Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
(82) Candle-making.
Thecharcoalheaterwasmainlyusefulasasourceofradiantheatforwarmingthehands
andface.Forwarmingthebody,theheatwasconcentratedina
kotatsu;
thiswasacharcoal
heater with a framework rather like a table placed over it, and then this was covered with a
quiltlargeenoughtospreadoverthelegsofthosewhosatatit,sothathotairfounditsway
up through the clothing, and the hands could be put underneath the quilt to warm them as
necessary. It was also possible to sleep at a
kotatsu
(
83
)
.
It was usual to start up the
kotatsu
on the first day of the boar (i.e. the twelfth) of the tenth month. For applying local heat,
live coals could be placed in a special container, and placed in the bosom of one's
kimono.
For the house as a whole the kitchen fire was a more effective temperature-raiser, but its
influence did not extend very far into other parts of the house. The chief weapon against
the cold was winter clothing, in which silk or cotton floss was used as a lining.
Insummer,lightclothing,typicallyofcotton,wasworn,andfans,eitherfoldingorflat,
were used to direct cooling currents of air where they were likely to be most appreciated.
Workmen could strip off to the loincloth, or at least free the top half of their bodies from
their clothing and tuck it into their girdles. Another hazard of summer were the mosqui-
toes that bred in the innumerable puddles and pools that lay everywhere in the wet Japan-
ese summer. Some protection was afforded by mosquito-nets, which were made of almost
transparent netting of cotton, silk, or hemp; the largest would cover a whole room, and its
shape, and that of those intended to cover a sleeper on his mattress, was of a bottomless
rectangular prism, which was suspended from rings on its corners by strings to hooks on
ceilings or walls. The air breathed under such a net was naturally more oppressive than
