Skip to main content
Entoten
FacebookInstagramPinterestYouTube

Menu

Skip to content
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Artists
  • Places
  • Press
Cart Sign In Search

Recent Posts

  • Rakugo Tenugui by Harada Fumiko: The Edo Storytelling Tradition in Your Pocket March 5, 2021
  • The Opposite Month: Seeing and Doing Things Differently in Mid-Winter February 5, 2021
  • The Genius of Unusual Methods: Glass Art by Ishida Tami January 14, 2021
  • Kishu Urushi by Hashizume Yasuo and Reiko: Unfeigned Expressions in an Ancient Craft October 23, 2020
  • Playful and Soulful: New Kutaniyaki by Horihata Ran September 28, 2020

Categories

  • Workshops and Webinars
  • People
    • Ayumi Horie
    • Bill Geisinger
    • Floresta Fabrica
    • Hanako Nakazato
    • Harada Fumiko
    • Hashizume Reiko
    • Hashizume Yasuo
    • Horihata Ran
    • Hoshino Gen
    • Ikushima Harumi
    • Inoue Shigeru
    • Ishida Tami
    • Jarrod Dahl
    • Kazu Oba
    • Kenneth Pincus
    • Kikuchi Yuka
    • Kitamura Tokusai
    • Kobayashi Katsuhisa
    • Kubota Kenji
    • Kuriya Masakatsu
    • Maeda Mitsuru
    • Marshall Scheetz
    • Mike Martino
    • Mitch Iburg
    • Muranaka Yasuhiko
    • Nakaya Yoshitaka
    • Nitta Yoshiko
    • Ontayaki
    • Samuel Johnson
    • Sarah Nishiura
    • Saratetsu
    • Sasaki Shoko
    • Shumpei Yamaki
    • Takami Yasuhiro
    • Tanimura Tango
    • Watanabe Ai
    • Yamada Yutaro
    • Yamauchi Takeshi
    • Yokotsuka Yutaka
  • Baskets
  • Ceramics
  • Design
  • Glass
  • Kintsugi
  • Metal
  • Textiles
  • Urushi
  • Wood
  • Mingei
  • Research
  • Food and Craft
  • Topics
  • Tea
  • Travels
    • Arita
    • Bizen
    • Hagi
    • Karatsu
    • Kuroe
    • Kyoto
    • Matsumoto
    • Mino / Tajimi
    • Onta
    • Shigaraki
    • Shizuoka
    • Sonoma County
    • Tokoname
    • Vietnam

Top Posts & Pages

  • Rakugo Tenugui by Harada Fumiko: The Edo Storytelling Tradition in Your Pocket
    Rakugo Tenugui by Harada Fumiko: The Edo Storytelling Tradition in Your Pocket
  • Kintsugi: An Ancient Japanese Repairing Technique Using Urushi Lacquer
    Kintsugi: An Ancient Japanese Repairing Technique Using Urushi Lacquer
  • Guide to Choosing Your Tea Whisk for Matcha
    Guide to Choosing Your Tea Whisk for Matcha
  • It is not just a bowl, it is a spouted bowl
    It is not just a bowl, it is a spouted bowl
  • A Tour of the Pottery Towns of Southern Japan: Part I: Karatsu
    A Tour of the Pottery Towns of Southern Japan: Part I: Karatsu
  • Hanafuda: Japanese Culture Dealt in a Deck of Cards
    Hanafuda: Japanese Culture Dealt in a Deck of Cards
  • Impeccable Workmanship: The Refined Nabeshima Pottery of Imaizumi Imaemon
    Impeccable Workmanship: The Refined Nabeshima Pottery of Imaizumi Imaemon
  • Takami Yasuhiro: Master Bamboo Basket Weaver
    Takami Yasuhiro: Master Bamboo Basket Weaver
  • Kishu Urushi by Hashizume Yasuo and Reiko: Unfeigned Expressions in an Ancient Craft
    Kishu Urushi by Hashizume Yasuo and Reiko: Unfeigned Expressions in an Ancient Craft
  • The Fabrics of a Craft: Quiltmaker Sarah Nishiura
    The Fabrics of a Craft: Quiltmaker Sarah Nishiura
April 2014
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930  
« Mar   May »

Tea Whisks by Tanimura Tango: The Perfect Utensil for Tea Making

April 29, 2014Tea Tanimura Tango

Tea whisks by Tanimura Tango in our store ->

While consumer products today have shelf lives measured in months, perfection came early to the tea whisk. How early? Tanimura Tango, who is the latest descendant of a family that has been making tea whisks or chasen for 20 generations, reckons about five centuries ago. Tanimura-san chuckles and says “we haven’t introduced new products for a very long time, and that is probably a terrible model for companies today”.

Shin-kazuho tea whisk by Tanimura Tango. This type of whisk is used by the grand master of Urasenke tea school.
Shin-kazuho tea whisk by Tanimura Tango. This type of whisk is used by the grand master of Urasenke tea school.

But in place of innovation is a devotion to listening to the specific needs of the user. This is why the Tanimura family makes nearly 100 types and forms of chasen required by different tea schools. “While the chasen was perfected many years ago and the process of making them has remained the same for generations, it is my responsibility to maintain the forms and quality”, Tanimura-san elaborates.

A good chasen is durable and easy to use. “These two elements directly conflict with each other because usability is created by the flexibility of the tines, but if they are too flexible they break easily. Strength and usability have to be balanced carefully and only bamboo can fulfill these requirements within the form,” Tanimura-san explains.

