How to use Chopsticks

Oct 7, 2024

 How to use Chopsticks

Wrapping freshly cooked rice with a sheet of seaweed. Gently picking up soft, freshly cooked beans. Taking an appropriate amount of freshly grated wasabi and mixing it with soy sauce.

 

To hold chopsticks correctly

Being able to use chopsticks as naturally as this is only possible by mastering the correct way to hold and use them. If you feel like you're "not quite comfortable with using chopsticks," why not take this opportunity to try learning the proper technique again? The key is to relax your shoulders and hold them lightly.

  1. Position the lower chopstick so that it protrudes about one centimeter from the hand, securing it between the side of the ring finger’s nail and the web between the thumb and index finger. When using chopsticks, keep this one fixed in place and do not move it.

  2. Rest the upper chopstick against the side of the middle finger’s nail, holding it lightly between the thumb and index finger. It is important to ensure that the tips of both chopsticks are aligned. Also, the tip of the thumb should feel lightly anchored around the first joint of the index finger.

  3. To open and close the chopstick tips, use the thumb as a pivot and move only the upper chopstick. By lightly pressing the chopstick with the index finger and bending both the index and middle fingers slightly, the chopstick tips will lower. Straightening the middle finger will raise the tips. This repeated action allows the tips to open and close.

Proper way to pick up chopsticks

The chopsticks should be placed in front of the meal, with the tips facing left.

The correct way to pick up chopsticks follows the sequence shown in diagrams [1] to [4], and when returning the chopsticks, follow the reverse order from [4] to [1].

【1】Pick up the chopsticks from above with your right hand.
【2】Support the chopsticks from below with your left hand and slide your right hand down.
【3】While supporting the chopsticks from below with your left hand, adjust the position of your right hand and move it to the holding position.

【4】Release your left hand that was supporting the chopsticks, and adjust your right hand to the correct holding position.

In formal settings, you should wait for the host or the person of higher status to pick up their chopsticks first, or wait for a gesture such as 'Please go ahead,' before picking up your own chopsticks.
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