Oshibori Oshibori An or hot towel in English is a wet hand towel offered to customers in places such as restaurants or bars, and used to clean one's hands before eating. Oshibori has long been part of Hospitality Culture in Japan: in "The Tale of Genji" era it was used for visitors; during the Edo period it was used in Hatago (); later it started to be used in many restaurants. It eventually spread to worldwide use. Cold oshibori are used in summer, and hot oshibori in winter. In Japan, October 29 has been observed as the day of Oshibori since
Oshibori 2004. The word oshibori comes from the Japanese word , meaning "to wring", with the honorific prefix "o-", which is added to several types of nouns, including many nouns related to washing or food; onigiri/omusubi (お握り and お結び) "rice ball" follows the same pattern – see honorific prefix usage. 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). Oshibori are also known as "o-tefuki"; "tefuki" refers to ordinary handkerchiefs, and these derive from the Japanese (hand) and , to wipe. In mājan parlors, the words "atsushibo" and "tsumeshibo", from the Japanese