Translation guide
A traditional Japanese architectural feature: a hearth built into the floor, used for heating, cooking, and social gathering. The most common term is 囲炉裏 (irori), but other types exist depending on region and use.
The standard sunken hearth found in old Japanese houses, used for warmth, boiling water, and gathering.
The classic sunken hearth, typically a square pit in the floor of a traditional Japanese room, often with a hanging kettle hook (自在鉤) above it.
祖母の家には大きな囲炉裏があった。
My grandmother's house had a large sunken hearth.
囲炉裏を囲んで家族が集まった。
The family gathered around the sunken hearth.
A smaller, portable or built-in hearth used in the Japanese tea ceremony during colder months.
In the context of tea ceremony, this refers to a sunken hearth cut into the tatami floor, used from November to April. It is smaller than an irori and specifically for heating the kettle.
茶室の炉に炭を入れる。
Put charcoal in the tea room's sunken hearth.
A large hearth used for cooking in old rural houses, sometimes with multiple functions.
While primarily a stove or cooking range, traditional kamado were often built into the floor and could be considered a type of sunken hearth, especially in older farmhouses.
古い農家のかまどは土間に作られていた。
The old farmhouse's cooking hearth was built into the earthen floor.
A dialect word for a traditional cooking stove or hearth, often sunken, used mainly in western Japan.
A central hearth in traditional Ainu houses, with cultural significance.
The Ainu term for the central hearth in a traditional house (cise). It is considered sacred and is used for cooking, heating, and rituals.
アイヌの家の中心にはアペオイがある。
There is a sunken hearth at the center of an Ainu house.
囲炉裏 (irori) is the general term for a traditional sunken hearth in a living space, while 炉 (ro) specifically refers to the hearth used in tea ceremony. Using 囲炉裏 for a tea room hearth would be incorrect.
茶室には炉を切る。
We cut a sunken hearth in the tea room.
祖母はへっついでご飯を炊いていた。
My grandmother cooked rice on the old sunken stove.