From the middle years of the Meiji era (1868-1912)on,
Japanese technicians developed many new types of
salt-boilillg apparatus derived from European models.
These soon replaced the older stone-kettle forms
in Inland Sea salt-making districts; by 1920, the
use of open iron pans and boiling vats had become
universal.
These were generally square, shallow vessels, known
to the trade as hiragama, or, "flat-kettles". They
were heated over coal fires, and the resulting smoke
could be used to warm the salt-concentrate solution
prior to final boiling.
Hiragama salt-boiling system
Salt-boiling in a flat kettle(ca.1935)
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