nntsuzu/KFTT huggingface dataset:
English: Buckwheat has long been cultivated on the Hiruzen Plateau and, while its popularity significantly declined for a period of time, thanks to the health boom and the other related interests, the number of crops is taking an upturn.
Japanese: 蒜山高原では昔からそばの栽培がされており、一時期大きく衰退した時期もあったが健康ブームなどから作付数が上向きになっている。
English: Due in part to the fact that the Toyohira district (formerly Toyohira-cho - Hiroshima Prefecture) of Kitahiroshima-cho had the proper conditions to grow buckwheat, the crop descended from the Izumi soba buckwheat was cultivated on the small scale.
Japanese: 北広島町豊平地区（旧豊平町(広島県)）は、ソバ栽培に適した条件が整っていたこともあり出雲そばの流れを汲んだそばが細々と作られていた。
English: In 1987, as part of the regional development, the town hall staff of the time, farming families and town people, with the then mayor of Toyohira-cho and agricultural cooperative taking the lead, started activities related to the Edo style white buckwheat noodles by newly bringing in the Sarashina variety as a flagship item for the economic development projects in the area.
Japanese: 1987年（昭和62年）に地域おこしの一環として当時の豊平町長や農協を中心に町役場（当時）職員や農家や町民達によって、新たに江戸流の更科系を取り入れた白いそばによる町おこし活動が始まる。
English: Those involved trained with the master soba chef living in Yamanashi in those days to learn the various skills and key requisites of soba making.
Japanese: 関係者が当時山梨に在住していたそば打ち名人の元へ入門し各種ノウハウを学び重要な要素を得た。
English: The regional development of the area has continued to take advantage of these skills and knowledge whereby the Toyohira district became known as one of the foremost producing areas of buckwheat and the local crop is being processed in that region.
Japanese: それらを取り入れた地域おこし活動を継続して取り組んだ事により西日本有数のそばの里と称されることもあり、そこで収穫されたものを加工している。
English: At the same time, however, securing the future generation of soba makers has become a challenge and, as a measure to address the situation, the region has been taking various actions such as; implementing the 'Grade Certification System for Toyohira Soba Makers,' designed to teach the soba-making skills and manners, at Toyohira Donguri-mura Road Station and cultivating the new variety of buckwheat 'Toyomusume.'
Japanese: また後継者不足の問題も表面化してきており、その対策としてそば打ちの技術や作法を習得することを目的とした「豊平流そば打ち段位認定制度」を発足させ道の駅豊平どんぐり村で実施したり、新品種「とよむすめ」の栽培を展開するなど各種活動を行っている。
English: A small quantity of soba is served in the layered lacquerware to which condiments and soup is added before the noodles are eaten.
Japanese: 「わりご」という段重ねの朱塗りの器にそばを小分けして盛り、直接薬味やつゆをかけて食べる。
English: The soil around the base on Mt. Sanbe is suitable for growing buckwheat which became active when ginseng farming began in that area in 1773 and the area residents started to eat soba on from time to time.
Japanese: 三瓶山の山麓はソバ栽培に適した土壌で、三瓶山麓で薬用人参の栽培が安永2年（1773年）から始まると共にソバ栽培も盛んになって節目で食されるようになる。
English: Sanbe soba became widely known due to some circumstances, for example, that it was introduced on the menu at the community bathhouse in Sanbe Hot Springs that opened in March 1877 and when the Sanbe Highlands became the Army Exercise Area in the late Meiji period whereby it was eaten by the soldiers there.
Japanese: 三瓶温泉の公衆浴場が1877年（明治10年）3月に出来てそちらの献立に取り入れられた事や明治後半に三瓶高原が陸軍演習場になり兵隊に食された事で広く知られるようになった。
English: With the abundant food supplies and aging farming population, in the early 1960's, cultivation of soba declined but, in 1984, 'Kuichi Soba no Kai' (Kuichi Soba Society) was formed by volunteers with an intent to revive Sanbe soba based on the idea of local consumption of locally produced products whereby soba farming and processing were brought back to life.
