How did himuros operate for storing and transporting ice in Heian Japan?
Upvote:1
Sorry, not a Japanese reference but there is a very interesting movie about ice in old Korean (Joseon) called "The Grand Heist". There are many places online to watch it.
Upvote:13
Based on the scant information I'm finding in English and online, a proper answer to this might be difficult even with some serious library research.
Here is a brief mention from the book Vanishing Japan: Traditions, Crafts & Culture by Elizabeth Kiritani, which unfortunately includes no footnotes:
Ice made from water that was naturally frozen in the middle of winter [was] carefully preserved through the hot months of summer in Heian Period storehouses called himuro. Up to two-thirds of the ice would melt before the end of summer, leaving a precious third for the enjoyment of the court people.
From the book Daily Life in Japan at the time of the Samurai, 1185–1603:
Ice was kept in the mountains where it was collected in the winter and stored in huts sunk into the earth (himuro). In summer it was sold at a high price to the noble families who liked to regale themselves with sorbets made with crushed ice and flavoured with herbs.
The footnote on this points to p. 147 of the 1964 edition of Morris's The World of the Shining Prince, but that may be incorrect as I'm not seeing anything about ice there, or anywhere else in that book.
The following is from a footnote from the book Enduring Identities: The Guise of Shinto in Contemporary Japan by John K. Nelson:
The lecturer, Edani Hiroshi of the Heian Museum in Kyoto... stated flatly that the Kamo people were in charge of making ice for the imperial household. They did this by digging chambers in the earth: large stone-lined pits (himuro) where ice could be stored through the hot summer months. [...] Once the practice became established in Yamato-Japan, there was even a court department regulating himuro production, recounted in the Engi shiki as having occurred during the reign of Nintoku (313 c.e.).
(You can search a translation of the Engishiki here but I've not found relevant information there so far.)
Note that this long predates the period you are asking about. The other references I am finding so far are for the much later Edo period and after. Here is an interesting blog post with photos of an annual ritual that is still practiced today but date to the Edo period. The Himuro Koya (Ice House Cottage) used for this ritual is still made of thatch.
More post
- 📝 Why was King Leopold III so hated in Belgium after the Second World War?
- 📝 Why did the Federalist Party collapse?
- 📝 Was prostitution legal in the Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Solomon?
- 📝 Did either of the World Wars involve South or Central America?
- 📝 Who sold this book in London in the 1930s?
- 📝 Would newspapers in 1890 London have printing presses in their offices?
- 📝 How did smaller feudal vassal realms survive a war or raid?
- 📝 Where can I find fully translated letters from János Bolyai and Farkas Bolyai?
- 📝 Why did the Soviet Union name their strongest bomb Tsar Bomba?
- 📝 What percentage of modern day Turks are of Bulgarian/Circassian/Greek/Serbian descent?
- 📝 Did Zoroastrianism influence some Ancient Greek Philosophers?
- 📝 Mountain flags from Batman Begins
- 📝 How secret was the US and British involvement in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état?
- 📝 How much did a sword cost in AD 1000 Constantinople?
- 📝 Crown Matrimonial
- 📝 Why didn't Romans conquer/explore the African Atlantic Coast?
- 📝 What mining feature is this?
- 📝 What was the reason the Maronites lobbied for a state of Greater Lebanon?
- 📝 Why did emperors of India and China have so many mistresses?
- 📝 How do you estimate world population of 1000 years ago?
- 📝 Was Islam spread by sword during Muslim conquest?
- 📝 Where is Hermodontus?
- 📝 Were the English behind the creation of Belgium?
- 📝 When is the first time any variation of the name Misraim is used to refer to Egypt?
- 📝 Was the "drowning man prays to God, but ignores the boats God sends" joke/tale known in Ancient Roman times?
- 📝 If Nietzsche was against anti-semitism, how did he become an inspiration to Hitler?
- 📝 What is the basis for the claims that the word "Israel" means "Exiled for their sins"?
- 📝 Were women directly involved in national state affairs in Indian kingdoms?
- 📝 Why did the German army execute so few soldiers in World War I compared to most other armies?
- 📝 What did this WWII combat medic insignia represent?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How did himuros operate for storing and transporting ice in Heian Japan?
- 📝 How long did it take for a diplomat to travel between Berlin and Vienna in the 1770's?
- 📝 When and how did the West lose its dependency on the USSR for Titanium?
- 📝 Where and how did the allies scrounge enough food for the Soviets AND the British?
- 📝 How difficult was Muraviev's amassing of troops for the forcing of the Treaty of Aigun, and what effects on development did it have?
- 📝 During and right after the French Revolution, how did France maintain and operate such a big army all over Europe?
- 📝 How did the Soviet Union officially justify the need for foreign travel and emigration restrictions?
- 📝 How was Pre-Samurai Japan structured ? What part did solders and warriors play in the yayoi culture and how did the Yamato state wage war ?
- 📝 When and how did steel supplant iron for artillery?
- 📝 How did Americans adopt processed and off-site butchered meat for domestic consumption in their food supply?
- 📝 Before WW2, how did Japan pay for imported US oil?
- 📝 Does city-specific economic data for the pre-WW2 decades exist for Japan and Germany? How do I find out?
- 📝 How did AIDS generate losses? And what are the methods to compensate for them?
- 📝 How and when did the word "nuclear" replace the word "atomic"?
- 📝 How did the USSR manage to innovate in an environment characterized by government censorship and high bureaucracy?
- 📝 When and how did the USA and the UK become allies?
- 📝 How did German unification affect existing sentences for criminal convicts?
- 📝 When and how did people begin to consider slavery immoral?
- 📝 How did Italy and Germany get rubber in WWII?
- 📝 Did Roman unmarried men have a preferred hand and finger for wearing their seal ring?
- 📝 Transatlantic Zeppelin trips usually took > 100 hours. How did they stock enough food, and where did they sleep?
- 📝 To what extent did Native American cultures develop metalworking for tools and weapons?
- 📝 How did Nazi Germany produce such an impressive portfolio of officers for WW2?
- 📝 How did cities operate in medieval times?
- 📝 How did people deal with ice on the roads during the horse-and-buggy era?
- 📝 How did the ruling class in the Muslim world react to the discovery and colonization of the Americas?
- 📝 How did medieval manors handle population growth? Was there room for more fields to be ploughed?
- 📝 Why did England consistently adopt red as their primary colour for insignia and uniform?
- 📝 When and how did the Han ethnic group become by far the biggest ethnic group in China?
- 📝 How did Islam and Hinduism thrive together in Medieval India?