also: へっつい
kamado; traditional Japanese cook stove
A traditional wood or charcoal-fueled stove, often built into the kitchen floor. Now mostly historical or rural, but the term is still used in cultural contexts.
Metonymic use: the stove as the center of the home, referring to the household or family unit. Often used in expressions like かまどを分ける (to set up a separate household).
My grandmother's house still has an old kamado stove.
Rice cooked on a kamado is exceptional.
My son got married and set up his own household.
We're like family; we've eaten from the same pot.
竈 is an enclosed traditional cooking stove with a chimney, while 炉 is a more open hearth or fireplace used for warmth as well as cooking.
The word is usually written in kana; kanji forms are rare and may not be recognized by all readers.
Variant kanji; even less common than 竈.
Katakana form sometimes used in technical or stylistic contexts; not a common spelling.
Dialectal or old-fashioned reading; not standard in modern Japanese.
Traditional kanji; rarely used in modern writing.
The origin is uncertain. The reading かまど may be related to 釜 (kama, 'pot') and 所 (to, 'place'), but this is not firmly established. The dialectal reading へっつい is of unclear derivation.