Sunken Hearth at Teahouse
(Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan)
The Amazake-chaya Teahouse has retained its charm dating back to the early 1600s. The entrance still has the hard earthen floor where wooden tables and chairs are made available for guests.
Farther back are the more traditional woven straw tatami mats where guests sit on the mats and enjoy their drinks and food on knee-high tables.
The centerpiece of the interior is the irori (open sunken hearth), which has a unique figure-8 shape (typical irori are square or rectangular) surrounded by beautiful hardwood flooring.
In this shot, you can also see the jizaikagi—a contraption that includes a pothook attached to a rope that runs through a bamboo pole and extends up to the ceiling timber directly over the irori. The height of the pothook can be changed to adjust the temperature of the food or liquid in the pot.
Irori were common in the main living room of traditional Japanese homes where wood, charcoal, or even coal was burned. Upper-class homes would have had an additional irori in the tea ceremony room where smokeless charcoal was used.
Irori also provided homes with some lighting at night, heat for the main room, and could be used to dry wet laundry, cook food, boil water, and to dry fish and fruit.
Smoke from the irori, specifically the tar in the smoke, was also an essential component for preserving the structural integrity of thatched-roof buildings. While the heat from the irori drew moisture from the building’s timbers and thatched roof to prevent rot and mold, the tar from the smoke would coat and permeate the wooden beams and underside of the thatched roof helping to further prevent mold and rot, and was especially effective at repelling pests, and added an extra layer of waterproofing against rain and snow.
Fujifilm X100V (23 mm) with 5% diffusion filter
ISO 3200 for 1/4 sec. at ƒ/2.0
Astia/Soft film simulation
