A journey through pottery around the country. This time I visited Arita Town, Saga Prefecture.
Arita ware is very famous for its porcelain, but the town itself is very compact and rich in nature.
It was a fun trip that stimulated my curiosity as I got to experience the historical ceramic culture that dates back to the Edo period and observed painting at a pottery.
I would be happy if you could feel the feeling of traveling even just a little bit after reading this article.
Travel in Arita and Imari
This time we will travel to two places in Saga Prefecture: Arita Town and Imari City.
How to get to Arita
If you go by car...1 hour and 20 minutes on the highway from Fukuoka Hasami Arita IC 5 minutes after getting off at
By train: 1 hour and 20 minutes by limited express from Hakata Station. Get off at Arita station.
There are plenty of parking lots for tourists in the town, making it easy to explore by car.
You can also rent bicycles, and since the town is relatively compact, you can also get around by bicycle.
Imari is about 20 minutes by car from Arita, so if you have the chance, please take a trip.
The trip plan is as follows.
| Travel plan | |
| AM | Nishitomi Ceramics Gallery |
| Walking around Arita town (Tonbai fence) | |
| Kiln tour (Keizan kiln, Kitsuru pottery) td> | |
| Arita ware history tour (Magnet field/Suyama Shrine) td> | |
| Lunch | Ryusenso Okunoin Cafe Komoleyo |
| Snack | Kyushu Ceramic Culture Museum |
| Afternoon | Move to Imari |
| Tokushichigama | |
| ”Secret Kiln Village” Okawachiyama | |
Nishitomi Ceramics Gallery
Mr. Nishiyama from Nishitomi Ceramics in Arita accompanied us on this trip.
Nishitomi Ceramics is a wholesale company of ceramics in Arita.
We handle a variety of pottery, mainly Arita ware.
Recently, I've been introducing utsuwa along with delicious-looking dishes on Instagram every day.
We also produce many original products.
The Kinnikuman chopstick rest has captured the hearts of people in their 40s.
Everything is hand-drawn to convey the characteristics and techniques of Arita ware through Kinnikuman.
It became a hot topic on social media, and some parents and children reportedly ran to the department store during the event.
This M's kimono series is also popular.
M’s kimono series is painted by various potters and artists.
Each pottery has its own "patterns" and "techniques," which are expressed in this kimono pattern.
Each one is unique and has a different taste, from cute pop ones to traditional patterned ones.
You'll want to buy all of them.
The person who is producing these is Miharu Nishiyama, who accompanied me on this trip.
She is from Yamagata and worked at a ceramics wholesale company in Tokyo before getting married.
I met my husband from Arita in Tokyo and got married.
After that, I returned to my husband's parents' home and run Nishitomi Ceramics with my parents.
It seems that he is trying to plan pottery that is hand-painted and hand-crafted, taking advantage of the goodness and characteristics of Arita ware.
We are also accepting interns and are working hard to foster the new generation.
He is a person who is trying new things in a traditional town, and is overflowing with the desire to have more people enjoy Arita ware.
To Arita
Nishiyama-san drove us around Arita.
It was quite an unusual journey, with some rain and some hot weather, but I was able to enjoy the quiet town of Arita, which had a completely different atmosphere from the pottery market.
Tonbai fence and townscape of old folk houses
After learning about various things at the tourist office in the center of Arita town, we took a walk along the street where the Tonbai wall is located.
Tonbai wall is made from the waste materials of refractory bricks (tonbai) used to build climbing kilns and hardened with red clay.
This is a wall unique to the pottery town of Arita.
Some of them were made over 200 years ago during the Edo period.
The reddish-brown bricks look like a mosaic pattern, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of Central Asia.
If you look closely, you can see that the glaze has splattered and melted.
The Tonbai fence also dates back to the Edo period, but since Arita did not have any major air raids during the war, many of the old buildings remain.
There are also buildings from the Meiji period and even the Edo period.
The old building was marked with a "Historic Building" and a pottery sign.
I visited Fountain Mountain, a second-hand goods store and cafe that is a renovated old house.
Secondhand tools are stylishly displayed.
The courtyard that can be seen from the shop is beautiful... You can take a breather.
To Keizan Kiln and Kitsuru Pottery
After walking around town, I went to Keizan Kiln.
The Keizan Kiln is open for general tours and you can also experience painting (reservations required).
Damages were neatly added with a thin brush tip, and overpainting was done with red dye.
They were just preparing to put it in the kiln.
The pots are lined up and carefully stacked one on top of the other so that the fire cooks evenly.
