VILLAGE Report vol.29 Nara Prefecture | Takayama chasen, matcha whisks made from a single piece of bamboo

The sixth installment in the Kinki series takes us to Nara Prefecture. Nara is home to three crafts designated as Traditional Craft Products of Japan: Nara brushes, Nara ink, and the Takayama chasen (tea whisk) featured here. Their production area is Takayama-cho, Ikoma City, in the northwestern part of the prefecture near the Osaka border. The cover photo shows bamboo being sun-dried in rice fields in Takayama, Ikoma City—a process called “cold drying of bamboo” for tea-whisk materials. This is a familiar sight in the Takayama countryside from late winter to early spring.

It began with a request from Murata Juko

According to Ikoma City, tea whisks are said to have originated in the mid-Muromachi period, when Takayama Sozei—a member of the Takayama Castle lord’s family and a renowned linked-verse poet—made one at the request of his close friend Murata Juko, the head priest of Shomyoji Temple. Juko is regarded as the founder of wabi-cha, a style of tea practice that later led to Sen no Rikyu. Sozei’s tea whisk is said to have been presented to Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado, and its method of production was passed down for generations only from father to son.

Letting bamboo rest for 2–3 years first

Making a tea whisk begins with selecting the bamboo. Every year, bamboo is cut from groves between November and December, dried to remove its oils, and then left to rest for 2–3 years before processing finally begins. The tip of each bamboo piece is finely split and shaved thin; the inner and outer tines are separated and woven with thread—all of this is finished by hand by a tea-whisk artisan.

Key Points
・It is said to have begun in the mid-Muromachi period, when Takayama Sozei made one at Murata Juko’s request
・Bamboo is cut between November and December, de-oiled, and left to rest for 2–3 years before use
・Takayama-cho, Ikoma City accounts for more than 90% of Japan’s tea-whisk production
・In Nara Prefecture, it is a Traditional Craft Product of Japan alongside Nara brushes and Nara ink

Supporting the global matcha boom

Takayama-cho in Ikoma City is said to produce more than 90% of Japan’s tea whisks. The number of tea-whisk workshops, which was close to 50 in the 1970s, had fallen to 16 as of 2024. As matcha grows in popularity overseas and more people prepare it at home, handmade tea whisks are also drawing attention from tea lovers around the world.

Last time, we visited Tamba Tachikui ware in Hyogo Prefecture. VILLAGE Report vol.28: Hyogo Prefecture is here. For more on matcha’s spread overseas, see the article on matcha exports; for sights to see in Nara Prefecture, see the Nara Prefecture edition of the 47 Prefectures Guide. Next time, we will visit Wakayama Prefecture.

Sources: Ikoma City (Takayama tea whisk), Nara Prefecture (Traditional Craft Products of Nara Prefecture), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, “List of Designated Traditional Craft Products”

—The Value Village Editorial Team

Photo: Degueulasse / CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)