[HOME] [HISTORY] [FEATURES] [RECIPES] [ACCESSORIES] [HOW TO UNPACK] [REPAIR] [REPLACEMENT/PARTS] [DEALERSHIP] [KAMADO PRICE] [PARTS PRICE] [FREIGHT]

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Archeological Institute, the KAMADO (illustration #1-A) was used in ancient Japan approximately 2000 years or more ago, in the KOFUN Era, to cook rice and boil soybean soup as well as to cook other foods. The base of the apparatus provided heat to the house and used wood as fuel. The artifacts that included the Kamado came from the excavations found at Tama/Tokyo in the 1970’s, when the New Town was developed and constructed. There were 2 basic types of Kamados that existed early-on, the fixed (#1-A, B) and the movable (#2-A, et al), examples of which are displayed in the Institute’s museum. The more recent fixed type, a favorite, and nick-named “OKUDO-SAN” (#1-B) in the Kansai area of Western Japan, was found in many Kyoto and Nara homes.

You can still see this type of KAMADO pictured in old Japanese paintings and books. Usually those ancient houses with thatched roofs (MINKA style house with KAYABUKI roofs) were equipped with the double KAMADO, the familiar OKUDO-SAN.

The first KAMADO was made of the same native clay/soil and was identical to the raw material used to build the walls of the house, except that for the Kamado, materials such as pieces of broken bricks and roof tiles were added to give strength against heat.

The movable type OKI-KAMADO (#2-A) was the more useful and convenient of the 2 general types, made very compact and portable, with removable parts, all made of pottery. Designed primarily for out-door cooking, the first ones began in the NARA-HEIAN Era, perhaps 1300 years ago and were found mostly in Eastern Japan. We believe that the OKI-KAMADO is a prime ancestor of our IMPERIAL KAMADO. This ancient earthenware cooker is flat in shape, and has a food container also made of pottery that nests neatly over the heat source. (HAGAMA #3-A). Being built with a wider supporting ledge around the middle of the bowl allowed various sized containers to be used. The metal rice cooker, OKAMA ( #3-B) came after HAGAMA.

When made of metal, these cooker-steamers, primarily used to prepare rice, are still known as OKAMA and even today are in wide use, sporting the traditional heavy wooden lid(#3-B). The shape of the KAMADO varied according to locality. The IMPERIAL KAMADO followed the most popular and heat-efficient oval shape, the flatter shape being chosen if the apparatus was to be used only to cook rice.(MUSHI-KAMADO #2-C). There were cooking-style changes that influenced the shape and workings of the modern IMPERIAL KAMADO. The first Kamado color was always black as a result of kiln-drying and firing to a natural finish (SUYAKI Color). [Off the subject but as an aside to those who would like prepare rice like in old times, cooking rice in a cooker-steamer (MUSHI-KAMADO) is simple even with an open fire. When the water containing the raw rice comes to a boil, the heavy wooden lid will start popping up. The fire is then smothered by covering the draft area. The rice is then allowed to steam for about 30 minutes covering the OKAMA with the KAMADO lid. Time adjustments are easily learned by experience, with practice making perfect. A taste-treat is to sample cooked rice made in a MUSHI-KAMADO (“mushi” means to steam)]

Along with the companion KAMADO, there were other implements used in the Japanese home for cooking & heating. We include discussion of these for the Japanophile.

You can save your glowing but unspent firewood (MAKI) for later use by covering them　with cold-ash. Also glowing pieces can be stored safely in a special container (KESHI-TSUBO #6) made of pottery, and will re-fire quickly on your next use.

Especially, they are ideal as smokeless fuel when used in that ceramic brazier (HIBACHI #5-B)that decorates and heats the family and living room area. Needing open air is the square fire place (IRORI #4-A) that although is smoky, promotes a festive atmosphere. Here all kinds of group cooking is possible, like heating Japanese rice wine (SAKE), broiling fish, preparing hot water for tea, roasting vegetable and chicken, etc. The IRORI pit was the equivalent of a Japanese dining table. It was ideal for family-members and close friends to gather around, seated not in chairs but on the wooden floor or straw mats (TATAMI). With modernization the firewood was replaced by smokeless fuel, such as charcoal (SUMI #8) and could be used even a closed room. A metal stand (GOTOKU #7) to place directly over the SUMI and which could hold pots or kettles became a needed accessory.

What became a part of every home’s kitchen and was the most universally used is the cooker called “SHICHIRIN” (#4-B) made of pottery. This all purpose cooking device has a 200-300 years history in Japan and was used in every corner of that nation. Everyone had a SHICHIRIN whether or not they had a KAMADO. Square in shape at first, then made round, the compact size (12 inch diameter) allowed it to be used anywhere. Commercial smokeless fuel (RENTAN #9) or charcoal made for the most inexpensive way to cook. In the open air markets of today you are bound to find many SHICHIRIN in use behind the counters, employed in cooking a meal or simply to warm one’s hands. These are still sold in local markets in Japan even though kerosene, electric and butane grills are now available.

To be comprehensive about heating devices the heavy iron kettle (TETSUBIN #10) is included. This is mainly used together with the HIBACHI. Because of its artistic character and elegance (it was usually made of very thick iron) , it became a kind of ornament with the HIBACHI and also served as a radiant heat source for the family and the living room area. It was also a source of hot water for making tea throughout the day.

