Emmie Kyotour
- May 27, 2021
- 2 min read

Emlog #08 ～the oldest chopsticks store in Japan～

Updated: Aug 2, 2021

Hi everyone!

Today, we’re going to introduce “Ichihara-heibei chopsticks shop”

Ichihara-heibei chopsticks shop is located in the Shijo area about 7 minutes on foot from Shijo station.

Contents

About Ichihara-heibei shop
The bamboo quality of Kyoto
The goods we bought

1) About Ichihara-heibei shop

This shop is the oldest chopsticks shop in Japan. It started in 1764, over 250 years ago!

There are more than 400 types of chopsticks lined up in the store.

Among all of the selections, we got attracted to these chopsticks using kyoto's bamboo.

As we posted at emlog#02, there are a lot of good quality bamboo forests here and there in Kyoto.

・Miyakobashi soot bamboo (from 4,400yen～）

The material soot bamboo is used as an architectural material in the attic.

These bamboos are smoked over a kamado(cooking stove) or a fireplace (a sunken hearth) for more than 150 years, it increases the durability and it is hard to warp.

This materials are gradually decreasing, so these are very valuable products.

・Heianbashi (from 7,600yen～）

Using carefully selected bamboo materials, finished with wipe-lacquer (imprinted with lacquer and wiped excess lacquer many times), it doesn’t discolor.

These chopsticks are all handmade, so patterns are a little bit different one by one.

2) The bamboo quality of kyoto

I mentioned the quality of Kyoto's bamboo before, I will introduce an unexpected relationship between Kyoto’s bamboo and electricity.

Maybe you know Thomas Edison, but how about connection with Kyoto’s bamboo?

About 140 years ago, Kyoto's bamboo was used for filament of incandescent lamps.

To be exact, the bamboo of Yawata city of Kyoto prefecture was chosen from 1,200 kinds of bamboo in the world. For decades, Kyoto’s bamboo has lit up the street, home and office around the world.

3) The products we bought

In this shop, we bought these chopsticks called Kyoto style presentation chopsticks. These bamboo chopsticks are also from bamboos made in Kyoto.

These chopsticks are not only very easy to hold but also functional.

One side is normal chopsticks and the other side, we can use it as a spatula or put aside soft simmered food and more.