【Reading】こおりしきれいぞうこ

【English Name】Icebox

An ice-cooled refrigerator (hyoshiki reizoko) is a cooling device with a two-tiered wooden structure. When ice is placed in the upper section, the principle by which cold air naturally descends allows food placed in the lower section to be cooled. It is also known by alternative names such as "reizo-bako" (cold-storage box), "kori-bako" (ice box), and "mokusei reizoko" (wooden refrigerator).

Between the outer and inner walls, charcoal or felt was packed in, an ingenious device to enhance insulation. Metal plates such as tin lined the inner wall surface. The ice used for cooling had to be bought from an ice dealer, and an environment where ice could be made at home was only achieved after electric refrigerators came onto the market.

In Japan, those who actually used this device were mainly merchant houses and restaurants, and it is said that there was almost no penetration into ordinary households. It was only from the Showa 30s (around 1955 onward) that electric refrigerators began to spread into homes, and before that, ice-based refrigeration was an indispensable means of storing fresh fish.

Noteworthy in relation to sushi is the fact that wooden refrigerators for sushi restaurants continue to be manufactured and distributed even today. Even in the modern era, when electric types have become the norm, they live on in the world of chefs as traditional tools of the trade.