Why was the mosquito coil born in Japan? How a 'life-saving invention' that changed the world became a summer tradition
When hearing the words 'mosquito coil,' many Japanese people likely think of summer evenings, verandas, the sound of wind chimes, and a somewhat nostalgic scent.
However, looking at the world, mosquito coils are by no means just 'items that evoke summer.' In places like Southeast Asia and Africa, they are still used as daily necessities to protect families from mosquito-borne infectious diseases.
In fact, Japan was once the same.
Until the Meiji era, mosquitoes were a serious, life-threatening presence in Japan, carrying diseases like malaria and Japanese encephalitis. In that era, Wakayama Prefecture businessman Eiichiro Ueyama encountered pyrethrum, marking the beginning of Japan's insecticide industry. Then, after the world's first stick-shaped mosquito coil, his wife Yuki's idea—'Wouldn't it be better if it burned all night?'—led to the birth of the spiral shape still used around the world today. The reason its basic form hasn't changed in over 100 years is that it was a perfected design that rationally achieved the ideal 'location, time, and effect.'
Even more surprising is that by the 1930s, Japan had become the world's largest producer of pyrethrum, exporting mosquito coils to Southeast Asia, Australia, Central and South America, and other parts of the globe. The roots of the products known as 'Mosquito Coils' abroad lie in Japanese technology and craftsmanship.
In this article, we introduce in detail, while incorporating history, culture, and overseas circumstances, from:
The origin and history of mosquito coils
Why it became a spiral shape
The roles played by pyrethrum and tabu powder
How they are used overseas
Reactions from foreigners
Why it became a 'summer tradition' in Japan
to the present.
What left a particular impression on me while writing this article is that 'culture was not culture from the beginning.'
The mosquito coil was originally an invention born to protect human life. However, in Japan, due to the decrease in infectious diseases and improvements in living environments, its role shifted to that of a 'scent of summer' and a 'landscape that evokes the season.'
Perhaps in countries where it is still used as a tool to protect lives, a day will come 100 or 200 years from now when it is spoken of as a nostalgic memory: 'When I was a child, my family would light a mosquito coil in the evening.'
Looking back at the history of the mosquito coil from that perspective, you should be able to realize that this familiar summer tradition was a Japanese invention that connected with the world.
Please take a look at the full article.
Click here for the article