The is a traditional

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese heating device. It is a

brazier A brazier () is a container used to burn charcoal or other solid fuel for cooking, heating or rituals. It often takes the form of a metal box or bowl with feet, but in some places it is made of terracotta. Its elevation helps circulate air, feed ...

which is a round, cylindrical, or box-shaped, open-topped container, made from or lined with a heatproof material and designed to hold burning

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

. It is believed dates back to the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

(794 to 1185). They are filled with incombustible ash with charcoal sitting in the center of the ash. To handle the charcoal, a pair of metal chopsticks called is used, in a way similar to Western

fire iron A fire iron is any metal instrument for tending a fire. Types There are three types of tools commonly used to tend a small fire, such as an indoor fireplace fire or yule log: the spade, the tongs and the poker itself. These tools make it pos ...

s or

tongs Tongs are a type of tool used to grip and lift objects instead of holding them directly with hands. There are many forms of tongs adapted to their specific use. Design variations include resting points so that the working end of the tongs d ...

. were originally used for heating, not for cooking. It heats by

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...

, (bibliographic data

and is too weak to warm a whole room. Sometimes, people placed a over the to boil water for Japanese tea, tea. Later, by the 1900s, some cooking was also done over the . Traditional Japanese houses were well ventilated (or poorly sealed), so

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...

or suffocation from

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

from burning charcoal were of lesser concern. Nevertheless, such risks do exist, and proper handling is necessary to avoid accidents. (bibliographic data

must never be used in airtight rooms such as those in Western buildings. In

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, the term refers to a small cooking stove heated by charcoal (called a in Japanese), or to an iron

hot plate A hot plate or hotplate is a heated flat surface on a stove or electric cooker on which food may be cooked, either built into an electric cooker or kitchen stove, or portable, plugged into an electric outlet. Hot plates can also be used as a h ...

(called a in Japanese) used in restaurants. File:Japanese Edo Hibachi.JPG, Primitive from before the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

(1600–1868) ( Fukagawa Edo Museum) File:The real hibachi.jpg, A traditional charcoal , made c. 1880–1900 File:Edo Hibachi.JPG, House of the Edo period (Fukagawa Edo Museum) File:Hishikawa Buch.jpg, Two women and a man warming themselves by a

References

Cooking techniques Japanese pottery Japanese cuisine terms Stoves Portable furniture Japanese home {{Japan-culture-stub

See also

References