Stove Day

What Is Stove Day?

November 25th is "Stove Day" in Japan. On this day in 1856, in Hakodate, Hokkaido, what is regarded as Japan's first domestically made Western-style stove was completed and lit for the first time. With winter approaching and heaters coming back into use, it is a fitting day to mark.

Copying a Stove from a British Ship

In Hakodate, a port only recently opened to foreign ships, getting through the harsh northern winter was a pressing problem for local officials. The Hakodate Magistrate's Office turned its attention to a stove aboard a British ship anchored in the harbor and set out to copy its design and build one in Japan.

• Origin of the date: A domestically made Western-style stove was first lit on November 25, 1856
• The sketch: Official Nashimoto Yagoro and Takeda Ayasaburo, who later designed the Goryokaku fort, boarded the British ship to sketch the real stove
• The maker: A Hakodate metal caster named Genkichi is said to have built the stoves from those sketches
• Purpose: To help officials of the Magistrate's Office endure Hakodate's cold winters

Japan's First Stove, with a Link to Goryokaku

Six stoves are said to have been made at the time. Takeda Ayasaburo, who helped with the sketches, is known as the designer of Goryokaku, the star-shaped Western-style fort in Hakodate. Learning Western technology directly from a real object and then building it by hand is a story typical of a newly opened port at the end of the Edo period.

Tips for Marking This Day

• Check the stoves and heaters at work or at home before winter sets in
• Make sure nothing flammable is placed near your heater
• Read about the history of Hakodate's port and Goryokaku
• Review your heating settings and think about easy ways to save energy

A Warming Technology That Began with a Sketch

The stoves we take for granted today began with officials copying one from a foreign ship. November 25th is a day to check your heaters and think about the ingenuity of the people who faced the cold before us.