I'm writing about the material of my chopsticks that I got the other day and wrote about in the last entry.
The material of my portable chopsticks is "susudake" in Japanese. I imagine that most subscribers don't know "susudake". Though I looked "susudake" up in my Japanese-English dictionary and on the internet, I couldn't find an exact translation in English. I'll explain "susudake" in the next paragraph.
At first, take a look at the picture at the bottom. This is a Japanese traditional house topped by a thatched roof. In this type of house, there is an "irori", the traditional hearth, usually in the biggest room. I'm also showing the irori below.
Irori is the sunken space for the fire and is designed to be in the center of the room. This space is used for cooking and heating the house. Pots and kettles are hung by the pot hook, or jizaikagi, over the irori. These hooks are generally hollow bamboo tubes with an iron rod penetrating the middle. The attached lever, which is often shaped like a fish, allows the pot or kettle to be raised or lowered. Bamboo is also used for the ceiling of the irori room. These hollow bamboos are called "susudake," which means bamboo with grime. It takes 100-150 years for susudake to be made and it can be produced only when the old houses are torn down. This material is very valuable. That's the reason for the high price. My chopsticks are handy and worth the price.
(Vocabulary)
an exact translation ぴったりの訳語
handy 使い勝手がよい
tear down 引き下ろす、引きはがす 〔建物などを〕壊す、取り壊す、解体する
sunken （名詞の前でのみ） 周囲より一段低くなった
今回は、前回書いたマイ箸の材料について書こうと思います。
材料はすす竹です。多くの読者はどのようなものかわからないと思います。辞書やネットで調べても適訳がわからなかったのでこれから説明します。
最初に下の写真を見てください。日本の伝統的な藁葺きの家を示しています。この中に囲炉裏と呼ばれる煮炊きの場所があります。写真も添えます。
囲炉裏は部屋の中央に配置された一段下がった場所にあります。煮炊きに使われたり、暖房に使われたりします。鍋ややかんをつり下げて使います。このつり下げるためのフックや天井に使われている竹をすす竹と呼びます。すすのこびりついた竹という意味です。この竹ができるまで１００年から１５０年ほどかかるといわれており、古い建物を解体したときに得られる材料なので高いのです。
で、箸の使い勝手ですが、とても良いです。
(KW: すす竹)
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