Shiratake Chashaku by 谷村丹後 Tango Tanimura

The Shiratake Chashaku is often used by the Urasenke tea school to matcha the Shin-Kazuo chasen - it is made of white bamboo and it is shaped and shaved by hand using small carving knives.

This chashaku is made of the same quality bamboo as the chasen and can last years and generations if it is taken care of and handled well. It is traditionally not used to scrape against a sieve which is what we see on most videos. 

Each bamboo used for chasen is harvested during the winter and the average age of the Hachiku bamboo is 2-3 years old. It is then boiled in hot water for 10 minutes to remove oils and dust, then tried under the sun for 1 month which changes the color from green to white. Then it is stored in the warehouse for two more years before it can be crafted into a tea whisk or a chashaku. 

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Tango Tanimura is the head of the 20th generation of the Tanimura family. He was born in 1964 in Takayama, Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture, where the Japanese chasen originated and is made. Their family has produced tea whisks and accessories for almost 500 years in the same town. 

The Tanimura’s are one of the only three remaining families today of the 16 tea whisk making families that were granted surnames by the Tokugawa government during the Edo Period (1603-1867). 

Note: Tango Tanimura’s profile was sourced from his official website. Chashaku process and information was through a personal interview with Tanimura-さん.