Tableware
Chops: In ancient times, chopsticks were made of various materials, including bamboo, fir, willow, etc. Now it is in birch, mulberry, nantian, rosewood, ebony, gold and silver, ivory, animal bones, synthetic resin and so on. The vegetable chopsticks, fish chopsticks used by the Japanese when cooking, and the guest chopsticks used for entertaining guests are often made of bamboo and wood materials. Wooden lacquered chopsticks are generally used for daily meals. The "chopsticks" used to take out snacks are equipped with some decorations. When eating New Year's Eve dinner and rice cake soup during the New Year, people like to use willow and chestnut chopsticks. At the end of June and July every year, "New Chopsticks" and "Aoya Choke" ceremonies are held across Japan. People use new wheat to make noodles and dumplings, put xuan chopsticks and mango chopsticks on them and offer them to the gods. Legend has it that eating this kind of noodles can lead to a long life. Some people also send the offerings to the river the next day and drain them away. In some areas of Japan, chopsticks are specially prepared when the first meal ceremony is held on the 100th day after a child's birth. According to ancient Japanese customs, clean chopsticks that have never been used must be used during festivals and ceremonies such as the first month, sowing, transplanting, and birthdays.
According to Japanese customs, you cannot bring chopsticks when bringing rice to the mountains. When eating, you can break two branches instead. Legend has it that if the chopsticks used on the mountain are not broken and thrown away immediately, foxes will possess the chopsticks and make people sick. There are many ancient willows and large cedar trees in various parts of Japan named Tsutsugi sugi and Tsutsuki willow. According to legend, these trees were propagated by famous monks who inserted chopsticks into the soil after eating. The chopsticks pine in Uigawa City, Niigata Prefecture, are said to be the chopsticks set by Master Yasumi. Inserting willow branches, chopsticks, staffs, etc. is considered a sacred act by the Japanese because they often become places where gods reside. In the eyes of the Japanese, chopsticks, as a food tool, have special magical powers. Because of the fear that unseemly ghosts will be attached to the chopsticks, the chopsticks must be broken when eating outdoors.
The wooden chopsticks prepared for guests, which can be split into two pieces, are made of Yoshino cedar. Although some Japanese people think that this kind of disposable chopsticks is too uneconomical, it is difficult to change the Japanese habit of using wooden chopsticks for guests. Because it creates a feeling for the guests that this chopstick is specially prepared for you and no one has used it before.
The Japanese have many taboos about using chopsticks. The Japanese prohibit the use of one wooden chopstick and one bamboo chopstick. I hate using chopsticks to take food handed to me with chopsticks. I don’t like sticking the chopsticks directly into the rice. In addition, the Japanese call the behavior of holding chopsticks in hand and considering which dish to eat "exploring chopsticks." It is called "moving chopsticks" after picking up vegetables from one plate and then picking up vegetables from another plate. Holding chopsticks in your mouth while eating is called "Hanzhi". These are considered uneducated. It is a sign of good manners to eat all the food that the chopsticks touch.
Bowl: The original bowls were called alkane, Wan, Wan, and Zhan. Wans are made of clay, bowls are made of metal, bowls are made of wood, and bowls are made of pottery. Japan's "Enki Style" lists "earth bowls, pottery bowls, lacquer bowls, copper bowls, large bowls, medium bowls, small bowls, flat bowls, Jifu bowls, pill bowls, sliced ??bowls, covered bowls, sky-covered bowls, and rice bowls. , soup bowl, tea bowl, water bowl, etc. It can be seen that most Japanese bowls are made of wood. To this day, the bowls used by the Japanese are still mostly made of wood in bowl factories. To this day, most of the bowls used by Japanese people are wooden bowls made by wooden bowl factories. The Japanese call ceramics stone tableware. In the past, on weddings and funerals, the Japanese used wooden bowls painted with patterns. Large families often prepare 30 or 50 sets of tableware to meet special needs. Households that don’t have that many tableware often borrow them from the family. Each village often has a common meal bowl for the whole village. To this day, the Japanese still retain the custom of using lacquered wooden bowls for formal occasions.
Seto objects, Karatsu objects: Eastern Japanese people call ceramics Seto objects. Western Japanese call ceramics Karatsumono. These names are all ceramic origins. The most primitive ceramics in Japan are Jomon pottery and Yayoi pottery from BC. Although there are only a few types of Yayoi-style earthenware, they include bowls, dishes, pots, pots, etc. In recent years, Japanese archaeologists have excavated a large number of pottery vessels from the Heijo Kyo site. The wooden turntable shaping method was introduced from Korea in the fifth century. It is the Sue ware practice of Japanese climbing kilns that is widely spread in Japan. Since the shape is made on a wooden turntable, the pattern can be easily changed. During the Nara Period, there were kilns for making Sue ware from Akita in the north to Oita in the south. Some of the later Sue ware used glaze, but most were still hard, unfired ceramics. The "pottery" referred to in "Enki Shiki" is Sue ware.
From the Heian period to the Muromachi period, the Japanese introduced the glaze coating method from China. Centered in Aichi Prefecture, Chinese-style ceramics are mass-produced.
From the Kamakura period to the Muromachi period, Chinese ceramics were imported into Japan via Kamakura and Hakata, which had a great impact on the Seto ceramics industry. Among them, the Tianmu tea bowl is the most prominent representative. Many large pots are made in the Tokoname area near Seto. At that time, this large pot was widely used in society to hold water and wine. From the Momoyama period to the early Edo period, with the popularity of tea drinking, the demand for tea sets in society increased day by day. At this time, a large number of Korean potters came to Japan and established Raku ware in Kyoto, Aki ware in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and Kagoshima Prefecture. Satsuma-yaki and other systems, and produced a large number of excellent works. Some Korean potters who moved from Karatsu to the Kitakyushu area fired a large number of daily-use ceramics, which are called Karatsu ware. In addition, some other Korean potters produced white porcelain in the Arita area of ??Saga Prefecture, Japan, commonly known as "Arita ware". In Japan, only farmers eat in porcelain bowls with white background and blue flowers. So to this day, there is still a saying in Japan that "eating with Seto objects will not make you a great person"