Size/Weight

Japanese

1. Japanese dishwares tend to be smaller than Western dishwares.

2. Due to their size, they also tend to be lighter.

3. There are a lot of medium-small sized bowls. They are used to serve side dishes, appetizers, miso-soup, and rice.

Western

1. Western dishwares tend to be bigger. Most are middle-large size. (a few exceptions: dessert plates, bread plates)

2. Due to their size, and since most are made of ceramic/porcelain, they tends to be heavier.

3. Most are middle-large sized plates. There are also a few small bowls, such as soup bowls and tea cups.

Left: A typical Japanese meal. Most dishwares are small-medium size bowls. Only the plate at to left is flat and large.

Right: A typical Western mean. Most dishwares are middle-large size plates. There are only 2 small-medium bowls.

Why are their sizes different?

The reason why many Japanese dishwares are small-middle size is due to the Japanese table manner.

In Japan, people normally hold dishes up to their chest while eating. The very fundamental eating manner in Japan is “holding the rice bowl in the left hand, pick up the dish with the chopsticks in the right hand and bring it up to your mouth to eat it with rice.” This means that most dishware is to be held by hand when eating. Consequently, most Japanese dishware is made small and light enough to hold by hand. Examples of small-medium dishwares are rice bowls, miso-soup bowls, and small bowls for appetizers and side dishes. Larger plates such as main dish plates are not held by hands, so they are made larger.

Furthermore, the habit of holding dishes is also related to the fact that many Japanese dishwares are bowls. Many Japanese dishwares are bowls because they fit the shape of hands better than plates and are easier to hold. Moreover, many bowls are designed to easily fit the shape of hands. Take rice bowls as an example. Rice bowls typically have elevation at the bottom. This elevation and the angle of the rim make a shape that fits the shape of hands. Additionally, as a part of the Japanese table manner, people sip from bowls. Therefore, most bowls have rounded and thin rims to fit the shape of mouths.

The larger size of Western dishwares is related to the Western table manner. People do not hold dishes as Japanese people do. Instead, they use cutleries, such as forks, knives, and spoons, to bring food from the plate to the mouth. Consequently, it is the most convenient to use larger, heavier, and more stable plates than small and unstable dishwares, especially when using knives. To cut food with knives, the plate needs to be large enough to be able to move the knife forward and backward, and stable enough so that the plate does not move.

Additionally, people do not sip from the dishware in the West. When eating soup, spoons are used to scoop the liquid. There is no need for soup bowls to be small and light, so many soup bowls are larger than Japanese miso-soup bowls. Not all of them are necessarily larger than miso-soup bowls, but from my personal experience, I can say that many of them are too large to hold by hand. Also, one thing that is interesting is that there are soup plates. These are flat and look almost just like other plates. Soup plates do not exist in Japanese culture because they are impossible to hold by hand. Soup plates are unique to the Western table manner in which people do not hold dishes by hand.

Top left: The fundamental of Japanese eating manner is to hold dishes by hand.

Bottom left: The size and shape of Japanese dishwares are made to be easily held by hand.

Top right: In Western culture, people do not hold dishes. Holding dishes is considered barbaric.

Bottom right: Western soup plates are very unique to their eating manner of not holding dishes. In Japanese culture, there are no soup plates as they are too big and heavy to be held by hand.

Why do Japanese people hold dishes by hand?

Japanese people started holding dish about 1200 years ago. This is due to the Japanese sitting style while eating on low tables, as high chairs and tables were not standard in Japan. These low tables are called Zen (膳). Zen is a small dining table that is about 30cm length x 35 cm width x 25 cm height, and people ate on their own Zen because the hierarchical system did not allow people from different hierarchies to eat at the same table even within the same family. Since plates were placed lower than the height of the waist, it was much more convenient to hold dishes up.

From around the 1900s, when Japan opened its forts for foreign trades, and Western technology and cultures started flowing into Japan, a short-legged table called Chabudai (ちゃぶ台) was invented. Since the old hierarchical system was banned, people started eating together on the same Chabudai. Chabudai’s height was usually about 15-30 cm. Though the height of tables got higher, the culture of holding dishes by hand remained until now because it was entrenched in Japanese culture.

In contrast, the West has used long-legged tables for dining throughout its known history. It is said that the first tables were used by Egyptians, and it was introduced to Europe with the influx of migrants. Western dining tables are typically 46-74 cm, and people sat on chairs to use the table, so the dishes were placed higher than the height of the waist. Therefore, there was no need to hold dishes by hand, and the eating manner of using cutlery to bring the food from the plate to the mouth was developed.

Left: A Japanese family having a meal together in the 17th century. The tables they are eating from are Zen (another photo of Zen is at right bottom). Because the height of Zen is low, it was clearly more convenient to hold dishes.

Right: A Japanese family having a meal in the 20th century. The low table at the center is Chabudai. People sat directly on the floor covered with tatami mat and ate from this low table.

Why did low tables develop in Japan?

Why did the small low table, Zen, develop in Japan? Why did people start sitting on the floor (tatami mat) and eating from this tiny table? Why did big tables like European ones not develop? Well, there are mainly two factors that led to the development of Zen, which ultimately led to the holding dish culture and the size and weight difference between Japanese and European dishware, and both of these factors ultimately connect to the geography and climate of each region.

The first factor is the Japanese culture of not wearing shoes inside the house and sitting directly on the floor. In Japanese traditional housing, the entrance is divided into a lower area where people take off their shoes and the elevated area that is usually covered with different flooring and marks the beginning of the indoor living space. Typically people do not wear shoes inside the house, and therefore they can sit directly on the floor and do anything on the floor. For example, people lay a futon mat and basically sleep on the floor, sit on the floor to write or read on a low table, etc. Considering that Japanese people have done most things sitting on the floor, the culture of eating from a very low table makes sense. The reason why Japanese people started taking off shoes inside the house is because of the hot and humid climate in Japan. Compared to Europe, Japan is much more humid and hot, especially during summer, and it is much more comfortable to stay barefoot inside the house and have elevation for the living space to let to improve ait flow. Thus, even the poorer who did not have elevation in their houses covered the floor with a thin mat made out of the stems of the rice plant and stayed barefoot at home.

The second factor is the size of the country. Japan is a very, very small country. The size of housing was very small too, especially for citizens in the cities. In the 1700s, typical families from the middle-low class lived in small apartment rooms that were about 100-160 ft^2. People had to cook, eat, and sleep in such a tiny space. Therefore, most furniture was foldable and compact in order to effectively use tiny space. Table for eating was not an exception; people only put Zen when eating, and after eating, they could move it to the corner of the room. Plus, Zen often had a space inside to store dishes, so people only needed a minimal amount of space for storing their “dining tables” and dishes.

Right: A Japanese family having a meal in the 20th century. The low table at the center is Chabudai. People sat directly on the floor covered with tatami mat and ate from this low table.