Opening of the sunken hearth

This weekend, I went to Sogi park to view the illuminated autumn trees, where is the same place I went the last year. The red and orange maple foliage was wonderful! Now it’s the best season to enjoy the autumn leaves in Japan.


Now in November, we started to use a sunken hearth instead of a brazier at the tea lessons. In the summer time, the concave space for the sunken hearth is hidden under a tatami mat. This year, our master showed us opening the hearth.

A hook for tatami and the black wooden flame for sunken hearth


Use the hook to take out the tatami mat



There are wooden panels under the mat



Take out the panels, and the concave space appears



Put the black wooden flame
Formally you put ash in the bottom of the space, but the ash is not there in this picture