Oshibori presented on a small bamboo stand

An oshibori (おしぼり or お絞り, oshibori^?) is a wet hand towel offered to customers in places such as restaurants or bars in Japan. Oshibori are used to clean one's hands before eating, and have long been a common sight in Japan. Cold oshibori are used in summer, and hot oshibori in winter. In mah-jong parlors, the words atsushibo and tsumeshibo, from the Japanese words atsui (熱い, atsui^?), hot, and tsumetai (冷たい, tsumetai^?), cold, are sometimes used to refer to hot and cold oshibori respectively. A towel is a piece of absorbent fabric or paper used for drying or wiping. ... Toms Restaurant, a restaurant in New York made familiar by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to order, to be consumed on the premises. ... This article discusses the four-player game of Chinese origin. ...

Derivation of word

The word oshibori comes from the Japanese word shiboru (絞る, shiboru^?), meaning "to wring", with the polite prefix o, which is added to several types of nouns, including many nouns related to washing or food. In Japanese script, the word oshibori is normally written in hiragana (おしぼり), seldom using kanji (お絞り or 御絞り). Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji Hiragana ) are a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana and kanji; the Latin alphabet is also used in some cases. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji Kanji (Japanese:  ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ...

Oshibori are also known as otefuki, from the Japanese te (手, te^?) (hand) and fuku (拭く, fuku^?), to wipe.

Typical oshibori

A typical oshibori, made of cloth, is dampened with water and wrung. It is then placed on the dining table for customers to wipe their hands with before or during the meal. The oshibori is often rolled or folded and given to the customer on some kind of tray. Even if a tray is not used, it is usually rolled up into a long, thin shape, although this is not necessarily the case with oshibori handed out together with, say, bentō lunch boxes.

Many establishments also give out towels made of non-woven cloth or paper, which are generally used once and then disposed of. Paper ones sometimes contain a sterilizing agent such as alcohol or stabilized chlorine dioxide. Paper oshibori, unlike cloth oshibori, can be folded and put into a very thin plastic wrapping, for inclusion with packaged products such as bentō lunch boxes, for example in convenience stores. Nonwoven textiles are those which are neither woven nor knit, for example felt. ... Functional group of an alcohol molecule. ... Chlorine dioxide is a reddish-yellow gas which is one of several known oxides of chlorine. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Oshibori are now also handed out on most airplane flights to and from Japan. Japan Airlines started giving out oshibori in 1959. They are also coming to be used more widely outside Japan, and there are now oshibori companies in Brisbane, Australia (Xceed Oshibori), in London, England (Mito) and in the USA. JAL Boeing 747-400 in 1989-2002 colour scheme JAL Cargo Boeing 747-400 (JA402J) waiting for take-off A JAL Boeing 767 in NAIA. JAL Boeing 747-400 Japan Airlines Corporation ) (TYO: 9205 ), or JAL, is the largest airline operator in Asia. ...

Hot and cold oshibori

An oshibori can be moistened with hot water at an appropriate temperature or steam to make a hot oshibori, or placed damp into a refrigerator to make a cold oshibori suitable for use in summer. Restaurants usually use an electric appliance such as a heating cabinet or refrigerator for this. The heated towel used in barber's shops to give moisture to the skin or beard and make it easier to shave can also be thought of a type of oshibori. A boy visiting a barber A barber (from the Latin barba, beard) is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, give shaves, and trim beards. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Epidermis (skin). ... A man with a full beard A beard is the hair that grows on a mans chin, cheeks, neck, and the area above the upper lip (the opposite is a clean-shaven face). ...

Rented oshibori

As many establishments use oshibori in large quantities, they often do not prepare them in the store, but instead employ a rental service which launders them, rolls them into the typical cylindrical shape, and delivers them already damp. These rental service companies services frequently wrap each oshibori individually in a clear, lightweight plastic seal (polyethylene film), which can be easily broken and removed by the customer before using. Rental services typically use each oshibori about 25 times before selling them to third parties as cleaning rags or dustcloths. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Related links

• Hand washing
• Towels
• Handkerchieves

Hand washing is the act of cleansing the hands with water or other liquid, with or without the use of soap or other detergents, for the purpose of removing soil or microorganisms. ... A towel is a piece of absorbent fabric or paper used for drying or wiping. ... Raymond W. Kelly is seen here wearing a handkerchief in his left-breast pocket. ...

Sources

Much of this article was translated from the equivalent article in the Japanese Wikipedia, as retrieved on November 26, 2006. November 26 is the 330th day (331st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...