diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTSessionCatalog.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTSessionCatalog.java
index cc42604f700d..b89595635314 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTSessionCatalog.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTSessionCatalog.java
@@ -615,7 +615,7 @@ public List<Namespace> listNamespaces(SessionContext context, Namespace namespac
 
     Map<String, String> queryParams = Maps.newHashMap();
     if (!namespace.isEmpty()) {
-      queryParams.put("parent", RESTUtil.encodeNamespace(namespace));
+      queryParams.put("parent", RESTUtil.NAMESPACE_JOINER.join(namespace.levels()));
     }
 
     ImmutableList.Builder<Namespace> namespaces = ImmutableList.builder();
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTUtil.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTUtil.java
index 45422b8ae8b5..fab01162cad7 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTUtil.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTUtil.java
@@ -33,24 +33,14 @@
 import org.apache.iceberg.relocated.com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 
 public class RESTUtil {
+  private static final char NAMESPACE_SEPARATOR = '\u001f';
+  public static final Joiner NAMESPACE_JOINER = Joiner.on(NAMESPACE_SEPARATOR);
+  public static final Splitter NAMESPACE_SPLITTER = Splitter.on(NAMESPACE_SEPARATOR);
   private static final String NAMESPACE_ESCAPED_SEPARATOR = "%1F";
   private static final Joiner NAMESPACE_ESCAPED_JOINER = Joiner.on(NAMESPACE_ESCAPED_SEPARATOR);
   private static final Splitter NAMESPACE_ESCAPED_SPLITTER =
       Splitter.on(NAMESPACE_ESCAPED_SEPARATOR);
 
-  /**
-   * @deprecated since 1.7.0, will be made private in 1.8.0; use {@link
-   *     RESTUtil#encodeNamespace(Namespace)} instead.
-   */
-  @Deprecated public static final Joiner NAMESPACE_JOINER = Joiner.on(NAMESPACE_ESCAPED_SEPARATOR);
-
-  /**
-   * @deprecated since 1.7.0, will be made private in 1.8.0; use {@link
-   *     RESTUtil#decodeNamespace(String)} instead.
-   */
-  @Deprecated
-  public static final Splitter NAMESPACE_SPLITTER = Splitter.on(NAMESPACE_ESCAPED_SEPARATOR);
-
   private RESTUtil() {}
 
   public static String stripTrailingSlash(String path) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTCatalogAdapter.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTCatalogAdapter.java
index 6477dfcd00eb..aa77b5ad10b6 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTCatalogAdapter.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/rest/RESTCatalogAdapter.java
@@ -298,7 +298,11 @@ public <T extends RESTResponse> T handleRequest(
         if (asNamespaceCatalog != null) {
           Namespace ns;
           if (vars.containsKey("parent")) {
-            ns = RESTUtil.decodeNamespace(vars.get("parent"));
+            ns =
+                Namespace.of(
+                    RESTUtil.NAMESPACE_SPLITTER
+                        .splitToStream(vars.get("parent"))
+                        .toArray(String[]::new));
           } else {
             ns = Namespace.empty();
           }