和蝋燭, Japanese candle making

[greeknakos]

Greetings,

I've been contacted by a Laurel friend about researching Japanese candles, they're a candle nerd. I've found some initial information about warosoku being made from sumac/haze wax with a wick of hollowed tubes of washi paper. I found an image from 1800 on the NDL but was hoping someone had more information and possibly a bibliography of the information so that I might be able to pass it on.

ありがとうございました
Nakos

[Deleted]

Sept 24, 2015 23:10:07 GMT -5 greeknakos said:

I've been contacted by a Laurel friend about researching Japanese candles, they're a candle nerd. I've found some initial information about warosoku being made from sumac/haze wax with a wick of hollowed tubes of washi paper. I found an image from 1800 on the NDL but was hoping someone had more information and possibly a bibliography of the information so that I might be able to pass it on.

There is some information on candlesticks and candles in Koizumi's furniture book.
Koizumi, Kazuko
Traditional Japanese Furniture; A Definitive Guide
Tokyo and New York
Kodansha International
1989 (1986)
Also in Morse's notebook.
Morse, Edward S.
Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings
New York, NY (Boston, MA)
Dover Publications, Inc. (Ticknor and Company)
1961 (1886)
But I get the feeling that candles (as we think of them) maybe were not popular in Japan until post-period. Before that, oil lamps (of the 'dish of oil with a wick' type) seem way more popular.

[greeknakos]

I did too, many of the sources I've found said that it was really expensive, like medieval European pepper expensive. But he was interested in information about candles. I think I have the furniture book somewhere.

[Please Delete]

My research into it shows that Ishiyama-dono is correct: We don't have evidence of candles being popular until later, though it looks like they existed, in one form or another, since the Nara period, probably being introduced with Buddhism. Oil lamps were the more popular lighting option.

Here are some websites. They are in Japanese, but if you don't understand Japanese you can use Google Translate and they seem to come across pretty well:
www.kyorousoku.jp/history/

www.candle-torii.com/beeswax/any.html

www.nihon-rosoku.co.jp/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BD%E3%82%AF%E3%81%AE%E6%AD%B4%E5%8F%B2/

(NOTE: Some of the information looks suspiciously familiar, and may be copied from a single source)

Based on what I'm finding, it looks like early candles were beeswax, until it was no longer being imported from China. Local sources appear to have used pine pitch and other plant materials, which is now part of what makes Japanese candles what they are. Given that, I'm wondering if the smell and smokiness might have contributed to them being a less popular option, but I am not sure and would need to do some more research.

-Ii

[greeknakos]

Ii,

Yep, this is very similar to what I've come across, though the Nihon Rosoku is new but the info isn't. I got the same feeling that all the sites were getting their info from the same source but I haven't been able to find that source.

Thank you two for the help.

Nakos

[solveig]

Noble Cousins!

Greetings from Solveig! My recollection of Japanese candles used in the tea ceremony is that unlike Western candles their wicks do not burn down and need to be trimmed periodically. I do not recall them being all that smokey. The Japanese Wikipedia article for 蝋燭 "rōsoku" (candles) claims that they were introduced to Japan from China in 747 CE and appear in『伽藍縁起並流記資材帳』they also link to an article about how Japanese candles use different wicks than the strings used in ordinary candles: www.mahaze.com/tayori_pdf/021.pdf appearing in the December 1, 2007 issue of『松山櫨使り』The wicks of Japanese candles are made from the pith of the stem of the soft rush (Juncus effusus var. decipiens). In the picture in the article, these cores are shown wrapped in Japanese paper. These assemblies are used as the wicks for contemporary Japanese candles. According to the Robert C. Williams Institute of Papermaking, paper was introduced to Japan in about 610 CE by the a Korean monk named Don-cho. Regardless, the article in『松山櫨使り』notes that candles are first mentioned in『大安寺伽藍縁起並流 記資財帳』(Daianji Garan'enginarabiniru Kishizaichou) which dates to 722 CE. The article also claims that the wicks of these very early candles were made from the peeled stems of the hemp plant. (Possible equivalents are other sources of other bast fibers such as flax or jute.) The article claims that at these early times, candles were imported from China. The article claims that domestic production of candles may have begun as late as the Sengoku period (15c-16c) and that a shortage of the raw materials for wicks lead to substituting the stems of the soft rush for the peeled stems of a bast fiber plant. Another article notes that domestic production of candles began during the Muromachi period of which the Sengoku period is a part.

The procedure currently used for producing traditional Japanese candles is illustrated at: www.rousokuya.com/seizou.html

You will notice that the process begins by producing the wicks which in this case appear to have bamboo cores instead of soft rush cores. The candles are then produced using wooden molds instead of dipping.

It may also be possible to substitute a waxy substance made from the nut of the wax tree (species of sumac, Rhus succedanea) for beeswax. 日本植物油協会 (Japan Vegetable Oil Association) claims that this makes superior candles. But, I do not know how far back this substitution dates.