| A portable
brazier used in the spring and summer seasons when the hearth or fire-box
*ro 炉, is closed, or when
the tea ceremony is performed in a room where there is no fixed hearth.
Furo have a variety of shapes and the earliest ones were made of
bronze but later iron and clay braziers became common. The unglazed clay
brazier coated with black lacquer was preferred for formal use. It was placed
on a lacquered board *ko-ita
小板, to prevent heat damage. The iron type was set on a paving tile sengawara
専瓦. On the edge of a brazier a fire window or cut-out opening provided the
necessary draft to keep the charcoal burning properly. A bed of ashes was
laid inside the brazier and the charcoal placed on top was lighted. The
kettle was then set directly on the bronze or iron brazier, but a trivet
was used for a clay brazier. Kettles for portable ranges were slightly smaller
than those used for fixed hearths. Semi-formed tea ceremony sometimes used
a Chinese copper blazier karakane furo 唐銅風炉. |
