MEET IT IN 30 SECONDS
茶杓
A chashaku transfers powdered tea from its container to the tea bowl. A common form is a narrow strip of bamboo with a bent scooping tip. Its node, carving, storage tube and inscriptions can also preserve the work and relationships of tea practitioners.
The scoop takes tea from a container such as a natsume or chaire and places it in the bowl. The whisk, chasen, performs a different task in preparing the tea. Though both commonly use bamboo, they have different structures and functions.
The scooping end is the kaisaki. Width, curvature and edges distinguish individual pieces. One Oribe scoop has a pronounced bend and a cut at the tip. A particular object can therefore differ considerably from a generic spoon shape.
Omotesenke describes Rikyū’s bamboo scoops with a node around the middle: the upper portion scoops, and the lower portion is held. Node placement, carving beneath it and the relation of the two lengths shape the whole implement.
Omotesenke traces earlier forms to Chinese implements such as medicine spoons, including metal and ivory. Bamboo later gained importance. Bamboo pieces may also have a lacquer finish: the Oribe example in Nagoya uses old bamboo with wiped lacquer, rather than an untreated surface.
A 2025 Kyoto Prefecture interview with Takano Chikkō describes harvesting, natural drying, heat treatment to remove oil and moisture, and longer seasoning. This workshop example shows that making a scoop begins well before its outline is carved.
The scoop maker in that interview describes carving the shape, soaking it for about an hour, then using heat from a gas burner and hand pressure to bend it. This is a contemporary workshop’s method, balancing established forms with a user’s preferences.
A tube protects the narrow scoop and may record its maker, recipient or name. A later owner can add a new tube. Nagoya’s Oribe scoop retains the maker’s own tube, a later replacement tube and a letter, which together document its transmission.
A scoop’s name, or mei, may appear on its storage tube and help connect it with the season or theme of a gathering. Tankosha’s September examples include Shinryō, the first autumn coolness, and Yonaga, lengthening nights. The name adds another consideration alongside the scoop’s material and shape.
Omotesenke describes bamboo use in the time of Jukō and Jōō, with nodeless and end-node forms, followed by Rikyū’s central-node arrangement. The development concerns how a natural node shapes an implement as well as a change of material.
Nagoya City Museum explains that before Rikyū, tea practitioners did not commonly carve their own scoops; makers known as chashaku kezurishi supplied them. Other practitioners followed Rikyū’s example of carving his own, and self-making gradually became customary. Users could also make personal choices through the carving, node and bend.
Oribe’s scoop and its dated 1613 tube connect this practice with giving. The object and maker’s tube document making and presentation; Hisada Sōya’s later replacement tube and letter document subsequent care. These materials preserve different stages in the scoop’s life.
Namida, held by the Tokugawa Art Museum, is associated with Rikyū’s final tea gathering in 1591. The museum presents as tradition that he carved and used it before giving it to Oribe, who made a windowed tube and venerated the scoop as a memorial to Rikyū. Its name, preservation and story are closely connected.
Nagoya City Museum’s scoop Jō Senshū-sama mairu measures 17.6 cm. Its original tube records the ninth month of Keichō 18 and the recipient, identifying Oribe’s 1613 gift to Jō Izumi-no-kami Masamochi. The deep bamboo groove, tip cut and carving under the node distinguish this object.
The same scoop has a letter and replacement tube by Hisada Sōya, Fukyūsai (1681–1744). His letter explains that he supplied a new tube and urges careful preservation of Oribe’s work. Such additions record later care and connoisseurship as well as authorship.
After the Meiji Restoration, connoisseurs including Masuda Donnō, Takahashi Sōan and Kobayashi Itsuō made and exchanged scoops. MIHO MUSEUM’s 2018 exhibition also included work or inscriptions associated with Uemura Shōen, Niijima Yae and Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, using these small objects to trace modern relationships.
Workshops continue making scoops, while museums interpret their craft and social histories. Variations in bamboo must meet the practical needs of scooping and holding. A chashaku remains both a working utensil and an object for close observation.
It transfers matcha from the tea container to the bowl.
No. The whisk prepares the tea in the bowl.
A central node and the proportions and carving around it.
In the date and recipient inscription on the maker’s tube.
No. It can record names, makers, recipients and transmission.
Specialist carvers had commonly supplied them; after Rikyū carved his own, other tea practitioners followed and self-making became customary.