Chasen-Types
There are approximately 100 different types and forms of chasen used by various schools of tea in Japan

The current forms of bamboo chasen were established in the early 1500s around the time when Tanimura-san’s ancestors began making chasen in the hills of Takayama in Nara prefecture. Legend has it that the chasen was originally developed by a prominent poet named Takayama Souzei (-1455), the son of the local ruling family, with advice from his friend and founder of wabi-tea Murata Juko (1423–1502).

At the heart of the perfect chasen is the bamboo that it is made from. The chasen is made using bamboo that is harvested locally in the Kansai area during the winter. Bamboo from colder regions is too hard, while that from warmer regions is too soft. The harvested bamboo is boiled then sun dried for a month and stored to rest and dry for another 2-3 years.

Bamboo-drying
Bamboo is harvested in the winter and sun-dried for a month. Photo courtesy of Tanimura Tango

Different types of bamboo are needed to fulfill the requirements of various tea schools. For example, Urasenke uses white bamboo (hachiku) whereas Omote Senke uses smoked bamboo (susudake) and Mushakouji Senke uses black bamboo (kurotake).

Master chasen maker Tanimura Tango demonstrates how a chasen is made from a single piece of bamboo.
Master chasen maker Tanimura Tango demonstrates how a chasen is made from a single piece of bamboo.

Each chasen is made from a single piece of bamboo that is roughly 4.75” (12cm) long, and split by hand with a small knife. The number of outer tines on a whisk can be up to about 120 and the thickness of the bamboo increases with the number of tines. To make a 70 tined chasen, the bamboo has to be split into 140 pieces to create the inner and outer tines.

inner-outer-tines
The inner and outer tines are split alternately. The inner tines are thinner than the outer tines.

After splitting the bamboo, the top halves of the outer tines are carefully shaved down to give flexibility to the bamboo. This process is called ajikezuri and the process is often said to affect the flavor of tea prepared with that chasen.

Ajikezuri
20th generation tea whisk maker Tanimura Tango demonstrates the Ajikezuri process.

Tanimura-san points out that the most difficult part of the chasen–making process is learning to instinctively adjust the hands while making the whisk. Bamboo come in varying thicknesses and their hardness is also affected by the humidity of the day. He also points out that getting to know the essence of the bamboo is crucial. This is because “bamboo have personalities and the only way to learn is by working with tens of thousands of bamboo to gain the experience.”

Historically, chasen makers owed their livelihoods to the support given by feudal lords and tea schools. The name “Tango” was bestowed on the Tanimura family by the Tokugawa Shogunate as the provider of tea whisks and carried on through successive generations.

chasen-instructions
Chasen diagrams and instructions from various tea schools and masters. Photo courtesy of Tanimura Tango

The Tanimura family continues to directly provide chasen to grand masters of many leading tea schools to this day. “It is a big responsibility and privilege to be able to get my work reviewed directly by the users. Some days they praise me and I get motivated, other days they scold me and I strive to do better. I believe that our history and ability to listen to the voice of the end-user is our biggest asset”, Tanimura-san says.

In the past, the chasen makers worked at night while the rest of the world slept, and the technique was exclusively taught to the eldest son to keep the process secret. Those days are long gone, and nowadays over 70 percent of the chasen sold in Japan are cheaper imports. Tanimura-san though believes that when used, it is easy to recognize the superior quality of Takayama chasen that has been rigorously user tested by the most discerning tea drinkers for centuries.

Tanimura-san creates chasen tied with different color strings. This purple on is appropriate for anyone who likes the color, or to celebrate the blooming of wisteria.
While the forms of chasen are fixed, there are no rules as to the color of the strings tying the tines. Black is the standard color, but any colored ones can be applied for the appropriate occasion. This purple one by Tanimura Tango is ideal for celebrating May and the blooming of wisteria.

While learning the way of tea (chado) allows people to bring beauty into their lives, elaborate formalities are not required for tea to be enjoyed. “As the former grand master of Urasenke once said to me, ‘for tea, some matcha, a tea bowl, and a tea whisk will suffice’. I wish that more people around the world will casually drink tea using the chasen from Takayama. In the five minutes of preparing and drinking tea, one can forget all their worries and problems. It is my dream to be a part of that,” Tanimura-san says.

So have some tea and take a momentary respite from the world. And to make the tea, look no further than the chasen perfected at the hands of Tanimura-san and his predecessors over the ages.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
Bamboo tea Chasen Nara shin kazuho Takayama Takayama chasen Tanimura Tango tea whisk お茶 奈良 真数穂 茶筅 谷村丹後 高山

One response on “Tea Whisks by Tanimura Tango: The Perfect Utensil for Tea Making”

  1. Sandy May 8, 2014 at 11:15 am

    Hello, I would like to know where I can find more information over the many types of whisk as well if you can enlighten me more about the origin of Chasen, I have come across some information on a possible link to the origin of a whisk known as the Kesurikake.

    Thank you in advance,

    S.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy & Security
  • Terms & Conditions
  • ✉️ Entoten Newsletter Archive
  • えんとてんJapan

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Entoten provides professional English to Japanese translation services. Contact us for more details 

Our Mailing Address is
1804 Garnet Ave #558
San Diego CA, 92109

E-mail: hello@entoten.com

Copyright © 2019 ENTOTEN LLC

Studio Kotokoto is now closed. Thank you for your support over the years!
You have been redirected to Entoten, an online blog and shop that was created by one of Studio Kotokoto’s founders.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.