【Reading】ちょうりようはけ

【English Name】Pastry Brush

A cooking brush (chori-yo hake) is a cooking implement in which a tuft of animal hair or synthetic fiber is attached to a handle of wood or plastic. It is used for the purpose of spreading liquid seasonings or sauces evenly over the surface of ingredients. As the bristle material, animal hair such as pig, goat, and horse has long been chosen, but products made of synthetic resin are also becoming widespread.

On the cooking floor, it is also known as a "tare-bake," widely used for applying sauce to yakitori and, in confectionery, for brushing on egg yolk and syrup. In sushi, it is an indispensable presence—for the work of placing nitsume (reduced sweet sauce) on conger eel and simmered squid, and for the finishing touch of quickly brushing nikiri soy sauce onto nigiri.

The roots of the Japanese brush (wa-bake) lie in China; after crossing over to Japan, it underwent its own refinements. There was also a course of events in which Western brushes for oil-based paint were brought in from the West at the end of the Edo period. The number of brush product types is said to reach 1,200–1,300, the majority for painting, but for cooking too there exists a rich variety differing in shape and bristle quality.

As a production area, Osaka once played a central role, but in the Taisho era the manufacturing technique was transmitted to Ama City (the former Jimokuji Town) in Aichi Prefecture, and from 1970 onward that region grew into one of the nation's leading production bases.