View source for Hibachi

{{short description|Japanese heating device}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
{{for|the Japanese restaurant concept|Teppanyaki}}
{{for|the video game boss with the same name|DoDonPachi}}
{{Expand Japanese|火鉢|date=May 2025}}

[[File:Charcoal brazier,hibachi,katori-city,japan.jpg|thumb|A porcelain {{tlit|ja|hibachi}}]]
[[File:Hibachi style grill.jpg|thumb|North American "hibachi" cast iron grill]]

The {{Nihongo3|'fire bowl'|[[wikt:火鉢|火鉢]]|'''hibachi'''|lead=yes}} is a traditional [[Japan]]ese heating device. It is a [[brazier]] which is a round, cylindrical, or box-shaped, open-topped container, made from or lined with a [[Thermal insulation|heatproof material]] and designed to hold burning [[charcoal]]. It is believed {{tlit|ja|hibachi}} dates back to the [[Heian period]] (794 to 1185).<ref name="Korteman2021">{{Cite web|title='Hibachi' Probably Doesn't Mean What You Think It Does|url=https://www.japanesefoodguide.com/hibachi/|website=Japanese Food Guide|date=5 May 2021 }}</ref> They are filled with incombustible [[ash]] with charcoal sitting in the center of the ash.<ref name="Dresser1882">{{Cite book|title=Japan: Its architecture, art, and art manufactures|last=Dresser|first=Christopher|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co.|year=1882|location=London|pages=22–23|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002009493082&view=1up&seq=40&skin=2021&q1=hibachi|language=en|hdl-access=free|hdl=2027/yale.39002009493082?urlappend=%3Bseq=40}}</ref> To handle the charcoal, a pair of metal [[chopsticks]] called {{Nihongo||火箸|hibashi|'fire chopsticks'}} is used, in a way similar to Western [[fire iron]]s or [[tongs]].<ref name="Hough1928" /> {{tlit|ja|Hibachi}} were originally used for heating, not for cooking.<ref name="Hough1928" /> It heats by [[Heat transfer#Radiation|radiation]],<ref name="Tsujimoto1935A">{{Cite journal |last=Tsujimoto<!--辻元--> |first=Kennosuke<!--謙之助--> |year=1935 |script-title=ja:煖房並に台所用熱源と一酸化炭素の害毒と其の對策(其一) |trans-title=Heat sources for heating and kitchen, hazards of carbon monoxide and their prevention |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/seikatsueisei1925/11/1/11_1_25/_pdf/-char/ja |journal=Kaji to Eisei |language=ja |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=27 |doi=10.11468/seikatsueisei1925.11.25 |issn=1883-6615 |doi-access=free |script-journal=ja:家事と衛生}} (bibliographic data: [https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/seikatsueisei1925/11/1/11_1_25/_article/-char/ja])</ref> and is too weak to warm a whole room.<ref name="Dresser1882" /> Sometimes, people placed a {{Nihongo||鉄瓶|[[tetsubin]]|'iron kettle'}} over the {{tlit|ja|hibachi}} to boil water for [[Japanese tea|tea]].<ref name="Hough1928">{{Cite journal|title=Collection of heating and lighting utensils in the United States National Museum|last=Hough|first=Walter|publisher=United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution|year=1928|location=Washington D.C.|pages=83–84|journal=Bulletin of the United States National Museum |volume=141|hdl=2027/uiug.30112032539204?urlappend=%3Bseq=91|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112032539204&view=1up&seq=91&skin=2021|language=en|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Later, by the 1900s, some cooking was also done over the {{tlit|ja|hibachi}}.<ref name="Arnold1904">{{Cite book|title=Japan as seen and described by famous writers|last=Arnold|first=Edwin|publisher=Dodd, Mead and company|year=1904|location=New York|pages=250–256|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044013638895&view=1up&seq=344&skin=2021&q1=hibachi|editor-last=Singleton|editor-first=Esther|language=en|chapter=The Japanese Hearth|hdl-access=free|hdl=2027/hvd.32044013638895?urlappend=%3Bseq=344}}</ref>{{rp|251}}

Traditional Japanese houses were well [[Ventilation (architecture)|ventilated]] (or poorly [[Building insulation|sealed]]), so [[carbon monoxide poisoning]] or suffocation from [[carbon dioxide]] from burning charcoal were of lesser concern.<ref name="Dresser1882" /> Nevertheless, such risks do exist, and proper handling is necessary to avoid accidents.{{r|"Arnold1904"|page=255}}<ref name="Osaka1940">{{Cite journal |author=Osaka City Sanitary Laboratories |year=1940 |script-title=ja:炭火中毒の話 – 一酸化炭素中毒 |trans-title=Charcoal Poisoning Story – Carbon Monoxide Poisoning |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/seikatsueisei1925/16/2/16_2_123/_pdf/-char/ja |journal=Kaji to Eisei |language=ja |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=126–128 |doi=10.11468/seikatsueisei1925.16.2_123 |issn=1883-6615 |doi-access=free |script-journal=ja:家事と衛生}} (bibliographic data: [https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/seikatsueisei1925/16/2/16_2_123/_article/-char/ja])</ref> {{tlit|ja|Hibachi}} must never be used in airtight rooms such as those in Western buildings.{{r|"Osaka1940"|page=129}}

In [[North America]], the term {{tlit|ja|hibachi}} refers to a small [[Portable stove|cooking stove]] heated by charcoal (called a {{tlit|ja|[[shichirin]]}} in Japanese),<ref name="Korteman2021" /> or to an iron [[hot plate]] (called a {{tlit|ja|teppan}} in Japanese) used in {{tlit|ja|[[teppanyaki]]}} restaurants.<ref name="Korteman2021" />

<gallery>
File:Japanese Edo Hibachi.JPG|Primitive {{tlit|ja|hibachi}} from before the [[Edo period]] (1600–1868) ([[Fukagawa, Tokyo|Fukagawa]] Edo Museum)
File:The real hibachi.jpg|A traditional charcoal {{tlit|ja|hibachi}}, 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 {{tlit|ja|hibachi}}
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Brazier]]
* Japanese traditional heating devices:
** {{tlit|ja|[[Kamado]]}}: a kitchen stove
** {{tlit|ja|[[Shichirin]]}}: a portable brazier
** {{tlit|ja|[[Tabako-bon]]}}: a mini brazier to light tobacco in {{tlit|ja|kiseru}} pipes
** {{tlit|ja|[[Kotatsu]]}}: a covered table over a brazier
** {{section link|Japanese tea utensils|Hearths}}
*** {{tlit|ja|[[Chagama]]}}
*** {{tlit|ja|[[Tetsubin]]}}
* [[Japanese cuisine]]

==References==
{{reflist}}{{Barbecue}}
[[Category:Cooking techniques]]
[[Category:Japanese pottery]]
[[Category:Japanese cuisine terms]]
[[Category:Stoves]]
[[Category:Portable furniture]]
[[Category:Japanese home]]

{{Japan-culture-stub}}