An ''irori'' (, ) is a traditional

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese sunken

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...

fired with charcoal. Used for heating the home and for cooking food, it is essentially a square, stone-lined pit in the floor, equipped with an adjustable pothook – called a ''jizaikagi'' () and generally consisting of an iron rod within a

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

tube – used for raising or lowering a suspended pot or kettle by means of an attached lever which is often decoratively designed in the shape of a fish.Fahr-Becker (2001), p196 Historically ''irori'' served as the main source of residential heating and lighting, providing a place to cook, dry clothing, and serve as a communal gathering location.

Gallery

File:Japanese Traditional Hearth L4817.jpg, Irori File:Irori - sankei-en - sept 5 2021.webm, thumbtime=13, An actively used irori File:長瀨家 Nagase-ke - panoramio.jpg, Small irori File:2013 Japan - Takamori Dengaku Hozonaki (11148675595).jpg, A ''jizaikagi'' hearth hook with fish-shaped counterbalance File:囲炉裏.jpg, An irori in use File:Yunokami-Onsen Station 006.JPG, An irori in a train station waiting room, 2010

Footnotes

References

* Fireplaces Japanese home {{Japan-struct-stub