OK, OK. There aren’t exactly ten thousands different ways to hold chopsticks. But there are more than the one presumed, “correct” way to use chopsticks, and the one presumed, “incorrect/crossed” way to use chopsticks.
This article provides a visual guide to different chopstick grips that we have observed and recorded in real eating situations, such as the Standard Grip, the Idling Thumb grip, the Vulcan Grip, and the Chicken Claws grip. These are all fine ways of using chopsticks. In the spirit of #utensilequality, all grips are equal at the table. But these chopstick holding styles are also all different. We have captured this view in our retrospective, The Art and Science of Chopsticking.
Our objective analysis of these grips does show that Standard Grip provides the most balanced profile for efficiency, dexterity, reach and power. There is a reason why it is the traditional grip. But all grips work for those who wield them well. Many far exceed Standard Grip in specific tasks. And some people have anatomical differences making some grips better suited for them. Count-to-4 and Equal Opportunity come to mind. The thumb issue is documented in Caswellian thumb.
Table of Contents
Posters and catalogs
Elsewhere on marcosticks.org, you will find posters showing and contrasting chopstick grips, such as illustrated below left. You will find variations of this poster, including international versions, and left-handed versions, in the posters article.
A separate article illustrates in a family tree how each alternative grip relates to the standard grip, based on the degree of its departure from the standard finger dynamics, as illustrated below right.
There are also a clickable catalogs of common chopstick grips. Head to the clickable catalogs article to see them. These are a cross of the above two posters. It features beautiful cel-shading illustrations of grips from above left, and groups these grips roughly based on relatedness. In addition, every cel-shading illustration is clickable.
Separately, we classify chopstick grips by finger placement and finger movement, for each combination of top/bottom chopsticks and open/closed postures.
This article is different. This one has all grip types we hear or documented. But not all grip types we are aware of have been thoroughly studied and published here. This article shows all grip types in their respective journeys from discovery, to analysis, through publishing, and finally a YouTube highlight.
We also have YouTube videos showcasing chopstick grips we have documented. The series “The Varieties of Chopsticking Experience” features chopstick grips from groups of related or associated people, to celebrate the ingenuity of folks who independently found grips that worked for them.
Each chopstick grip is presented as a “card” in sections below. The name of the grip is first identified in Chinese and in English. Then a thumbnail picture illustrates the stereotypical posture of this grip. You can click on the image to learn more about it. Or you can continue reading on, to find a one-sentence description of said grip. Wherever we have created a 128×128 emoji for a grip, said emoji is shown at the end of the description sentence. After that we show the grip name in other languages wherever available. Language labels: t: Taiwanese, and j: Japanese.
YouTube video available
This section lists grips that have its own video in our YouTube series named after this article , Ten Thousand Ways to Use Chopsticks. Click on the thumbnail picture to watch the YouTube video.
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- A grip with a good balance of power, reach and control.
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t: 標凖法
Phiau-chún hoat
j: 標準
Made it to a cool guide
This section lists grips that have been illustrated in a cool guide diagram such as this poster. The next step is for these grip to have their own YouTube videos.
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- Named after the Vulcan salute which is unmistakable.
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t: 某牽
Bó͘-khàn
j: バルカン
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- Named after the hand gesture for pistol.
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t: 指頭仔比銃
Chéng-thâu-á pí chhèng
j: 指鉄砲
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Named after the lone pinky finger, which is left to its own devices by the rest of fingers.
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t: 放捒尾指
Pàng-sat bóe-cháiⁿ
j: 孤児
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- Named after the famous rule in methematics and physics.
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t: 正手定律
Chiàⁿ-chhiú tēng-lu̍t
j: 右手の法則
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- Resembles a Giant Stag Beetle maneuvering its long mandibles.
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t: 剪仔龜
Chián-á ku
j: クワガタのおおあご
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- Looks like Standard Grip, but sadly the thumb only loiters around.
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t: 憑段指頭母
Pīn-tōaⁿ chéng-thâu-bó
j: 親指アイドリング
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- An exaggerated variant of Idling Thumb, with a special move for lifting the top stick.
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t: 鷄脚爪
Ke-kha-jiáu
j: 鶏の爪
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- Two claws suffice to manage chopsticks, like T-Rex .
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k: 霸王龍爪
Pà-ông lêng jiáu
j: 恐竜の爪
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- The bottom stick is left dangling by itself.
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t: 夾一支箸
Gia̍p chi̍t-ki tī
j: ぶら下がり棒
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- As bottom stick is closed and let open, a muppet speaks.
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t: 布袋戲
Pò͘-tē-hì
j: マペット
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- (Edward) Scissorhand is an Under Swing variant of Chicken Claws.
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t: 鉸刀手
Ka-to chhiú
j: 鋏
Added to family tree of grips
This section lists grips that have been added to the family tree based on their connections to other grips. The next step will add these to a cool guide.
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- Diametric opposite of Forsaken Pinky.
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t: 中指投誠
Tiong-cháiⁿ tâu-sêng
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- Named after the number 4 hand gesture
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t: 比到四
Pi kàu sù
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- A cross between Count-to-4 and Vulcan grip
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t: 比到某牽四
Pi kàu Bó͘-khàn sù
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- Weak version of Standard Grip
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t: 無力標準法
Bô-la̍t piau-chún hoat
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- Cross Chicken Claws with Vulcan, and cup your hand.
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t: 拱手某牽
Gióng-chhiú Bó͘-khàn
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- Named after the famous Italian hand gesture.
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t: 卜按盞
Beh án-chóaⁿ
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- A sibling grip of Beetle Mandibles.
