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The hibachi ( 火鉢 , 'fire bowl') is a traditional Japanese heating device. It is a brazier 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. It is believed hibachi dates back to the Heian period (794 to 1185). [1] They are filled with incombustible ash with charcoal sitting in the center of the ash. [2] To handle the charcoal, a pair of metal chopsticks called hibashi (火箸; 'fire chopsticks') is used, in a way similar to Western fire irons or tongs. [3] Hibachi were originally used for heating, not for cooking. [3] It heats by radiation, [4] and is too weak to warm a whole room. [2] Sometimes, people placed a tetsubin (鉄瓶; 'iron kettle') over the hibachi to boil water for tea. [3] Later, by the 1900s, some cooking was also done over the hibachi. [5] : 251
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. [2] Nevertheless, such risks do exist, and proper handling is necessary to avoid accidents. [5] : 255 [6] Hibachi must never be used in airtight rooms such as those in Western buildings. [6] : 129
In North America, the term hibachi refers to a small cooking stove heated by charcoal (called a shichirin in Japanese), [1] or to an iron hot plate (called a teppan in Japanese) used in teppanyaki restaurants. [1]
A traditional charcoal hibachi, made c. 1880–1900
House of the Edo period (Fukagawa Edo Museum)
Two women and a man warming themselves by a hibachi
