Bamboo chopsticks, smoked soot bamboo, wiped lacquer <22.5cm・24cm>

Wooden chopsticks tended to be thick and chubby. If it is made thinner, there is a possibility of warping, and it is necessary to use hard and heavy wood, which increases the price. Lacquer-coated chopsticks include lacquer that is more than half of the volume of hon-nuri chopsticks. Then it gets heavy too.

I kept searching and finally found bamboo chopsticks.

Bamboo is a strong and flexible material. It can be split very finely along the direction of the fibers. Because it has a unique flex, it is easy to use chopsticks finely.

These bamboo chopsticks are made by a workshop in Kyoto that deals with tea utensils, drying and milling bamboo that they manage from their own Kyoto bamboo forest.

Thin chopsticks that take advantage of the supple strength of bamboo. It has a square shape, but as it goes to the tip of the chopsticks, it becomes so thin that it is difficult to make it with wood. The corners are also chamfered (Photo 4: White bamboo of the same type and different species), so it doesn't feel rugged when you hold it.

Of course, even with bamboo as a material, craftsmen's skills and experience are necessary to create a balance between thinness and shape. After the bamboo is harvested, it is dried in the sun for a long time. A set of chopsticks is always used as a pair at the time of sawing so that they fit perfectly.

Because of the wipe-lacquer finish, it is more resistant to water and oil, making it much easier to handle than without lacquer.

There are two types: smoked soot bamboo and white bamboo. Smoked soot bamboo has the same color on all four sides because the outer skin is shaved thinly. (Shiratake leaves the outer skin, and lacquer does not enter this part, so only one side has a different color.)

Because the tip of the chopsticks is thin, it is also a feature that you can use chopsticks beautifully and neatly. Due to its slim shape, it is also light. It's a square, so I'm happy that it doesn't roll. In addition, the flexibility of bamboo makes it easy to use chopsticks finely, making it easy to pick up tofu and small beans.

*Frequently Asked Questions/Supplementary Comments*

・The size is ``22.5cm'' and ``24cm'', and the type of bamboo is ``white bamboo'' and ``smoked soot bamboo''.