Japanese kitchen

Early stoves were nothing more than a shallow pit (jishōro 地床炉),[1] but they were soon surrounded by stones to catch the fire sparks.

In the Yayoi period (300 BC to AD 250) the cultivation of rice became widespread, and villages would be constructed near a marsh and a lowland.

An asaido was filled with sand and pebbles through which the water flowed to filter out mud and larger organisms.

Kitchens were furnished with the following items: In the Heian period (794–1185), the first usage of the precursor to "daidokoro", or pantry, was recorded.

In the larger kitchens, especially those of palaces and temples, raised kamado that could be operated while standing up were developed in the Edo period (1603–1867).

Foods were reheated or cooked over in an iron pot hung from a hook and the fire served as a heat source.

This type of stove became common in many homes by the early Nara period and a smaller irori is the center piece of a tea house.

An asaido was filled with sand and pebbles through which the water flowed to filter out mud and larger organisms.

Wooden or bamboo shafts were used to carry water from nearby wells and springs to a fune, or it was manually filled by women.

The first time that a sink appeared in a drawing was in the Bokie (慕帰絵) written in the early Muromachi period.

Few Japanese ate meat due to the Emperor's decree in the 8th century and animals and birds were slaughtered away from a house.

Shoin-zukuri became the standard style of building a house beginning in the 13th century and it was revolutionary for combining fire (stove) and water (well and drain) into a single place.

The country house of Tokugawa Mitsukuni, known as a gourmet of Edo period, had kitchen spaces at least 34 jyou or about 53 square metres.

These are Japanese style chests, often with a mix of compartments behind sliding doors and drawers of varying sizes.

An American scientist, Edward S. Morse, recorded many of the kitchens in urban and rural areas in the early Meiji period (1868–1912).

Though it was costly to lay down infrastructures, these were dutifully laid down, with heavy subsidization by semi-private and national companies.

Gas companies realized this, and early appliances were directly imported from England which made them too costly for all but the richest citizens.

In Nihonkatei daihyakkajiten (literally Encyclopedia of Japanese Household) published in 1927, there is already an entry of "katei denka" meaning a completely electric house.

In 1912, a progressive woman's magazine Fujin no tomo (婦人の友) ran a contest for a heiminteki risouno daidokoro (平民的理想の台所), or "ordinary people's sophisticated kitchen."

It had a wooden floor, roughly one-fourth of which included underfloor food storage lined with concrete.

Next to this sink were storage shelves with pots and pans on top, washed dishes in the middle, and vegetables and miso on the bottom.

Next to the portable stove was a large food preparation table, with several drawers to store cooking utensils.

Next to these shelves was another preparation table where foods were served onto individual dishes and then carried to the dining room.

This "dream kitchen" was spacious by today's standards, yet it lacked most modern post-industrial conveniences, although many smaller improvements had been made.

Its main focus was on universal suffrage for males, and this movement extended into other fields, serving as a modernization effort similar to the Meiji Restoration.

This was due to long preparation and cooking times and helped keep the stove low to prevent the spread of fire.

Many of its parts were prefabricated, and it could be made to fit in a space anywhere from 1.8 to 2.7 metres, the length of one to one-and-one-half tatami mats.

The System Kitchen had a water sink, a cutting board, two or more gas stoves (not included), and cabinets for storage.

Sometimes architects simply copied plans for American or European housing projects, with only minor modifications to better suit Japanese families.

A typical modern Japanese kitchen includes the following: Notably absent are large ovens and dishwashers.