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.
My grandmother's house still has an old kamado stove.
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).
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.