Kama ()

Kama is an equipment used to heat food materials.

Summary

In general, it refers to metallic devices used to cook rice or boil water, many of which are casted. It has a brim that is set on a kamado (cooking stove), therefore it is called hagama (kama with wing). The lid is made of wood.

Kama is also used to boil water to serve tea in tea ceremonies. In Senke Jissoku (10 craftsmen for House of Sen), there is 'kamashi Seiemon ONISHI'.

Since ancient times, kama has been sanctified and there is some sort of magic when using kama such as kukatachi, yudate, narukama shinji.

There are some words that are also pronounced 'kama' as below and they are thought to have the same origin. Among them '竃' and '罐' have not been designated for daily use in Japan, therefore they are sometimes written as '釜' instead.

窯 kama – an equipment which melts materials and produces a chemical change by heat to make glass and pottery.

kamado
An equipment used to make fire, on which cooking utensils like 'kama' are placed to cook.

罐 kama – boiler of steam locomotives and others
Steam locomotive itself (also including electric and diesel locomotives) is sometimes called kama.

Dish cooked in kama

Kamameshi (rice, meat, and vegetables boiled together in a small kama)

[Original Japanese]