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Dining Guide / Japanese Dining

How to Hold Chopsticks

Pick chopsticks up in three movements and rest them in front of you, tips to the left. Here's how to hold them, use the rest or the paper sleeve, and split disposable ones.

How to Hold Chopsticks

Key Points

  1. Hold the top chopstick like a pencil between your thumb, index and middle fingers; the bottom one stays still, braced by the base of your thumb and your ring finger. Only the top one moves.
  2. Pick them up in three movements: take them from above with your right hand, support them from below with your left, then slide your right hand around underneath into the eating grip. Set them down in reverse.
  3. When you're not using them, lay them horizontally in front of you, tips to the left, on the chopstick rest (hashi-oki). No rest? Fold the paper sleeve into one.
  4. Split disposable chopsticks (waribashi) horizontally over your lap, pulling them apart up and down. Don't rub them together to remove splinters.
  5. Try to use only the tips — a traditional saying puts it at about 1.5 to 3 cm. It makes your eating look neat.

Do

  • Put chopsticks down before picking up a bowl
  • Rest them horizontally, tips to the left
  • Split waribashi horizontally, up and down

Avoid

  • Gesturing with chopsticks while you talk
  • Licking chopsticks or holding them in your mouth
  • Splitting waribashi sideways, elbows out

Handy Tip

Struggling with chopsticks? It's perfectly fine to ask for a fork or spoon in Japan — many restaurants have them. Focusing on moving only the top chopstick also makes picking things up much easier.

Customs That Vary

What to do with disposable chopsticks after eating — putting them back in the sleeve, folding the end of the sleeve to show they've been used — varies by restaurant, region and family. At formal restaurants you'll usually get lacquered chopsticks; just return them to the rest.

Practice in a Lesson

Sources