Activity within traditional Japanese farm families typically centered around a central open hearth (irori). This massive wooden hook (jizaikake) would have been suspended from the beams of a house. Cooking kettles or an iron teapot would have been suspended over the fire by a rope attached to the hook. This style of jizaikake is popularly referred to as Daikoku, a popular kitchen god, because its cap-like top section suggests Daikoku's hat.