Japanese: 食糧が豊かになってきたことや農家の高齢化が進んできた事で昭和30年代後半にはソバ栽培が衰退していったが、1984年（昭和59年）地産地消の三瓶そば復活を目指した有志によって「九一そばの会」が結成され、ソバ栽培や加工が復活した。
English: In 1986, with implementation of a rural development project designed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Kuichi Soba no Kai was reorganized as the Sanbe Noodle Manufacturing Association with the newly constructed processing plant as it business base and, thus, that association is playing a key role in the buckwheat industry of the area.
Japanese: 1986年（昭和61年）農林水産省の山村振興対策事業を導入し「三瓶製めん類加工生産組合」に組織改編して拠点となる加工場を建設、蕎麦産業の中心的役割を果たしている。
English: The condiments include wasabi, bonito shavings, nori and green onions (but no daikon radish).
Japanese: 薬味はわさび、かつお節、のり、ねぎ等（ただし、大根は使用されない）を用いる。
English: Oki soba is served with soup made from grilled mackerel or flying fish and condiments such as the Oki nori, yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit), sesame seed and green onion (but no daikon radish).
Japanese: だし汁は焼いたサバやあご（トビウオ）で取ったものを器に入れて薬味として隠岐産海苔やゆず、ごま、ネギ等（ただし、大根は使用されない）を添えて食する。
English: In Oki, soba is eaten on occasion and there are some elements of soba making in the choreography of the dance for the Oki minyo (folk song) 'Dossari-bushi' (also known as the 'Dance of Soba Maker').
Japanese: 隠岐で蕎麦は節目節目で食べられており、隠岐民謡「どっさり節」（別名「そば打ち踊り」）の踊りの中に蕎麦打ちの要素が入っている。
English: In the old days, this area was a hidden village of Heike no Ochudo (fugitives from the Genpei War) where buckwheat, their staple food, was cultivated by hidden agriculture.
Japanese: 古くは平家落人の隠れ里で焼畑農業によってソバが作られ常食されていた。
English: Sobamai and Sobamai zosui (buckwheat porridge) are the local specialties of the Iya region made from dechaffed buckwheat berries in place of rice.
Japanese: そば米（そば米雑炊）は米の代わりに殻を取り除いたソバの実を使った祖谷地方の郷土料理。
English: In 1996, the Fukuchi-machi Comprehensive Agricultural Project was inaugurated with the objective to revitalize the area by farming and, during that project, soba attracted sufficient interest to start full-scale soba farming since 2001, in the area.
Japanese: 1996年（平成8年）に農業で地域活性化を目指した「福智町農業総合プロジェクト」が発足し、その一環でそばが注目され2001年（平成13年）から本格的なソバ栽培に取り組む。
English: In the meantime, 'Soba no Hana Festa' (the Buckwheat Flower Festa) designed to revitalize agriculture and the region with major attractions including buckwheat flower viewing and hand-made soba workshop has been organized every year.
Japanese: 同時にそばの花観賞と手打ちそば食体験を中心として農業と地域の活性化を目的とした「そばの花フェスタ」が毎年開催されている。
English: Within approximately 3 years, this soba restaurant became established and, through word of mouth, it gained recognition attracting many returning customers.
Japanese: 3年程で軌道に乗った事や口コミによって認知度が広がり多くのリピーターが訪れることとなる。
English: As a result, other soba restaurants have opened one after another in recent years whereby this area has become a new landmark being referred to as the 'Soba Highway.'
Japanese: その影響で、ここ近年で続々と蕎麦屋が誕生し「そば街道」と呼ばれる新名所になっている。
English: Noodle business is flourishing in various locations including Namino-son and Minami-Aso-mura in the Aso area where soba is being made and soba cuisine is being offered.
Japanese: 波野村、南阿蘇村を中心に阿蘇の各地でソバ生産とそば料理の提供に取り組んでいる。
English: Around 1988, farmers who had been growing the local variety of buckwheat and those who had been growing buckwheat in paddy fields during the off-season got together to begin consultation activities and a full-scale buckwheat farming consequently started to spread but the crop yields have been small.
Japanese: 1988年（昭和63年）頃、昔からあった在来種を栽培していた農家と、水田の裏作として栽培していた個々の農家が集まり協議会活動を開始、本格的な蕎麦栽培が広がり始めたが収穫量は少ない。
English: Since a large amount of yam is added to the soba dough as a binding agent, noodles remain elastic and do not to break easily even when they are cut very thin.
