how often/when should matcha whisk be replaced

[inspectoring]

Just out of curiosity....how often do you do it and when do you say ok - thats it - time to get a new one?

[Geekgirl]

When the tines start breaking off in my tea? Yeah, pretty much then.

[chamekke]

When the tines start breaking off in my tea? Yeah, pretty much then.

What she said.

In tea ceremony, you're supposed to use a fresh chasen each time you serve tea at a formal event (such as a chakai or chaji). Most people can't afford to do that in daily life, of course; like Geekgirl, I wait until I notice that the tines are beginning to give way. (Of course, you can continue to use the chasen even then, if you prefer to take a little fibre with your tea.)

I like the comments by the owner of the Tea Toys site: "One use for worn out chasen is for cleaning the spine of fish after gutting. Cut all but about 3 cm. of the tines off then use the stubb to whisk the fish spine clean."

[Pentox]

I thought you are supposed to burn them in a ceremony at one point in the year.

[joelbct]

Just out of curiosity....how often do you do it and when do you say ok - thats it - time to get a new one?

Every third fortnight, aside from months that don't have an "R."


I don't know, if it starts getting moldy and/or too many tines break off. Then just go to your local Zen Temple and have a bonfire...

[chamekke]

I thought you are supposed to burn them in a ceremony at one point in the year.

There are a couple of temples (shrines?) in Japan where they do that, but most people just throw them out.

[auggy]

Can someone tell me more about the ceremony that people would burn their old whisks it? Google gets me lots of tea ceremony links and this thread.

[Pentox]

Hm, I don't know of any links for it, all reference that I have seen for it was in books on chanoyu. And even those it was more of a passing remark if I remember correctly.

[chamekke]

Can someone tell me more about the ceremony that people would burn their old whisks it? Google gets me lots of tea ceremony links and this thread.

The ceremony is called chasen kuyo (also spelled without the space between the two words). Pretty good English-language article here:
http://www.slowfoodla.com/archives/000826.html

And a photo from a Japanese website:



The original article with other photographs can be found here:
http://sadou.at.webry.info/200804/article_34.html

[auggy]

Can someone tell me more about the ceremony that people would burn their old whisks it? Google gets me lots of tea ceremony links and this thread.

The ceremony is called chasen kuyo (also spelled without the space between the two words). Pretty good English-language article here:
http://www.slowfoodla.com/archives/000826.html

And a photo from a Japanese website:



The original article with other photographs can be found here:
http://sadou.at.webry.info/200804/article_34.html

Awesome! Thank you muchly!

[Pentox]

and her matchaness comes through again!