Reed Lighting Tool

Hwasim, also called misim, hwaseung, or hwaesim, is a grass fuse used for keeping a fire burning. It was usually used in Jeju Island for moving or sustaining embers, for illumination, and made by drying silver grass and winding it with kudzu bark to a length of around 30 cm. Since silver grass burns at a relatively slow rate, the fire on hwasim is strong and long-lasting. Hwasim measuring about 30 to 60 cm could usually burn for one day. It was also used in mountainous regions to sustain a fire for lighting tobacco or for cooking food as necessary. In some occasions, it replaced the incense on the altar of ancestral rites performed in a mountain. The hwasim shown here was made of silver grass tied with kudzu bark. It was made by overlapping silver grass to an elongated length of around 60 cm, tapering it toward the bottom, and then winding it with strips of kudzu bark tightly at regular intervals.