Japanese Charcoal-Making on Salt Spring Island

Ever since humankind learned to make fire, charcoal has been in existence. In Wonderwerk Cave, an archaeological site in South Africa, there is clear evidence that ancestors of homo sapiens were using fire almost a million years ago. Later, fire could be transported from one place to the next by carrying charcoal embers. Charcoal is produced by partially burning wood in a process known as “pyrolysis” that eliminates moisture and volatile gasses in the wood and leaves a stable form of carbon. Charcoal was a necessary ingredient for making black powder (gunpowder), invented in China in the 9th century.¹

In old Japan, charcoal was useful domestically as fuel for the open hearth in the kitchen. Artistically, charcoal was used in the tea ceremony. Commercially, it helped fire the pottery kiln. More importantly, to make the razor-sharp, highly durable samurai swords, charcoal was used for smelting copper or iron where an open