Chasen No. 116 · White Bamboo, 80 Tines · Usucha

Pale natural bamboo · black thread · around 80 fine, curled tines · one of a kind

Pale (white) bamboo bound in black thread, with a dense dome of around 80 fine outer tines, each rolled into a tight curl at the tip. That curl is what softens the stroke and lifts a fine, even crema — a classic everyday chasen (matcha whisk) for thin matcha (usucha).

Hand-cut from a single piece of bamboo in Takayama, Nara — the district that has made Japan's tea whisks for five centuries. We spent three days there going workshop to workshop; four artisans agreed to sell to us, several met through the town's chasen museum where the makers gather. One of a kind — we have only this piece.

Five years from standing bamboo to the first cut, then split by hand tine by tine with a single blade. Why a Takayama chasen costs what it does →

Care: rest on a whisk holder (kusenaoki), rinse in warm water only, air-dry. Never soak or machine-wash.