The fashionable sekiyu heater
Jan. 13th, 2010 10:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomusFour years ago, sitting in the same Osaka room I'm in now, I wrote a lament entitled Why are Japanese houses so cold? Then, as now, it was January and I was avoiding a freezing Berlin winter in which temperatures were plunging to minus 15 centigrade or so. Today, as it happens, Osaka may see sub-zero temperatures (well, minus one) and some snow, according to forecasts. That's exceptional, but nothing compared to the chilly grip the rest of the northern hemisphere has been clasped in recently.
This is a good time, then, to talk about a set of particularly cheerful heating devices I've been "collecting" on my travels. The sekiyu sutobu is a kerosene stove-heater with a kettle sitting atop it. It warms the room, and keeps the water for your tea constantly hot.
While Japan, with its warm Pacific winters, may never have needed to deploy Germany's air-tight double-glazing and efficient radiator combo, or Korea's amazing underfloor heating, it's developed a series of stop-gap pinpoint heating solutions, hot patches for the problem posed by its flimsy wood-framed houses. Some are literally hot patches (hokkairo) you stick on your body containing chemicals which, when triggered, glow slowly. Others are weird amalgams of furniture and heating, like the kotatsu table, a combination low table, heater and blanket which keeps your legs warm while a chanchanko, or padded tartan waistcoat, takes care of your upper half.
My favourite Japanese heating solution, though, is the sekiyu stove. With its glowing fire-window, the kerosene heater becomes a portable hearth, a warm focal point for a room. That must be why these heaters are so often deployed (along with folded blankets) in fashionable Japanese cafes, the kind where you leaf through old magazines sitting in comfortable chairs and listening to tasteful jazz or bossa nova music, and surrounded by demure girls in their twenties.
The kerosene heater is one I remember from my youth -- in our cottage in Perthshire we had a blue one, but never balanced hot water on top (I'd imagine toddlers would topple it easily, scalding themselves and setting the house on fire into the bargain). We have both "kerosene culture" and "tea culture" in Scotland, but have never thought to put them together. That part took Japanese genius, or rather some creative borrowing from Chinese culture.
The sekiyu sutobu is basically a development of the older hibachi, a charcoal tray used to heat things. Above you see a couple of hibachi braziers. Like the hibachi, the sekiyu sutobu can be used to heat food as well as just water; sometimes people use them for nabe.
As the photos show, I delight in all the different forms the heaters can take, and how they fit into various Japanese rooms, from the humblest police koban to the trendiest art gallery or cafe. The sekiyu sutobu may seem like a 19th century technology in a 21st century environment, but stealth innovation is hidden within the quaint form of the device; companies like Showa Shell have developed new bio-fuels ("clean kerosene") for them to run on, and electronic ignition systems have made them even cheaper relative to electric heaters (they cost about half as much to run).
The ubiquitous, fashionable sekiyu sutobu heater, old but trendy, cheap but also a "thing of the heart", might just be one of the best symbols of a Japan which feels, well, rather warm about some of the post-materialist values its long, slow recession is bringing.
This is a good time, then, to talk about a set of particularly cheerful heating devices I've been "collecting" on my travels. The sekiyu sutobu is a kerosene stove-heater with a kettle sitting atop it. It warms the room, and keeps the water for your tea constantly hot.
While Japan, with its warm Pacific winters, may never have needed to deploy Germany's air-tight double-glazing and efficient radiator combo, or Korea's amazing underfloor heating, it's developed a series of stop-gap pinpoint heating solutions, hot patches for the problem posed by its flimsy wood-framed houses. Some are literally hot patches (hokkairo) you stick on your body containing chemicals which, when triggered, glow slowly. Others are weird amalgams of furniture and heating, like the kotatsu table, a combination low table, heater and blanket which keeps your legs warm while a chanchanko, or padded tartan waistcoat, takes care of your upper half.
My favourite Japanese heating solution, though, is the sekiyu stove. With its glowing fire-window, the kerosene heater becomes a portable hearth, a warm focal point for a room. That must be why these heaters are so often deployed (along with folded blankets) in fashionable Japanese cafes, the kind where you leaf through old magazines sitting in comfortable chairs and listening to tasteful jazz or bossa nova music, and surrounded by demure girls in their twenties.
The kerosene heater is one I remember from my youth -- in our cottage in Perthshire we had a blue one, but never balanced hot water on top (I'd imagine toddlers would topple it easily, scalding themselves and setting the house on fire into the bargain). We have both "kerosene culture" and "tea culture" in Scotland, but have never thought to put them together. That part took Japanese genius, or rather some creative borrowing from Chinese culture.
The sekiyu sutobu is basically a development of the older hibachi, a charcoal tray used to heat things. Above you see a couple of hibachi braziers. Like the hibachi, the sekiyu sutobu can be used to heat food as well as just water; sometimes people use them for nabe.
As the photos show, I delight in all the different forms the heaters can take, and how they fit into various Japanese rooms, from the humblest police koban to the trendiest art gallery or cafe. The sekiyu sutobu may seem like a 19th century technology in a 21st century environment, but stealth innovation is hidden within the quaint form of the device; companies like Showa Shell have developed new bio-fuels ("clean kerosene") for them to run on, and electronic ignition systems have made them even cheaper relative to electric heaters (they cost about half as much to run).
The ubiquitous, fashionable sekiyu sutobu heater, old but trendy, cheap but also a "thing of the heart", might just be one of the best symbols of a Japan which feels, well, rather warm about some of the post-materialist values its long, slow recession is bringing.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 01:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 05:20 am (UTC)I probably spent 65% of my half year in tokyo right next to that thing, constantly changing the pot of water on top (it also works as an air humidifier!) and being chased around to pay the joint fuel bill
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 05:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 05:34 am (UTC)koreans do it HOTTER
Date: 2010-01-13 06:06 am (UTC)Korean's often use electric heated blankets for their beds... which is amazing for cold weather (or sore tired body)....
they also have a few variations on it.... also common is a bed pad made of small jade stones... which also heats up (but remains cool in the summer), and my favorite....
the stone bed!
"In 2006, Furniture Today reports that JangSoo Industry Co., a Korean bed manufacturer, is entering the market to sell stone beds to US consumers.
While it looks rock-hard, the stone bed is actually one sophisticated furniture with tons of benefits. The mattress is made of quartz, topaz and jade and may be easily heated via the coils under the stone mattress. A heated mattress, as you should be aware, provides therapeutic benefits.
The stone bed is particularly appealing to those who like their mattress firm."
Japan
Date: 2010-01-13 06:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 07:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 03:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 07:45 am (UTC)"these and other quaint manners and customs..."
Date: 2010-01-13 11:15 am (UTC)If the caller is an intimate friend, he is very often invited to enjoy the kotatsu with the host."
from bun nakaima's japanese etiquette 1955
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 03:15 pm (UTC)Biofuel
Date: 2010-01-13 05:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 07:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 08:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-14 11:15 am (UTC)