The history of chopsticks
It is not completely known about the history of chopsticks, but in general professionals think chopsticks were invented in China in about 3000 B.C. The chopsticks found in ancient Chinese dynasty, Inkyo, are thought to be the oldest ones. Onono Imoko, who was on a mission to China appointed by Syotoku Taishi, seems to have introduced chopsticks like "a pair of tweezers" to Japan about 500 A.D. As we see from Chinese character, chopsticks were usually made of bamboo. At first, chopsticks were thought to be only for ceremonies. After a while Japanese made two-stick chopsticks, and ordinary people came to use chopsticks little by little. The lacquered chopsticks, nuribashi, first appeared in about the 13th century, but they became popular in the middle of the Edo era for some of the states, han, tried to develop lacquering as their local industries. It is said that the rich people used these chopsticks to show their status at the end of the Edo era.
From the 1870's to the 1940's, most Japanese used simple wooden chopsticks, or non-lacquered ones because lacquer ware was too expensive for them. At the time, good manners were the most important, so "children were taught to proper usage of chopsticks." Also, disposable chopsticks called waribashi invented during this time.
"Due to the modernization of industry in Japan," chopsticks were no longer expensive, so the Japanese came to use lacquered chopsticks after The Second World War. From this time children tended not to be taught "the proper usage of chopsticks." This is partly because American fast foods came into Japan and Japanese traditional meal decreased. As a result, non-slip chopsticks were invented so that children could easily pick up their food.
During the bubble economy, from about 1980 to 1990, "elaborate, gaudy chopsticks with a lot of gold became popular," but after the bubble economy has ended, the simple chopsticks became popular again because now many Japanese like simple style rather than richness.
References
http://www.hyozaemon.co.jp/
http://www.japanweb.co.uk/listing/hashi.htm
http://www.hashikatsu.co.jp/arekore/rekisi.htm
http://www.calacademy.org/research/anthropology/utensil/chpstck.htm
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Last updated 6-Dec-2001