The History of Chopsticks

🥢The History of Chopsticks

When and how did humans first encounter chopsticks?

When did humans begin using chopsticks? The origin of chopsticks has various theories, with no single definitive answer. When you think about it, it's challenging to pinpoint the exact beginnings of such simple tools as chopsticks. The same applies to spoons and bowls. However, if we delve into the history of chopsticks, there is a theory suggesting that as humans began to use fire, their dietary habits evolved, and they started eating hot food, making it difficult to eat with their hands. As a result, they may have started using wooden branches to handle food.

In Japan, based on records in the "Wei Zhi Woren Chuan" (Records of Wei - Accounts of the Wa People), it is inferred that chopsticks were not used until the Yayoi period, as it describes the Japanese as eating with their hands.

By the Kofun period, artifacts resembling chopsticks known as "ori-bashi," made by bending wood into a shape similar to tweezers, were discovered in ruins from that era. However, it is believed that these "ori-bashi" were used more as serving chopsticks or for ritual purposes rather than for eating.

Incidentally, the oldest known Japanese chopsticks are currently preserved in the Shosoin Repository in Nara, dating back to around the 7th century, and their shape is similar to that of the aforementioned "ori-bashi."