also: べんこ
In old-style pit toilets, waste was collected in a night-soil vault.
Farmers sometimes used the contents of the night-soil pot as fertilizer.
Standard kanji spelling for the reading べんつぼ.
Alternate reading べんこ; less common than べんつぼ.
Compound of 便 (ben, 'excrement') and 壺 (tsubo, 'pot, jar'). The reading べんこ is a variant with the older reading こ for 壺.