara clan, a respected samurai cast.

He was the first official in charge of court etiquette, and he was appointed by Kougon, a cousin of the shougun, as a demonstration of his gratitude through Sadamune.

In fact, Sadamune has a key role in elevating Kougon to the imperial throne.

The great-grandson of Sadamune, Ogasawara Nagahide (1366-1424) continued in this office and was responsible for codifying the teachings of the Ogasawara clan into an anthology titled Sangi ittō ōsōji (三議一統大双紙), "The Three Unified Teachings": horsemanship, archery and etiquette.

Their code was a means by which the samurai could be safe around other fighting men and could signal a lack of malicious intent, saving their life.

For this reason, Japanese etiquette on blow and sit require calibrate and perfect movement to confuse the enemies while let the person ready to fight. 

Even the smallest opening in posture or comportment was dangerous.

Until the Edo period, the conventions of the Ogasawara clan where taught only to the nobility and to the samurai class.

In that time, the etiquette was seen as a masculine quality and a life-saving skill.

After the Edo period, the merchant class had enough wealth to afford to study etiquette, and the Ogasawara clan started to disclose their anthology to them.