# 釜



## Riccardo91

Dear Japanese forum,

I'm failing to identify an object shown in a cartoon, and I was hoping that you could help me with this.

A strange creature is going rampage, and to avoid any danger people decide to immobilize him this way:
釜だ! 釜でフタをしろ!

Here's an image of this 釜. In the pic they're lifting it with a crane in order to cover the creature with it. It has strairs on a side so that you can climb to the top of it. We are in a fisheries industry (水産).

Aside of what dictionaries propose, I can't understand what it is nor what its purpose is, so I don't know how to translate it. Do you have any ideas?

Thank you very much!


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## kanadaaa

釜 is a cauldron.
They’re just looking for something that will work as a lid, aren’t they?
Cauldrons are usually used for cooking or boiling, but what do you mean by their “purpose”?


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## SoLaTiDoberman

When I looked at the picture,　I thought it was 鐘 (かね）(bell) whose purpose is to produce a big, clear and beautiful sound.
釜（かま）'s purpose is to boil food or a condemned criminal, such as 石川五右衛門.　It was called 釜茹での刑.

In that picture, 釜 was used upside down. So I wondered how they were able to hoist it.
The bottom of a 釜 should be flat. Or it may have legs.
If it was 鐘, however, it could be hung easily.


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## CABIN216

釜 usually means a kind of kitchen tool for cooking rice but it is also used to mean a bathtub, generally used as 風呂釜.
In your scene, it must be the latter, for 風呂釜 can't be replace from where it is, generally.

If you put it in English, it would be "pot" or "cauldron," but when Japanese hear the word 釜, it is generally accompanied with the image of round-shaped, large and heavy.
That's probably why the 釜 was selected in the scene, rather than a light kettle or fragile wooden box, to immobilize the strong looking creature.

So, the word "釜だ!釜でふたをしろ!" implies something like, "Use the cauldron! Cover it with a heavy one!"
I hope you can think up some better expressions to suit the secene!


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## kanadaaa

Since the guy yells:


Riccardo91 said:


> 釜だ! 釜でフタをしろ!


It must be a 釜, no matter what it looks like to your eyes in the picture.
I personally don’t have any difficulty conceiving of it as a 釜.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

この手の質問でたまにある（けっこうちょくちょくある）、質問者が漢字を別の漢字に誤認していたり、「カネ」と発音しているのを「カマ」に聞き間違え、それをわざわざさらに漢字に変換して投稿するため、回答する側がますます混乱するといった可能性を否定しておきたいと思いました。
　（実は僕の目には、「釜」でも「鐘」でもない別のもの、材質が金属ではなくて皮かなにかで、一箇所を紐でしばって止めてある物のように見えるのですが、そんなもので「釜」に似たものがないでしょうか。非常に重い釜を逆さに吊り下げるのは現実的には難しいのではないかなどと考えたりもします。たとえ現実性に乏しくても土台フィクションですし、「気のせい」と言ってしまえばそれまでです。）
It's my personal opinion, so just forget it.

訂正）「紐で縛って止めてある」ように見えたところは、「えび〇水産」と字が書かれていたようですね。湯呑茶碗のようにも見えますが、やはり「釜」なんでしょうね。


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## Riccardo91

Here I am! Sorry for the delay.



kanadaaa said:


> 釜 is a cauldron.
> They’re just looking for something that will work as a lid, aren’t they?
> Cauldrons are usually used for cooking or boiling, but what do you mean by their “purpose”?


I mean: why is that object there? The characters were not expecting to use it as a lid, so it must have another function. They need it for their industry, I guess, but for what? I hoped that understanding this could help me find a suitable translation.



