Why can't you stick chopsticks upright in rice?
Because it mirrors a funeral rite. Rice with chopsticks standing in it is offered to the dead, so doing it at the table reads as a bad omen. Rest your chopsticks on the holder or across the bowl instead.
Where this answer comes from
- Don't stick chopsticks upright in rice Vertical chopsticks in a bowl of rice resemble incense offered to the dead at funerals.…
- Don't pass food chopstick to chopstick Passing food directly between two pairs of chopsticks echoes a funeral ritual involving…
- Say "itadakimasu" before eating Before the first bite, Japanese people say "itadakimasu"—a brief expression of…