Japanese Copper Coal-Fired Kettle Thingy (?)

I bought this at the local flea-market purely because I had no idea what the hell it was and I reckoned it was different. I've researched as much as I can online and I can't find ANYTHING that looks like this.

The man I bought it from said it was a Hibachi (basically, a portable grill/hotplate which is fired by charcoal. Very common in Japan). But this isn't designed for cooking on. It's designed for heating (or keeping hot) and pouring - water and/or tea.

I've never seen anything like it. It sure as hell looks bloody old, but I have no idea what it is, where it came from, what it's called...Nothin'!

It's about the size of a large box of tissues - or if you remember the old game '20 Questions' - about the size of a large loaf of bread!


The spout is removable...



The left compartment (with side grille) is for holding charcoal (or in my case - tealight candles). The right compartment is for water. You fill it up, light a fire in the other compartment, and the smaller compartment heats the bigger compartment. The smaller compartment is a cylinder which sits inside the other one. When full, the fire would be surrounded by water which it could heat up. Then you tip the pot over to the side and hot water or tea or whatever, comes out the removable spout on the side.

So. What is this and what's it called?

 

these stoves were usually fuelled by a gamhexane block...similar to a firelighter...not sure spelling of gamhexane but we spell fuelled that way over here...regards pewter2.......cooks on one side and heats water on the other

 

The man I bought it from said they burned charcoal. I honestly dunno WHAT this thing burns...

 

Shangas, old mother hen here who feels compelled to say for heaven's sake please be absolutely certain that no chemical and/or toxic and/or flammable residue(s) are inside that doggone thing before you "light it up."

 

Nah it's just copper in there.