From the beginning of time humans used clay vessels to cook their food.  Archeologists have found clay cooking pots in every part of the world, and you should note that some of these cooking pots are similar in shape to our Kamado.  There was, and still is, magic associated with cooking in ceramics.

The Mushikamado, a Rice Cooker

As cultures and people throughout the world cooked and prepared their staple foods and favorite dishes in ceramics, so did the Japanese.  The Japanese had a remarkable device that cooked rice which “looked and tasted different and better.”  This cooker, the Mushikamado, was used to steam rice for ceremonial family functions and was not used for barbecuing meat, fish, or anything else.

The Mushikamado was made entirely of clay found in Southern Japan, and its shape was, like many cooking vessels around the world, very similar to today’s “Kamado.”  The Mushikamado was round and domed with a lid that lifted off the base, and it included a damper and draft door.  Inside the Mushikamado, a rice pot with a wooden lid was suspended over the “firebox” by a “fire ring.”  The fuel used to generate heat to steam the rice was wood charcoal.

The Mushikamado becomes the Kamado

Richard Johnson designed and patented the Mushikamado into a ceramic barbecue in 1960’s while he was an airline pilot flying to Japan.  Richard arbitrarily chose to call his new barbecue a Kamado, a word that had no stand alone or descriptive meaning in Japan before 1960.  “Kamado” was trade marked by Richard, and over the years the name became (and in some cases used without authority) synonymous with a ceramic barbecue.

Richard opened a factory in Southern Japan where the Kamado was made with a grill, hinged bands, sliding draft door, and other minor but important improvements.  Thousands of the earlier Kamados were sold (for $12.00 or less) to U.S. Air Force crewmembers who brought them back in empty military transport planes.  Initially, crates were not capable of shipping the fragile Kamado, but after the crate problem was solved and with the advent of container shipping, over 100,000 of the Japanese Kamados were imported.

Kamados were sold and demonstrated in every major department store in the U.S. including: Rich’s in Atlanta, Bullocks, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, J.W.Robinsons, and Breuners.  Kamados were featured in Sunset, Playboy, and Esquire magazines and in endless press releases.  Many of the early purchasers are still using their Kamados, and all love the way they cook.  These old Kamados have lived up to Richard Johnson’s original promise that the Kamado, “is the best barbecue in the world.”

P: 619-819 5120
F: 520-843-8354
Toll-Free: 877-257-6871