Shiratake Shin-Kazuho Chasen by 谷村丹後 Tango Tanimura

The Shiratake Shin-Kazuo chasen is the preferred chasen of the Urasenke tea school - it is made of white bamboo, with roughly 75 tines that can be used for both usucha and koicha. 

Black thread is preferred and it is what is usually used, the white thread is quite special as it is a chasen they dedicate to God (in Buddhism, it’s for Buddha), the pink thread on the other hand is for aesthetic purposes. 

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 in the tea whisk that we know today. 

Only 30% of tea whisks in Japan are actually made in Japan, the 70% come from China. 

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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. Chasen process and information was through a personal interview with Tanimura-さん.