火鉢と炬燵

日本住宅は、湿度の高い夏の通風に適していて、冬になると障子、ガラス戸を通してすきま風が冷たく、限られた暖房にいつも寒々としてました。炭火の火鉢に手をかざしてあぶり、背中は綿入れを来て寒さに耐えました。火鉢は普通回りに三人か四人囲める大きさの大きな陶器の鉢で、灰で満たし、真ん中に赤くなった炭を置いたもので、しばしばその上に五徳（ごとく）と云って、鉄の枠を置いて、やかんを載せて、いつもお茶を入れるのに適した熱湯をチンチンとわかしてあって、部屋の暖房に僅か乍ら助けにしました。炬燵（こたつ）は、火鉢に覆いをしたようなもので、櫓（やぐら）と云って60cm位の木の枠の中に小さな火鉢を入れて、上にふとんをかぶせ，こうして、手だけでなく、膝から胴の前面を暖める仕掛けです。布団を肩迄掛けるともっと暖かいもので、引っ張ると反対の方に坐ってる人は残るふとんが僅かになって、手先を暖める位で、きょうだいで争い合うことが屢々ありました。上の平面には、足のないお膳を載せて、食べ物を食べたり、書き物をしました。大船の家では、「掘りごたつ」で、畳半畳をはがすと、縁の下が木造の箱で、底は桟（さん）、その下に炭火をいれて、上にはお膳のような枠を載せて布団をかけるのです。「置きごたつ」でしたら膝を折って坐るのですが、「掘りごたつ」では、足を下に下ろして、椅子に坐る具合でずっと暖かいです。それでも背中はいつもひやりとしてました。

The traditional Japanese house is designed for the natural ventilation during the humid summer, and, so, in wintertime the draft coming through the shoji screens and glazed sliding doors was very cold, and with the limited heating we were never free of the winter chill.  We persevered with a padded jacket on our back and the hands over the red charcoal in the hibachi.  This was a large ceramic urn of the size that accommodated two to four persons around it, filled with charcoal ash on top of which was placed burning charcoal; often a trivet was placed over it for a tea kettle that supplied hot water for tea at all times and at the same time added a bit more heat to the room.  Kotatsu was essentially a hibachi inside a wooden frame about two feet square and covered with a quilted bedding, designed to keep the hands and the front part of the lower torso warm.  It is warmer if we pulled up the bedding to cover the shoulders but, then, the person sitting on the opposite side will have only an edge of the cover just enough to warm her fingers; this often resulted in a struggle between siblings.  On its flat top surface we would place a legless table, which permitted us to eat and write without leaving the kotatsu.  In our house at Ofuna, we had a sunken kotatsu.  Under the half-size tatami, which could be removed, a wooden box is built, the bottom of which was a wooden grill, under which was placed a small urn with charcoal, fitted with a wooden frame above the floor level, again covered with a bedding.  This kept us warmer than the floor-top kotatsu.  It allowed us to sit as on a chair with our feet in the pit and kept us a bit warmer.  Still, our back was always cold.