SoLaTiDoberman said:


> When I looked at the picture,　I thought it was 鐘 (かね）(bell) whose purpose is to produce a big, clear and beautiful sound.
> 釜（かま）'s purpose is to boil food or a condemned criminal, such as 石川五右衛門.　It was called 釜茹での刑.
> 
> In that picture, 釜 was used upside down. So I wondered how they were able to hoist it.
> The bottom of a 釜 should be flat. Or it may have legs.
> If it was 鐘, however, it could be hung easily.


Alas, they clearly say かま, not かね. And in another shot we can see it has a stepladder, so that you can climb on its top. So I think it's meant to be used with the empty side on the ground and the curved part on top.
I was thinking it could be used to cook/boil/heat things. You put them under the 釜 and then raise the temperature inside of it. But does it make sense? And if so, how do you call something like that in English?



CABIN216 said:


> when Japanese hear the word 釜, it is generally accompanied with the image of round-shaped, large and heavy.
> That's probably why the 釜 was selected in the scene, rather than a light kettle or fragile wooden box, to immobilize the strong looking creature.


This could make sense. In this case, the word would have been used only to recall an exterior shape, and not to identify a specific object. In this case "bell" would work to translate it, although that's not what they're actually saying.



			
				SoLaTiDoberman said:
			
		

> 訂正）「紐で縛って止めてある」ように見えたところは、「えび〇水産」と字が書かれていたようですね。湯呑茶碗のようにも見えますが、やはり「釜」なんでしょうね。


The name of the family who owns the industry (海老名) is written on it.

Thank you!


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## Flaminius

They use caldrons at fish factories in order to boil prawns, crabs, and sardine whitebaits.  This way, the products become better preverved.


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## Riccardo91

It would make sense, but aren't caldrons and such supposed to be used with the "open side" on top?
This 釜 seems to be designed to be used with the open side on the ground, judging by the stepladder and the fact that it can be hooked.

Here's an image where it's clearer. If I can't find something that suits in Italian, I think I'll go with a generic word.

Thank you!


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## SoLaTiDoberman

Hi,

This is a cauldron, which is used with the "open side" on top under ordinary circumstances. This is not an ordinary circumstance, however. They* tried to use it upside-down* in order to catch the creature.
The letters えびの水産 written vertically (and now upside down) are the proof of it.
And I don't think it's a ladder, but "scale marks" as you can see on _a measuring cup_ in a kitchen. Strictly speaking, such scale marks should be on the inside wall surface instead of the outer surface, because the cauldron is not transparent like a measuring cup. I don't know why it is drawn on the outside, but the creators of this anime wanted it look like a cauldron by the resemblance with a small transparent measuring cup. This is a fiction after all.

The metal ring to hook on the basement might be used when people carry the cauldron with a crane, when they wash, clean and make it dry after they boil fish and crabs.
The ring can be an obstacle to stabilize when it is placed in a normal position. The ground should be soil or cray, or there should be a hole in the ground in order to put the ring in. Or people use a kind of "stand" such as "tripod stand" to keep the cauldron horizontal and stabilized. If the metal ring is placed on the top side, at least three rings are necessary to carry it horizontally. But the rings may be obstacles when staff members cook or boil fish.

I'd like to know how big the cauldron is. Is there any image that can show the size of the cauldron, comparing the height of adult human?
How large is the creature?

If the creature is very huge, the cauldron must be very huge too, which may indicate that it's very difficult for people to move it or make it upside-down. This is a conundrum.
So my conclusion thus far is that this is merely a fiction. Do not pursuit its perfect reality. First of all, there is no Godzilla or the creature in our real world.
And I think you can translate it as "a cauldron" without any hesitation.


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## Riccardo91

You're totally right about the letters being upside-down, I feel really stupid for not realizing that.
I did only focus on the metal ring, being that, as you say, it should make it difficult to stabilize the "cauldron".

I don't think I have a pic like the one you ask for, but the creature is quite big, and the cauldron is too. There would be no way to move it without a mechanical aid, so your reasonment makes sense.

I think you're right after all, sorry for being so dumb! 

Thank you very much for your patience!


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