1.
tea whisk; bamboo whisk used to prepare matcha
A small whisk carved from a single piece of bamboo, with fine tines splayed outward, used in the Japanese tea ceremony to whisk powdered green tea (抹茶) into hot water. The splitting of the bamboo into many thin tines is what gives the whisk its characteristic shape and frothing ability.
茶筅で抹茶を点てる。
Whisk the matcha with a tea whisk.
茶筅は使う前にお湯で湿らせておく。
Moisten the tea whisk with hot water before using it.
奈良県の高山は茶筅づくりの産地として知られ、職人が一本の竹から丁寧に穂先を割り出す。
Takayama in Nara Prefecture is known as a production center for tea whisks, where artisans carefully split the tines out of a single piece of bamboo.
Compound of 茶 ('tea') and 筅 ('whisk; brush'). The character {筅} is used almost exclusively in this word.
USAGE:
- Tightly associated with the tea ceremony (茶道). The whisk is one of the core utensils alongside 茶碗 ('tea bowl'), 茶杓 ('tea scoop'), and 棗 ('tea caddy').
- The verb for using a tea whisk to prepare matcha is 点てる, as in お{茶を点てる} ('to make tea [in the ceremonial way]'). Using 入れる ('to brew') with 茶筅 sounds unnatural.
- Number of tines varies by school and style: 数穂 (many tines, ~80) for everyday use vs. fewer-tined whisks for thicker 濃茶.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 茶筅で点てる: to whisk (matcha) with a chasen
- 茶筅を振る: to move the whisk (in the whisking motion)
- 茶筅を湿らせる: to moisten the whisk
- 茶筅通し: the preparatory step of warming and inspecting the whisk
- 新品の茶筅: a brand-new tea whisk
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 茶杓: tea scoop — the bamboo scoop used to measure matcha powder out of the caddy.
- 茶碗: tea bowl — in the tea ceremony, the bowl in which the matcha is whisked; in everyday life, also 'rice bowl'.
- 抹茶: matcha — the powdered green tea that is whisked with a 茶筅.
- 泡立て器: (ordinary) whisk — a Western-style wire whisk used in cooking; not a substitute for 茶筅 in the tea ceremony.