hibachi

thumb|A porcelain thumb|North American "hibachi" cast iron grill

The is a traditional Japanese heating device. It is a brazier which is a round, cylindrical, or box-shaped, open-topped container, made from or lined with a heatproof material and designed to hold burning charcoal. It is believed dates back to the Heian period (794 to 1185). They are filled with incombustible ash with charcoal sitting in the center of the ash. To handle the charcoal, a pair of metal chopsticks called is used, in a way similar to Western fire irons or tongs. were originally used for heating, not for cooking. It heats by radiation, and is too weak to warm a whole room. Sometimes, people placed a over the to boil water for tea. Later, by the 1900s, some cooking was also done over the .