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Kiseru pipes
Nihongo

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See also: Old prints about hemp farming (large)
See also: Kiseru pipes
See also: The floating world
See also: Miasa village (Nagano prefecture)
See also: Hemp in Gunma prefecture
See also: Hemp in Tochigi prefecture
See also: Hemp and sumo
See also: Asa no ha
See also: Other hemp images

See also:
See also: The "Hemp in Japan" Library

Kiseru pipes
Japanese kiseru pipes have a much smaller bowl than Western tobacco pipes. The middle section is from bamboo or some other type of wood while the ends are made from metal (often silver or bronze). This has revived the word in a new meaning: The cheating on train fares in automated ticket gates by paying (coins, metal) for two tickets for the first and last short sections of a long trip and cheating (wood) on the middle section.

Japanese kiseru pipe (bronze and ebony, Kyoto around 1780)

Bronze and ebony, Kyoto around 1780 (picture by H.G. Behr).

The name of the pipe is derived from the word ksher of the Khmer language of Cambodia, a country where hemp has long been cultivated as a drug and is still sold in public market places today. Though some North Americans assume kiseru to be only usable for opium or hashish smoking, they are in fact very suitable for marijuana and use it very efficiently.

Japanese kiseru pipe (bruyere wood and bamboo, Tokyo 1982)

Bruyere wood and bamboo, Tokyo 1982. (picture by H.G. Behr).

Kiseru were also used for tobacco, of course, though not originally in Cambodia. Some kiseru are sold as "fashion pipes" at o-miyage (souvenir) stalls in rural tourist locations.

Japanese kiseru pipe (brass and bamboo, Kuroyamasantaki 1998)

"Fashion pipe", brass and bamboo, Kuroyamasantaki 1998.

See also:
See also: Hemp in religion, for fibre, food and fuel, marijuana, as medicine
See also: Marijuana prices in Japan, How many users, The Hemp Control Law


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