Lantern (Snow Cave) - Lantern

Japanese: ぼんぼり(雪洞) - ぼんぼり

A type of lighting device. Bonbori is a corrupted version of the word honnri (slightly), which means a light covered with a paper or cloth fire box, and is said to refer to a light that is dimly lit by a fire and is unclear. Bonbori originally meant a cover for a lamp or tea stove, but then came to mean a small lantern, and later came to refer exclusively to a hand candle or candlestick with a paper or cloth fire box attached. Hand candles and candlesticks are lighting devices that use candles, and normally light an open flame like a lighthouse, but to prevent the flame from being blown out by the wind and to avoid the trouble of a fire starting up accidentally, bonbori was invented with a fire box attached like a lantern.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

灯火具の一種。〈ぼんぼり〉は〈ほんのり〉の語の転訛で，灯火を紙や布の火袋（ほぶくろ）でおおい，火影のほのかにすいてさだかならぬをいったという。〈ぼんぼり〉は，はじめ広く灯火，茶炉（さろ）などに取りつけたおおいのことであったが，ついで小型の行灯（あんどん）をいうようになり，後にはもっぱら紙･布などをはった火袋を取りつけた手燭（てしよく）または燭台を呼ぶようになった。手燭や燭台はろうそくを用いる灯火具で，普通には灯台のように裸火をとぼしたが，その炎が風のためにゆり動かされ，吹き消されたりするのを防ぎ，かつ失火のわざわいを避けるために，行灯のようにこれに火袋を取りつけた〈ぼんぼり〉が考案された。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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