Effects of Temperature of Oshibori on Kansei Evaluation

Abstract

Oshibori is a small wet towel to wipe hands before meal in Japan. Most of researches on oshibori have investigated the towels from the perspective of cleaning and sanitation. Few studies have assessed the qualitative and sensory characteristics associated with oshibori. In this paper, subjective evaluation experiments were carried out using cotton oshibori of different temperatures such as 5, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 oC in the laboratory temperature at 20, 25 and 30 oC over four seasons. 29 males and 33 females evaluated oshibori on following properties such as favorite, rare, hot, feel-smooth, high-grade, comfortable, soft, and moist, according to five point grading. As results, the oshibori at the temperature of 5, 15, 45 and 60 oC were evaluated to be comfortable. Contrary, those of 30 and 75 oC were evaluated uncomfortable. Moreover, sexual specificity of the evaluation was observed.