01The gesture and its expected meaning
Throughout East Asia, chopsticks are a utensil reserved for food: using them as an index finger — to point at a fellow diner, a dish or a direction — is a clear-cut breach of manners. Japan gives it a name: sashi-bashi (指し箸), "to point at people and things using chopsticks", listed in the glossary of kirai-bashi (嫌い箸), the forty-plus faulty chopstick "manners" catalogued by the Japanese etiquette tradition (Nippon.com, 2022). Pan-Asian etiquette journalism puts it plainly: "Gesturing or pointing with chopsticks is widely considered impolite across East and Southeast Asia" (Tatler Asia, 2025).
02Where it goes wrong: geography of the misunderstanding
The typical scenario: a foreign visitor points at a dish on the table — or at the person they are talking to — with their chopsticks, to drive a point home or to place an order. In Japan, the gesture falls under sashi-bashi; in China, etiquette guides class chopstick-pointing among table incivilities, an extension of the discourteous character of the pointed finger; the same rule is given for Korea and Vietnam. Intensity varies with context — formal meals and business dinners are stricter than canteens — and the sanction usually stays silent: the host takes note and does not correct. In the West, no equivalent code attaches to the fork — the misunderstanding is asymmetrical and goes unnoticed by the person committing it.
03Historical genesis
The historian Q. Edward Wang (Chopsticks: A Cultural and Culinary History, Cambridge University Press, 2015) devotes a chapter to chopstick customs, manners and etiquette and traces the formation of these codes across the "chopsticks cultural sphere" — China, Vietnam, Korea, Japan. The common ground: the table is conceived there as pacified, served by utensils that grasp without cutting or piercing, and diverting chopsticks into an instrument of designation breaks that economy of gesture — pointing with the utensil combines the rudeness of the pointed finger with the misuse of the object. The Japanese taxonomy of kirai-bashi, which names the faulty manners one by one (sashi-bashi for pointing, neburi-bashi for licked chopsticks, kosuri-bashi for rubbed chopsticks...), is its finest codification; the genre is attested as early as 1504 (a text of the Ogasawara school naming nine faulty manners — pointing is not among them), and its list circulates today through etiquette guides, schools and manufacturers. No primary dating of the pointing prohibition itself, however, is established by the sources consulted — the datings in circulation (ancient codes, the Edo period) are not documented in the texts.
04Documented incidents
No dated international incident concerns pointing itself: the misunderstanding lives in etiquette guides and in the silent discomfort of the table. The affair that fixed the symbolic stakes is a neighboring one: in November 2018, Dolce & Gabbana posted on Weibo three "Eating with Chopsticks" videos (#DGLovesChina) in which a model struggles to eat pizza, spaghetti and cannoli with chopsticks, in a tone received as condescending. The backlash — aggravated by the leak of insulting private messages attributed to Stefano Gabbana — led to the cascading withdrawal of the invited celebrities, the break by brand ambassador Wang Junkai, the delisting of the products by the major Chinese platforms and the cancellation, a few hours beforehand, of "The Great Show" scheduled in Shanghai for November 21, 2018 (NPR). The lesson holds for the entire chopsticks sphere: the utensil is not a trivial accessory but an identity marker — treating it offhandedly, in marketing as at the table, comes at a price.
05Practical recommendations
- Do: set your chopsticks down (ideally on the chopstick rest) before pointing at anything; indicate a dish verbally or with an open hand.
- Don't: point at a person, a dish or a direction with your chopsticks; gesture with chopsticks in hand during conversation.
- Alternatives: name the dish to ask for it; in a group, let the host designate and serve.
- Watch out: formal meals and business dinners in Japan, China, Korea and Vietnam; the rule is taught to children early.
Geography of misunderstanding
Offensive
- japan
- china-continental
- taiwan
- hong-kong
- south-korea
- vietnam
Historical origins
L'interdit du pointage aux baguettes est panasiatique (sphère culturelle des baguettes : Chine, Vietnam, Corée, Japon — Wang 2015, chap. étiquette) ; sa codification la plus fine est la taxonomie japonaise des kirai-bashi, dont le sashi-bashi (指し箸), « pointer les gens et les choses avec ses baguettes » (glossaire Nippon.com, 28-06-2022). Aucune datation primaire de l'interdit n'est établie par les sources consultées — les datations du stub (« li 禮, IIIe siècle av. J.-C. », « codes Edo ») étaient sans source et ont été retirées.
Documented incidents
- 2018 — Mi-novembre 2018, D&G publie sur Weibo trois vidéos « Eating with Chopsticks » (#DGLovesChina) : une mannequin peine à manger pizza, spaghetti et cannoli avec des baguettes, sur un ton reçu comme condescendant. Après la fuite de messages privés insultants attribués à Stefano Gabbana, les célébrités se retirent, Wang Junkai rompt son contrat, les plateformes chinoises déréférencent la marque et le défilé « The Great Show » du 21 novembre à Shanghai est annulé quelques heures avant — la démonstration que les baguettes sont un marqueur identitaire, pas un accessoire. (NPR, « Dolce & Gabbana Ad (With Chopsticks) Provokes Public Outrage in China », 1er décembre 2018 ; Fashionista, « Dolce & Gabbana Spark Racism Controversy with #DGLovesChina Campaign », novembre 2018.)
Practical recommendations
To do
- Poser ses baguettes (idéalement sur le repose-baguettes) avant de désigner quoi que ce soit.
- Désigner un plat verbalement, ou de la main ouverte.
Avoid
- Ne pas pointer une personne, un plat ou une direction avec ses baguettes.
- Ne pas gesticuler baguettes en main pendant la conversation.
Neutral alternatives
- Nommer le plat pour le demander, plutôt que de le montrer.
- Dans un groupe, laisser l'hôte désigner et servir.