The is a traditional Japanese heating device. It is a brazier which is either round, cylindrical, or box-shaped, open-topped container, made from or lined with a heatproof material and designed to hold burning charcoal. It is believed date back to the Heian period (794 to 1185). It is filled with incombustible ash, and charcoal sits 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 irons or tongs. were used for heating, not for cooking. It heats by radiation, and is too weak to warm a whole room, often disappointing foreigners who expected such power. Sometimes, people placed a over the to boil water for 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 or suffocation from carbon dioxide from burning charcoal were of lesser concern. Nevertheless, such risks do exist, and proper handling is necessary to avoid accidents. must never be used in airtight rooms such as those in Western buildings. In North America, the term refers to a small cooking stove heated by charcoal (called a in Japanese), or to an iron hot plate (called a in Japanese) used in restaurants. See also Brazier Japanese traditional heating devices: Kamado: a kitchen stove Shichirin: a portable brazier Tabako-bon: a mini brazier to light tobacco in kiseru pipes Kotatsu: a covered table over a brazier Chagama Tetsubin Japanese cuisine References Cooking techniques Japanese pottery Japanese cuisine terms Stoves Portable furniture Japanese home