Muguruma Family Furnace Hut
- Period:
End of the 1800s (Mid-Meiji Period)
- Former Location:
Minato, Higashikagawa, Kagawa Prefecture
- Designation:
Nationally Registered Important Tangible Folk Cultural Asset
Turning Honed Craft Skill into Refined Sugar
The cane juiced pressed in sato-shime huts was boiled in these three pots, or kama, to make shiroshitato, or unrefined sugar, then further refined into white sugar. This process led to one of the Sanuki region’s specialties, wasanbon sugar.
Boiling
Arakama (rough pot) boiling helps to clarify and smooth the cane juice, then impurities are removed in cooling tanks. The juice is further concentrated and refined in chukama (medium) and agekama (finishing) pots. The work was all done by the highly trained skills of artisans, without the aid of thermometers or hydrometers to measure sugar content.