Japanese: つなぎとして大量のヤマノイモ（山芋）を入れることにより、細く切った麺でも腰が強く千切れ難い。
English: There are various countries including France, Italy, China, Korean Peninsula (including South Korea and North Korea), Bhutan and Nepal where buckwheat is processed to make noodles for food
Japanese: ソバを麺類に加工して食べる国には、フランス、イタリア、中華人民共和国、朝鮮半島（朝鮮民主主義人民共和国・大韓民国）、ブータン、ネパールなどがある。
English: For example, noodles used in Korean style cold noodles are made by being forced through small holes of the special equipment, whereas, Italy's pizzoccheri is formed by rolling pins.
Japanese: 朝鮮半島の冷麺などのようにところてん式に押し出して作る、イタリアのピッツォッケリのようにのし棒で成形するなどがある。
English: It can be said that the so-called Japan's sobakiri is also as distinctive as soba cooking of the other countries mentioned above.
Japanese: いわゆる日本の蕎麦切りもまた、前述の国々のソバ料理のように独特のものといえる。
English: Later, it has become custom for Tayu (narrator) of Gidayu (a style of reciting dramatic narratives) to use TAKEMOTO or TOYOTAKE as their surname invariably when creating a stage name.
Japanese: 転じて義太夫の太夫が芸名を名乗る際にはかならず竹本か豊竹を苗字とするようになった。
English: Takemoto has been used as backstage accompaniment to Kabuki plays for a long time, but it now appears in external performance events, as well.
Japanese: 歌舞伎の幕内では長らく竹本が使われていたが、最近では対外的にも用いるようになった。
English: Modern people tend to avoid the word Chobo because of its discriminatory connotation.
Japanese: チョボの語は現在では差別的なひびきのある語として使用を避ける傾向にある。
English: Takemoto refers to Gidayu-bushi featured in Maruhon Kabuki (kabuki plays of doll theatre origin), which, accompanied by shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese banjo), is narrated a story (Although it seems that tayu are singing, the expression 'to narrate' is used in Gidayu instead of 'to sing'), or Tayu who narrate a story and shamisen-kata (accompanying shamisen players), and narration itself.
Japanese: 丸本歌舞伎において三味線とともに語られる（歌うようでもあるが、義太夫は「歌う」と表現せず、「語る」と表現する）義太夫節、あるいはそれを語る太夫および三味線方、また語ること自体を竹本という。
English: In Bunraku, the whole story is narrated by Tayu whereas in Kabuki, Tayu narrate a story only when actors do not speak their lines.
Japanese: しかし、文楽であれば全編を太夫が語るのに対して歌舞伎の場合は役者の台詞の部分を抜いて語る。
English: In Kabuki, Tayu are required to use techniques that slightly differ from those adopted in Bunraku, such as the harmonization of musical narratives and actors' dialogues and the deployment of narratives well-coordinated with actors' gestures.
Japanese: 台詞と地のつけ具合や役者のしぐさに合わせて語るなど文楽の場合とは多少の技術的な違いが生じる。
English: Until a certain period after World War II, Bunraku practitioners had a strong tendency to look down upon Takemoto and inclined to consider that their appearance in Kabuki was a 'disgrace.'
Japanese: 戦後のある時期までは、文楽の側に竹本を低く見る意識がつよく、歌舞伎に出ることは義太夫にとって「身をおとす」という意識がつよかった。
English: This class-based prejudice explains why Bunraku practitioners have a deep-seated mind-set to clearly discriminate against Takemoto in favor of Bunraku, despite no major differences in their practices.
Japanese: 文楽と竹本にさまで大きな内容的相違がないにもかかわらず、これを明確に区分しようとする意識がつよいのはこうした階級意識によるところが大きい。
English: Even today, special arrangements should be made when Tayu and Shamisen-kata belonging to the Bunraku-za Theatre appear in Kabuki performances (Kabuki actors do not speak the line, and the whole story is narrated by Gidayu), and under normal conditions, this type of interactive events are not practiced.
Japanese: 現在でも文楽座の太夫、三味線方が歌舞伎に出演する際には、特殊なとりきめ（歌舞伎役者が台詞を言わず、全編を義太夫がとる）があり、通常はこうした交流は行われない。
English: Recently, however, there is a growing trend toward the active revaluation of the originality and techniques of Takemoto as accompaniment to plays and a growing tendency to consider Takemoto and Bunraku Gidayu as separate music.
