Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-05-11
HOW JApS KEEP NARH.
an ARTICLE OF USE AND ORNAMENT
FOUND IN JAPAN.

6N ARTICLE Uf USE AND ORNAMENT
FOUND IN JAPAN.
The Universal Fire-Box-A Form of Jap
anese Life Which Interested Sir
Edwin Arnold.
The author of Lights of ASIA" who is
now travelling in Japan, writes as follows
to the London Telegraph:
I do not remember that anybody has
ever yet, in describing Japan, done any
sort of sufficient justice to the immense
and important part borne by the hi5acli
in the domestic life of this people. Tour
lists, travellers and correspondents casually.
indeed, mention the article as something
special to Japan, but forget to say how the
entire existence of the Japanese centers in
this very particular institution.
The hibachi is a fre-box, of rhich the
simplest form is that of square, or circu-
lar, or oblong receptacle of wood, lined with
sheet copper. Into this quantity of lime
dust, or sifted ashes, is put, and on the top
of that a little pile of lighted charcoal,
which burns slowly and steadily upon the
fine ashes, giving out heat, but not
yestige of smoke. This is the primitive
and plainest form of the 'fire-box," such as
will be seen in use for common purposes at
railway stations, in Kuruma sheds, in way-
side tea-houses and restaurants, and in un-
pretentions shops. But Japanese skill and
taste love to lavish themselves on this CEN
trail piece of domestic furniture, and you
see hibachis, accordingly, of all forms and
materials. Some are made of hammered
copper, or brass, or iron, with patterns
delicately and beautifully beaten out of
the FURNISHED metal. Some / have seen
in great houses contrived from the root of
vast tree, the gnarled and knotted timber
being laboriously followed out and lined
with copper, and the exterior carefully
polished to bring forth the beauty of the
grain.
The hibacM for daily home service must
be useful before all things, and the general
shape of it is, as l have said, that of an
oblong box about two feet in length by
fourteen inches broad, and foot deep.
Two-thirds of the length of this structure
is occupied by the fire-box proper, lined
with metal, and laid with carefully-sifted
ashes, upon which glows the little nest of
red sunni sticks. Upon the top of that will
be placed four-legged frame of iron,
which supports the bronze kettle, the tea
pot, and, at need, small gridiron of wire
or glazed frying pan, in which fish are
stewed or fried, or else the earthen dish
whereupon the inmates roast their bean
cakes or the slices of daikon. The re-
mainder of the hibachi is made up of clever
little drawers and unsupported compart-
ments, where the lady of the house
whose special possession the "fre box" is
keeps a world of things which profit by
being dry; her biscuits, her paper for
accounts, needles and thread, kauuashis.
combs, tea, chop-sticks, and what not.
Thus this piece of furniture is at one and
the same moment the household hearth.
the larder, the work-box, the writing case.
the toilet stand, the kitchen, and the nat
ural center for the family of conversation.
employment, and needlework. But it NAV
combine these with ever SO much beauty
and richness of external decoration, and it
Is common to see the hibachi built of very
beautiful striped and variegated woods, its
drawers and compartments delicately
adorned with chased handles, and plaques
of silvered or bronzed metal, while neat
little mats of plated grass or embroidered
velvet sr; laid upon the highly honorable
part where the teapot of porcelain and the
pretty small painted teacups usually stand.
Sometimes table for writing and work.
ing is ingeniously blended with the other
conveniences, and there is one special
form of hibachi, used for imparting heat in
cold weather, which is closed with lat
tice of light woodwork all around. You
can cover this over with futons, or bed rugs,
and warm the hands and feet in the con-
fined glow, or on frosty nights you can put
it boldly and bodily under the bed clothes.
and derive from it all the advantage of
permanent warming pan. Then there is
the tobdccomono, another special form of
the hibachi, but entirely devoted to the
eternal kiseru, the small pipe of brass and
bamboo in which the japanese perpetually
indulge. This is a kind of smaller fire
box, with bed Of ashes for the ever-glow-
ing charcoal, couple of drawers for the
delicately cut fragrant tobacco, and little
compartment where the brass and silver
tipped pipes repose while not in use.
There is a cover, with an opening, for the
charcoal, and a handle by which the to-
bdccomone is carried about, for it accom-
panies the owner everywhere-to bed. to
breakfast, to dinner-on all occasions and
next to the sliding of the sh0jis, the most
universal sound heard, perhaps, in Japan,
Is the tapping OF the little kisera on the
edge of the tobacco box, when, for the
hundredth time during the day, the little
pipe has been filled and lighted, and the
one full puff-"ppuku taken which
satisfies the refined and delicate desires of
the Nippon smoker.
You must realize then, or try to realize.
the prodigious import and positive uni
versatility of the domestic ''fre box" in
Japan. There must exist at least as MANY
as the inhabitants of the country-that
is to say, about 40000,000. Every shop
has one in front of its shelves and bales.
and every tea house or hotel keeps them
by scores, because the first thing brought
to traveller or customer on arrival is the
hibachi, either to warm him or to furnish
a chronic light for his pipe, or simply
from habit and hospitality. The trades
man and those who come to buy at his
shop gather over the bronze fire box to
discus prices and at dinner party a
hbochi is placed between every pair of
guests. In the interior of an ordinary
Japanese home, however, one sees the ma
tional institution in its simplest use.
There it stands, always lighted, a. least
during the autumn and winter months,
and In its copper receptacle the bed of
ashes and the glowing nest of gentle fire,
1t is good to see with what dainty care
the Japanese dame will pick up stick by
stick and fragment by fragment the pre-
cious pieces of charcoal which have fallen
from off the central fire. With what deli
cate skill she builds little dome or peak
over the tiny crater of the domestic vol
cano, arranging and distributing, With
what silent interest everybody watches her
purse up her lips and gently, but persist
emily, blow upon the sleeping fire till the
scarlet life of it creeps from the central
spark into every gray and black bit of the
heap, and the hibachi is once more in high
activity!
Then the hands of the ousehold meet
over the kindly warmth, for this is the
only "hearth" of the demicile, and when
the palms and wrists are warm all the
body will be comfortable. There are little
square cushions laid all round the fire box
and upon these we kneel and chat. You
must drop nothing into that sacred center