One will occasionally encounter a wooden rectangular copper-lined cabinet in the US because many Americans brought these decorative pieces home from Japan. Like fine furniture made of solid native hardwoods these pieces were often not just utilitarian but were in reality works of art. These were NAGA-HIBACHI #5-A and in Japan were filled with ash, often had miniature drawers, copper insulating the wood from the hot charcoal. More common are the round ceramic braziers (HIBACHI #5-B). With both types of HIBACHI one should fill them with ash (HAI) for 2/3 the depth to safely handle live SUMI. The best ash is from a combination of burned straw (WARA) and select hard-wood. There is nothing that compares with the conviviality of sitting with a good friend beside a beautiful HIBACHI, making small talk while toasting laver (NORI), or grilling rice cakes (MOCHI), pieces of chicken (YAKI-TORI) or cod roe (TARA-KO). Even small pieces of bread on a grid over the GOTOKU will enhance the atmosphere.

The closest relative to the present-day IMPERIAL KAMADO is the “Semi-Modern MUSHI-KAMADO” (#2-D). Our product shares many features with this proven version, while incorporating improvements in safety & convenience. Both have similar shapes & the same general construction. Distances from heat source to the food, which are critical, have been meticulously reproduced. Both are made from the same raw material, i.e. earthenware that insulates & in thermos-like fashion does not transmit heat to the outside. (One may safely touch the outside of the IMPERIAL KAMADO, a feature not possible with many other imitation products). We feel there is no need for any other change to be made, and stand by our product, as is.

We are repeating that IMPERIAL KAMADO is not just another barbecue, but is a time tested & proven winner. TASTING IS BELIEVING!

Shown is one of the SHOYA houses, probably with a 350 year history,. its roof made of thatches (KAYA) and called a KAYABUKI-YANE. These houses still exist in the country side throughout Japan.

Until 60 years ago, these roofs were most inexpensive because the materials came from the farmer’s land and laying of the roof was done communally and without charge by neighborhood volunteers. Nowadays, however, it is the most expensive roof to build in Japan due to the shortage of appropriate thatches and high labor charges imposed by roofers skilled for this special-type roof.

Double KAMADOs were usually found in these well-equipped SHOYA houses. The very wealthy might even have an array of KAMADOs to prepare their feasts. In the food preparation area shown above one can see 7 KAMADOs set in a round stage. This house was & still is an example of the house of the wealthiest land-owner of the village (a SHOYA house). It is still intact in the city of Nara, its furnishings and multiple KAMADO rejuvenated and preserved in active form by the current owner. (These pictures were taken by Mr. Masahiro Sano, age 76, a famous professional photographer, specializing for more than 30 years in the photo-documentation of MINKA-style houses.)

Please visit Mr. Sano's home page, http://www.daccs.co.jp/minka/ for more photos & stories of MINKA (English version available)

Historical & Recent aspects of a Unique Product:

The traditional style of slow cooking with low heat using the earthenware KAMADO originated in ancient times, and has been embraced and enjoyed by the Japanese for many centuries. Handcrafted and preserved over generations, the kiln dry process of producing the cookers has remained relatively unchanged. From humble beginnings has come a superior smoker/cooker…the only, the original, the IMPERIAL KAMADO.

The semi-modern MUSHI-KAMADO (illustration #2-D) is accepted to be the immediate predecessor of our modern creation. Its production started about 100 years ago in MIKAWA-Hekinan. (Aichi prefecture,　Japan) That area was already famous for the production of traditional Japanese roof-tiles & large(15”x36”) earthenware pipes useful for drainage of water (DOKAN). It was Hekinan that also mass-produced the ‘every-man’s cooking unit’, the SHICHIRIN (#4-A,B).

They first made OKUDO-SAN (#1-B) from clay, then built kilns from the same material large enough to produce 20 sets of MUSHI-KAMADO at a time.

Click here if you want to see heirloom photos of old-time production.

With modernization & volume production, the fuel for these kilns changed from wood to coal to oil to gas. Quality & standardization improved when modern automation systems to control heat adjustment were introduced. Up to 100 sets of #5 KAMADOs at a time could be kiln-treated by 1995, whereas this was not the case when we first started exporting in 1973, since coal was our fuel source then.

The most important key to the efficiency of the KAMADO was the raw material uniquely native to Mikawa-Hekinan. The local clay was a most valuable asset, with pottery made from it becoming KINUURAYAKI works of art. It is difficult to find easily accessible clay of the same quality elsewhere in the Orient. When we were forced to give up our production location it became a difficult search to find equivalent raw material.

We began a multi-country search which took 6 months of heartache and experimentation, finally locating a small area in China which fit our specifications. With quality raw material to work with, we now concentrated on assuring technical skills so as to maintain our standards.

We are most fortunate. There was no need to compromise our KAMADO even though produced outside of its country of origin. Chinese craftsmen have long been producing large size bowls of similar dimensions, or even larger vases, water pots and other products of clay. To our amazement we found artisans who could hand-craft a large size #5 KAMADO free-hand and without molds! This had not been seen before by the company’s researchers.

But even with the desired specifications of raw material & technical skill in hand, we repeated our quality-assurance testing before we made our final decision to locate our production outside of Japan.

We have not regretted our decision, nor do we now complain about the 3-year time-gap and lack of product supply that the search and move caused. Our customers (uniformly now our friends & fans), have applauded our efforts not to settle for less than the best. We stand by our KAMADO and what it represents, truly a labor of love for more than half a century.