Japanese: ただし近年では、劇付随音楽としての竹本の独自性や技術を積極的に再評価し、文楽義太夫とはまた別の音楽として考える傾向がつよくなってきている。
English: The reason why the name Takemoto was given to Kabuki Gidayu is because there is no Tayu specialized in Kabuki Takemoto who currently use the TOYOTAKE surname, and Takemoto Tayu are required to use only the TAKEMOTO surname in the future.
Japanese: 現在、歌舞伎の竹本を専門に業とする太夫には豊竹姓がおらず、今後も竹本姓だけを用いることがとりきめられているために、このような名称を定めるにいたった。
English: The name also implies the assertion of the originality of Kabuki Gidayu, which is independent of Bunraku Gidayu.
Japanese: 文楽義太夫とは別に、歌舞伎義太夫の独自性を主張する意味合いも込められている。
English: Another belief is that in the traditional yukahon (performance script for a puppet theatre performance) Chobo's part had been highlighted with red tags, but this was replaced by dots at certain times, and this is why.
Japanese: 床本のチョボがとる部分にもとは赤い付箋をしていたがこれがいつからか点の印で代用されるようになった。
English: These beliefs are majoirty ones, and both beliefs share a common foundation that Chobo comes from the slang chobo, which means a dot.
Japanese: このような説が有力であり、いずれも点をチョボという俗語から出ていることが共通する。
English: A yose originally referred to a permanent hut operated by a promoter where professionals of rakugo (traditional comic storytelling), rokyoku (naniwabushi recitation), kodan storytelling, manzai or a comic dialogue, or magicians entertained their audiences by exhibiting their skills in speaking or trickery.
Japanese: 寄席（よせ）とは、都市において落語・浪曲・講談・漫才・奇術などの技芸を観客に見せるため席亭（興行主）が経営する常設の興行小屋である。
English: Now, most yose aren't huts but are placed in a reinforced concrete or steel-frame building, but still they're located in city areas as they were.
Japanese: 現在では、ほとんどが小屋ではなく鉄筋鉄骨の建物だが都市にあるのは変わらない。
English: In the past, there were yose for kodan storytelling, yose for Rokyoku (naniwabushi recitation) and yose for iromono (various entertainments other than storytelling), respectively, in addition to yose for rakugo.
Japanese: かつては落語以外の講談や浪曲や色物など各分野それぞれの寄席が存在した。
English: In the yose for rakugo, as a matter of course, rakugo storytelling is most often performed, so the performances other than rakugo are called iromono.
Japanese: 落語寄席では当然落語が主であり、それ以外の演目は色物と呼んで区別する。
English: However, very rarely, a rakugo storyteller who is not a shinuchi or a performer of other program may play the role of a tori.
Japanese: しかしながら、ごくまれに真打以外の落語家や落語以外の演者がトリとなる場合がある。
English: However, it is astonishing that the yose has kept its position as the flower of urban culture since the early Edo period while serving to support the traditional performance arts related to performances in rooms (such as geisha dance).
Japanese: しかし、お座敷芸より連なる伝統的芸能を支える空間としての役割を果たしながら、都市文化の華としての地位を江戸時代初期から守っているのは驚異的である。
English: Rakugo or other programs are sometimes performed in a rural place, for example, in a civic hall in a local municipality, and in a broad sense, such a place can also be called yose (on a trip).
Japanese: なお広義では、田舎の地方公共団体の市民会館などでも落語などの興行が行われるが、こうしたケースも臨時的ではあるが、（出張）寄席と見なすことが出来る。
English: It is said that, of all the yose described above, yose in a strict sense are limited to only four theaters--the Suzumoto Engeijo theater, the Shinjuku Suehirotei theater, the Asakusa Engei Hall and the Ikebukuro Engeijo theater--excluding the National Engei Hall and other theaters in most cases.
Japanese: なお、狭義の寄席は上記落語寄席のなかでも、東京の鈴本演芸場、新宿末廣亭、浅草演芸ホール、池袋演芸場の四席のみとされ、国立演芸場などは含めないケースが多い。
English: According to a remark by Gintaro KITAMURA, the first owner of the Shinjuku Suehirotei theater, a yose and rakugo cannot be separated because, for rakugo storytellers, yose are only the place where they can polish their storytelling techniques, and audiences also enjoy the growth of the performers and the differences in the performance of each rakugo storyteller; it is said that while 'complete' performances are presented in the rakugo performed in halls, rakugo in yose are, due to their being 'incomplete,' interesting and performed seriously.
