A table set the Japanese way

How we lay out the table

We follow the same rough layout most Japanese households use without thinking about it: rice bowl front left, soup bowl front right, chopsticks laid across the front with the tips to the left, and everything else filling in behind and beside those two. It is a practical order rather than a formal one. The rice bowl sits on the left because it gets picked up and put down more often, and the soup bowl sits on the right because it is lifted straight to the mouth. We are not claiming this is the only correct way to set a table, and we would not tell a guest they were doing it wrong; it is just the shape we default to at home, and it happens to fit the pieces we sell neatly.

Rice, on the left

A small, deep bowl for rice sits front left. It is meant to be picked up rather than left on the table while you eat from it. Our own example is the Fukui Craft Earthen Tone small bowl, plain enough to use every day, but our rice bowl collection has more options if you want a pattern or a different glaze. Keep it a size that sits comfortably in one hand, since you will be holding it through most of the meal.

Soup, on the right

The soup bowl is deeper than the rice bowl and goes front right, close enough to lift straight to the mouth without much reach. We often reach for a donburi-style bowl here, like the Mino-ware Snow Shino donburi bowl, since the same shape does double duty as a noodle bowl on other nights. Our bowl collection covers both the everyday rice-bowl sizes and these deeper ones.

The main plate, behind

Whatever is doing the most work on the table, usually fish or a piece of meat, goes on a plate behind the rice and soup rather than crowding the front. We like the Tojiki Tonya Kikka Rinka plate here, big enough to hold a main piece without touching the rim. Our serving plates run a good range of sizes if your main dish is bigger or smaller than that.

Small dishes, wherever they fit

Pickles, a small salad, or anything you are only having a little of goes on a small dish, or two, tucked into whatever space is left between the bigger pieces. We like the Kutani-ware Plum Chrysanthemum plate by Seikou Kiln for this, small enough that it does not compete with the main plate. Our side dishes has more if you want to mix patterns rather than match everything.

Chopsticks, on a rest

Chopsticks go in front of everything, tips pointing left, resting on a chopstick rest rather than laid straight on the table or propped on a bowl. It is a small habit that keeps the tips off the tablecloth and gives the setting a finished look for barely any extra effort. Our chopsticks guide covers the pairs and rests we carry, including a tin rest from Nousaku if you want something with a bit more presence than ceramic. If you want the hand-lacquered kind rather than the everyday coated pair, our lacquer guide explains the difference.

A cup

Most nights that is a teacup, something like the Mino-ware Black Shino teacup, poured from whatever pot is already on the table. If that pot is cast iron, our cast iron care guide covers keeping it rust-free. Our teacup collection has the everyday range. On nights we open something better, the cup changes to a proper sake cup instead, and our sake cup guide walks through ochoko, guinomi and the rest if you want to add one to the table.