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t: 迎媽祖
Ngiâ Má-chó͘
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- Five fingers spend equal attention on both sticks
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t: 無大細目
Bô toā-sè-ba̍k
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- A large family of grips sharing a common Compression posture.
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t: 指頭母倚靠二指邊仔
Chéng-thâu-bó óa khò jī-cháiⁿ piⁿ–a
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- A Lateral Classic variant where five fingers pulse like a squid, when extending chopstick apart.
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t: 邊仔柔魚
Piⁿ-á jiû-hî
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- A Lateral Classic variant which serves as a bridge connecting Lateral Class to Chicken Claws.
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t: 邊仔鷄爪
Piⁿ–a ke-jiáu
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- A Lateral Turncoat variant with finger dance a la Gangnam Style.
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t: 邊仔江南Style
Piⁿ-á Kang-lâm Style
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- A hybrid of Lateral Classic and Turncoat grip.
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t: 邊仔中指投誠
Piⁿ-á tiong-cháiⁿ tâu-sêng
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- A sideway-swing variant of Lateral chopstick grips, with a money-gesture-like index and thumb movement.
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t: 算銀票
Sǹg gîn-phiò
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- An underswing variant of Lateral chopstick grips, where the thumb operates the top chopstick as if thumb-wrestling.
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t: 指頭母相偃
Chéng-thâu-bó sio-ián
Articles published
This section lists grips that we have analyzed and written about. The next step will add them to the family tree.
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- A variant of Standard Grip where the bottom chopstick too is supported by a tripod of three fingers.
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t: 双三脚株
Siang saⁿ-kha-tu
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- The index finger pries chopsticks open, and the middle finger clamps chopsticks shut.
- t: (TBD)
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- Extends chopsticks apart with Idling Thumb, but closes them with Lateral compression. A variant of Chicken Claws.
- t: (TBD)
Grip analyzed
Video footage documented
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- A Finger Pistol variant
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- A variant of Righthand Rule with an Idling Thumb. The Thumb base holds the top chopstick.
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- Turncoat grip (with thumb joint engaging top chopstick) turns into Underswing variant of Finger Pistol, which is what we call the Italian Grip. But this user wields the Italian Grip with palm facing upward.
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- Cupped Turncoat to Turncoat is like Cupped Vulcan to Vulcan. In fact, this user switches between Cupped Turncoat and Cupped Vulcan mid action.
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- Sideway-swing variant of Vulcan where the top stick is pushed sideways by the thumb.
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- All four fingers curl into a fist. The thumb caps both chopsticks against the clenched fingers. The thumb prods the rear of the top chopstick to extend tips apart.
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- A textbook underswing variant of Finger Pistol. Also very similar to Italian Grip.
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- Looks like scissorhand where the bottom chopstick is sandwiched by the middle finger and the ring finger. But this is really a more dexterous Italian Grip with wide separation between index and middle fingers
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- A grip that looks like Vulcan, but actually operates closer to Standard Grip as far as the top stick is concerned. See Closed vs. Open. Right-click on this video, and show it in a new tab or new window.
Picture received
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- A Vulcan variation where the pinky does not remain idle
Collaborators
We acknowledge grip collaborators on individual grip articles. Here we’ll document collaboration with folks on the overall ontology of grips.
- 阿勇 from 阿勇台語 Aiong Taigi, and his friends at 食飽未Chia̍h pá ·bē! were instrumental in shaping both pe̍h-ōe-jī and 漢字 representations of chopstick grips.
- 榊原 安英 (Dr. Yasuhide Sakakibara)
Published on Dec 27, 2020
Last Updated on August 8, 2023 by Staff
In the chart with all the links near the top, you have the image for Middle Path and Beetle Mandibles flipped
Yeah. Thanks for pointing that out. Editing that interactive SVG takes a while. We’ll get to it soon : )
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I think I found grip 10001. Because mine is nothing like any of these, and IT WORKS!
We are more than happy to help study and document your 10,001st grip type. Send us short videos. See https://marcosticks.org/how-to-help/. Some people post to a Subreddit that we monitor: https://new.reddit.com/r/chopsticks/. Don’t send fake videos though…. on second thought, do send fake chopstick videos. Let’s see what you can come up with 🙂
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but which one is best for cheese kungfu movie murder attempts?
Lateral Gangnam Style
I have used chopsticks for about 3 years now. For the first 6 months I tried different chopstick styles, before settling on standard grip, because despite the claim there’s not just one way to hold chopsticks, there is. I’ve taught several people how to use chopsticks. They all say it’s hard and doubt they can do it, and their problem is always how they’re holding them. Always. Once I’ve fixed their grip, they get it. I just taught a friend this week and she was shocked by how much control she had over the chopsticks movement and how easy it was to grip the chicken we were eating. Rice was more of a challenge at first, but when I showed her how to pinch and scoop the rice, she got that too.
I am honestly way more comfortable with chopsticks than with a fork, and I’ve been raised on forks and spoons. I can eat with both my right and left hands with chopsticks about the same, whereas with a fork I can’t eat left handed. I can also finish a meal faster. I truly believe chopsticks are the best eating utensil. Hands down.
A large number of people will find, if given proper instructions, Standard Grip to be the most balanced grip given all of the factors we’ve researched. It is not the best in all factors – as documented, Lateral grips have the strongest compression forces in most cases. But of course, Lateral grips in general generate very little extension forces. With that said, some people will never wield Standard Grip well, due to anatomical differences – look at the Caswellian Thumb article and discussions in other articles for details. Thanks for your feedback. Cheers.