Japanese: 寄席が落語と切り離せないのは、落語家にとって寄席が修行の場であり芸を磨く唯一無二の舞台とされること、観客も贔屓の演者の成長と演者ごとの演出の違いを楽しむという点にあり、「完成品」を見せるホール落語と違い寄席落語には「未完成」なりの面白さ、真剣さがあるとされる（新宿末廣亭初代席亭の北村銀太郎の発言より）
English: An engeijo theater generally indicates a place where iromono are performed principally from the viewpoint of financial reason, but it is said that 'live spaces for comic performances' by major companies are included in the engeijo category.
Japanese: 演芸場（えんげいじょう）とは多くは経営上の問題から色物主体の小屋をさすが、大手資本による「お笑いライブスペース」なども含まれるとされる。
English: In Kamigata (Osaka), in Osaka City from the Meiji period to the early Showa period, particularly around Hozen-ji Temple in South Osaka, the 'Kobaitei' theater, which symbolized the Sanyu school, and the 'Nanchi Kanazawatei' theater (which was later taken over by Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd., and became the 'Nanchi Kagetsu' theater), which symbolized the Katsura school, were located on the northern side and southern sides, respectively, and competed with each other.
Japanese: 上方（大阪）では明治時代から昭和初期の大阪市内、特にミナミ法善寺周辺には、北側に三友派の象徴であった「紅梅亭」、南側に桂派の象徴であった「南地金沢亭」（後に吉本興業が買収し「南地花月」）が存在ししのぎを削った。
English: In addition to the 'Eirakukan' theater (which was later affiliated with Yoshimoto and became 'Kitashinchi Kagetsu Club'), located in Kitashinchi in the northern region of Osaka City, at least ten yose theaters specialized in rakugo; they were located in Uehommachi, Horie (in Osaka City), Matsuyamachi, Shinmachi (in Osaka City), the Matsushima Yukaku red-light district and around Osaka Tenman-gu Shrine.
Japanese: 他にもキタ北新地の「永楽館」（後に吉本傘下に入り「北新地花月倶楽部」）はじめ、上本町、堀江(大阪市)、松屋町、新町(大阪市)、松島遊廓、大阪天満宮界隈などに十数軒の落語専門定席が存在していた。
English: After that, Yoshimoto placed a priority on manzai for performances in yose, and promoted an exclusive contract with Harudanji KATSURA and other rakugo storytellers, having them perform only in 'Kagetsu', a yose that Yoshimoto operated.
Japanese: その後吉本が寄席で漫才主体の番組構成をとったことや、桂春団治など落語家の専属契約を推し進め、自社の経営する寄席である「花月」のみの出演とした。
English: After the war, as momentum for restoring Kamigata rakugo heightened, the Ebisubashi Shochiku theater (of Sentochi Kogyo (later Nippon Dream Kanko)) opened in Minami (the southern area of Osaka City).
Japanese: 戦後は上方落語の復興機運が高まるとともに、ミナミに戎橋松竹が開場（千土地興行（後の日本ドリーム観光）が経営）。
English: After 1957, when the theater closed due to financial difficulties, the yose culture in Osaka was kept by local supporters in the style of 'local yose' by using temples, civic halls and soba-noodle shops as rakugo theaters (for example, 'Tanabe yose' and 'Iwata yose').
Japanese: 1957年に経営難から閉鎖された後は、大阪では地域の有志が寺や公民館、蕎麦屋などを会場に「地域寄席」という形で寄席文化を継承してきた（「田辺寄席」「岩田寄席」など）。
English: On September 15, 2006, the 'Tenma Tenjin Hanjotei' theater opened beside the Osaka Tenman-gu Shrine, the first yose in half a century to do so.
Japanese: 2006年9月15日に大阪天満宮横に半世紀ぶりの寄席となる「天満天神繁昌亭」が開場した。
English: During the early Edo period, storytelling events, being very similar to Kodan storytelling, were held in borrowed spaces in the premises of temples or shrines, which were the origin of yose.
