pre-industrial distillation technology in Japan

[wombat1138]

ranbiki: steam-distillation apparatus about 50cm tall (the link has a photo which is monochrome but enlargeable). Its introduction is generally credited to the "Dutch learning" category of Western technology, but seems to be more directly related to similar pre-existing processes in mainland Asia; nevertheless, its name does seem to be an adaptation of the European word "alembic".

Technically, it was an extractor topped by an advanced version of a "Moor's head”, in which cooling water surrounds the annular rim. Made of ceramics, and sometimes of copper, it consisted of three chambers. The lowest chamber contained a liquid or broth that was heated with a charcoal fire. The liquid evaporated and rose to the top chamber, where it condensed, moved through a side pipe, and then dripped into a receiving vessel. If the middle chamber was filled with herbs, the steam extracted herbal oils. Until the nineteenth century, such ranbiki could be found in pharmacies, in the houses of physicians, and in the homes of well-to-do families.

Its usage was largely geared toward obtaining essential oils from medicinal plants, for topical application rather than for ingestion; this particular reference[1] doesn't mention their usage for perfume qua perfume, but of course the same technique could've been applied to flower petals regardless of intended usage.

[1: Wolfgang Michel, Elke Werger-Klein: Drop by Drop - The Introduction of Western Distillation Techniques into Seventeenth-Century Japan. Journal of the Japan Society of Medical History, Vol. 50 (2004), No.4, pp. 463-492]

Michel seems to've written several more papers on the same subject, so those should be good for additional followup.

Addenda: another name for distillation gadgetry is kabuto-kama ("helmet-pot"?), but I'm not certain whether that's merely a functional synonym for ranbiki or specifies a different type of still; also, an article from the NYT Sunday magazine here on the role of perfume in modern Japan.

Comments

[scriva.livejournal.com]

Fasacinating. I think the distillation used for perfume is very closely linked to distillation used for pharmacy. Partly, they even use the same plants, imo.