Japanese: 寄席の起源は、一般的には江戸初期に神社や寺院の境内の一部を借りて、現在の講談に近い話を聞かせる催し物が開かれていたものである。
English: Following to this original form, the first exclusive yose was held in 1798 by Karaku SANSHOTEI 1st in the premises of the Shitaya-jinja Shrine in Shitaya, Tokyo.
Japanese: これが原型となって、初めて専門的な寄席が開かれたのは、1798年に東京・下谷にある下谷神社の境内で初代・三笑亭可楽によって開かれたものであった。
English: The stone monument commemorating the birthplace of yose is located in this shrine; initially, the place was called yoseba, which later became yose.
Japanese: （当神社には寄席発祥の石碑がある）当初は、寄席場（よせば）と呼ばれ、後に寄席と呼ばれるようになった。
English: Because not many entertainments were available at that time (in contrast to the present), it is said that each town had a yose.
Japanese: 現代と違って娯楽が乏しかった時代、各町内に一軒は寄席があったという。
English: However, in the course of time various other entertainments such as TV appeared, significantly reducing the numbers of persons who visited yose and forcing the yose to close one after another.
Japanese: しかし、やがてテレビの出現など他に様々な娯楽の要素のものが現れ、寄席離れが顕著になり、閉鎖が相次いでくる。
English: In recent years, people's interests in performance arts in yose, such as rakugo and kodan, have declined conspicuously, and now only a few yose remain.
Japanese: 近年ではさらに、寄席で行われる落語や講談といった類のものへの敬遠が顕著になり、現在では都内でも数えるほどしか残っていない。
English: Kami (or kamite), shimo (or shimote): Kami (kamite) indicates the right side when viewed from the audience side, and shimo (shimote) the left side.
Japanese: 上下（かみしも、上手、下手）客席から見て右が上手（かみて）左が下手（しもて）
English: Chasen is one of the tea utensils used for preparing powdered green tea in the Japanese tea ceremony.
Japanese: 茶筅または茶筌（ちゃせん）とは、茶道において抹茶を点てるのに使用する茶道具のひとつ。
English: It is used to stir the powdered green tea evenly into hot water in a tea bowl.
Japanese: 湯を加えた抹茶を茶碗の中でかき回して均一に分散させるための道具である。
English: As the powdered green tea is best known as the thick, frothy tea, the chasen is often mistaken for a kind of whipping tool, but actually it is not.
Japanese: 抹茶といえばこんもりと泡を立てた姿が有名であるために、泡だて器の一種と考えられることも多いが、泡を立てるための道具ではない。
English: The chasen is generally made of a piece of bamboo, one end of which is split into fine bristles, which are sharpened and curved inward.
Japanese: 竹の一端を細く裂き、薄く削った先端を内側に柔らかくカーブさせたものが一般的である。
English: It usually measures nearly 12 cm in length, but the one used in Ochamori (a tea ceremony using giant tea bowls) held by Saidai-ji Temple (Nara City) is famous for its huge size of about 36 cm.
Japanese: 普通は3寸7分（12cm弱）ほどの大きさであるが、大きなものとして西大寺(奈良市)の大茶盛で用いられる高さ1尺2寸（約36cm）のものが有名である。
English: The bristles vary in number from 16 to 120 according to the intended use, and the standard chasen has 64 bristles.
Japanese: 用途によって穂の数は16本から120本まであるが、64本が標準と考えられている。
English: The above numbers refer to the bristles on the outer side, and a chasen with 64 outer-side bristles has 128 bristles in total, with inner-side ones included.
Japanese: この数は外穂の本数で、64本なら外穂と内穂を合わせれば128本になる。
English: The chasen with fewer, and thus thicker, bristles is more elastic, while an increased number of bristles makes the chasen finer.
Japanese: 穂数が少なければ穂が太く腰の強い茶筅になり、穂数が多ければきめ細かな茶筅になる。
English: That is why thick tea is made by a chasen with fewer bristles, while thin tea is prepared by one having more bristles.
Japanese: そこで一般に濃茶を練る場合には穂数の少ないものを、薄茶を点てる時には穂数の多いものを用いる。
English: Until the Meiji Restoration, chasen with 80 or more bristles had been for feudal lords or people of higher rank, and chasen with 120 bristles had been for shogun.
Japanese: 明治維新以前は80本以上の穂数は大名以上の貴人用、120本は将軍用とされていた。
English: Feudal lords made thick tea by using chasen called horai, which were made of large bamboo stalks so as to have an increased number of thick bristles.
Japanese: 大名が濃茶を練る場合には、穂数を多くかつ穂を太くするため太い竹で茶筅を作り、これを宝莱と呼んだ。
English: Making thin tea by using chasen with a smaller number of bristles requires skill, and using chasen with many bristles instead was one way for the feudal lords to show their inexperience with humility.
Japanese: 穂数が少ない茶筅で薄茶を点てるには技量を必要とするため、逆に穂数の多い茶筅を用いることで自らの未熟を示して謙遜する意味合いもあった。
English: Black string is commonly used, but white and red ones are also found, depending on schools and intended use.
Japanese: 通常は黒の糸を用いるが、流派や趣向によって白や赤の糸を用いることがある。
English: Chasen with red string is typically used for celebrations of longevity, and among them one having the knot on its upper part is used for kanreki (celebration of one's 60th birthday) and koki (cerebration of one's 70th birthday) and one without a knot is used for kiju (cerebration of one's 77th birthday) and beiju (celebration of one's 88th birthday).
Japanese: 赤糸の茶筅の代表的なものが長寿の祝い事に用いられる祝茶筅で、還暦や古希では元節、喜寿や米寿では節無しとする。
English: Phyllostachys nigra is mainly used for making chasen, and not only typical Henon bamboo, but also types of bamboo that change color, such as Purple Bamboo, are used.
Japanese: 主にハチク（Phyllostachysnigra）を原材料とするが、通常の淡竹（はちく）の他に紫竹（しちく）など色づく品種も用いられている。
English: The bamboo is cut down in its third winter, freed of oil by boiling, dried in the open air so that it becomes shiratake (white bamboo), and allowed to rest for a while (several months to years), before being processed.
Japanese: 通常は3年目の冬に伐採し、煮沸して油を抜いてから露天乾しにして白竹にし、その後しばらく（数ヶ月～数年）寝かせてから加工する。
English: Green bamboo, before being dried in the sunshine, is also sometimes used for making chasen for the New Year, and kunchiku (old bamboo smoked for years) is used by some schools and for some purposes.
Japanese: 正月用に天日にさらさず青竹のまま加工する場合があり、また流派や趣向に応じて煤竹（長年燻された古材）を用いることもある。
English: To make 80 bristles, split each one of 16 prongs equally into 5, each of which is to be further split into 2 unequal tines.
Japanese: 八十本立なら16等分したそれぞれを5等分し、さらに不均等に2つに割る。
English: The name chasen, or 茶筅 in Chinese characters, comes from sasara (筅), a tool to clean a burnt pan.
Japanese: 茶筅の字はもともと鍋などの焦げ付きを落とす道具、筅（ささら）から由来している
English: Chasentoshi refers to a series of movements where hot or cold water is poured in a tea bowl, and the bristles of chasen are swayed in it and moved in and out of it, before and after making the tea.
Japanese: 点前で茶を点てる前後に、茶碗に湯または水を張って穂先を振ったり茶筅を上げ下げしたりする所作を茶筅通しと呼ぶ。
English: Hot water is always used before making the tea so that a tea bowl can be warmed and bristles plunged in hot water can be softened and improved in elasticity.
Japanese: 茶を点てる前は必ず湯を用い、茶碗を温めると同時に穂先を湯に馴染ませ柔らかくして折れにくくする効果がある。
English: Chasentoshi after making the tea, on the other hand, is intended to rise a tea bowl and chasen at the same time in either hot or cold water.
Japanese: 一方、茶を点てた後は水または湯を用い、茶碗と茶筅を同時にすすぐことになる。
English: Chsentoshi before and after making the tea is thus sometimes called "chasentoji" (preparing a tea whisk) and "chasensusugi" (washing a tea whisk), respectively, for differentiation.
Japanese: そこで、点てる前を「茶筅湯じ」、点てた後を「茶筅濯ぎ」と呼んで区別することもある。
English: The chasen is moved up and down for the purpose of checking the bristles up close for broken tips and dirt.
Japanese: 茶筅を上下するのは、穂先を目前で改めて折れや汚れのないことを確かめる意味がある。