I also visited a gallery near the factory.
The soba choko is said to be popular at Keizangama.
It's cute to see all the different patterns lined up.
The painting is also detailed.
The whale chopstick rest is also cute.
Next, go to Kitsuru Seito.
While mass-produced pottery is often pressure molded, Kitsuru Seito's pottery is molded one by one by hand using ``tatara molding.''
The great thing about tatara is that you can feel the warmth of handmade items.
Since the mold does not take a precise shape, there may be slight differences in thickness.
Since there is no hill, the round shape is cute.
Mr. Yamaguchi of Kitsuru Seito actually showed us how to make tatara using tatara molding and how to paint it.
The plates sold at Uchiru are also made by hand one by one.
Visit the birthplace of Japanese porcelain "Magnetic Field" and "Suzan Shrine"
Next, we went to Izumiyama Magnet Field.
This is the place where pottery stone was discovered by Korean potter Lee Sam-pyeong in the early 17th century.
Since high-quality pottery stone for making porcelain was found here in Izumiyama, Japan's first porcelain vessels began to be made in Arita.
The area left by the digging is so wide that there is not a single mountain left.
If all the pottery stones here were turned into pottery, how many would there be?
It feels romantic to think that the history of Japanese porcelain began here.
Next, go to Suyama Shrine.
This shrine is dedicated to Sampei Lee, the potter who discovered porcelain in Arita and popularized it.
The torii gate is actually made of porcelain.
It's dazzling in the sunlight!
There were also pottery charms, votive tablets, and ceramic goshuin books.
There are railroad tracks inside the shrine!
You might be able to hold hands on the train as you pass by (that's rude).
Lunch at Ryusenso
I went to Ryusenso Okunoin Cafe Komoreyo, which is located along the river up the mountain.
The interior of the atrium is made of glass, allowing you to enjoy the cool flow of the river and the deep greenery of the trees.
It looks like a masterpiece. I ate a Saga beef focaccia sandwich while being soothed by the beautiful scenery.
The meat was tender and tasted good, I was very satisfied.
It tastes even better when the scenery is nice.
Kyushu Ceramic Culture Museum
Next, we went to the Kyushu Ceramic Culture Museum to learn about the history of Arita ware.
Including ceramics made in the Hizen area, ceramics from all over Kyushu and works by contemporary artists are on display.
This is a reproduction of a box meal from the Edo period.
The pattern of the plate is too kitschy! The samurai was eating on a plate like this! ? I wanted to dig into it.
Arita Town also has many other art galleries and museums that are housed in historical buildings.
You won't be able to visit it all in one day.
After taking a close look at the vessels, it's time for tea on the cafe terrace inside the building.
I enjoyed the Saga sweets "Godofu".
All the vessels are Arita ware.
I went to the bathroom on the way home, but...
Porcelain here too! Arita was full of porcelain everywhere.
To Imari
After leaving Arita, we next departed for the neighboring city of Imari.
A large river flows along the way from Arita to Imari.
It is said that in the past, Arita ware was transported by boat down this river to Imari Port.
From there, the vessels were exported to Hirado and Europe.
When I went to the Imari Bridge, there were ceramic plates and pottery dolls on display reminiscent of Dutch trade.
And a gorgeous pot too.
It is said that European aristocrats used pottery to decorate gold.
Tokushichigama
I visited Tokushichigama, a pottery in the city. We showed them how to paint a quince dish.
A pattern will be created in no time.
As mentioned in the video, he doesn't have a fixed pattern, but rather, he paints ``as the brush moves'' while keeping the balance in mind.
That's a skill that amateurs can't do.
To the secret kiln village "Okawachiyama"
Ouchiyama was an area where pottery was manufactured directly by the Saga Domain (Nabeshima Domain) from the 17th to the 19th century.
Because they made luxury goods such as personal items for the feudal lord and gifts for the feudal lords of the shogunate, a checkpoint was set up and no one but those involved were allowed to enter.
Because of this, it is called the "secret kiln village".
Since modern times, these pottery have been called "Nabeshima ware."
As it is located deep in the mountains, it is a pleasant place full of nature.
A river flows along the side of the village, and the stone pavement is covered with moss, giving it an elegant feel.
It was during the Imari Wind Chime Festival, and the wind chimes lined up in front of the eaves were making a cool sound.
Finally, we went down to the downtown area of Imari, bought some souvenir sweets, and had some gelato made with blueberries grown in Imari.
Conclusion
The more I came into contact with porcelain in Arita and Imari and listened to Mr. Nishiyama's stories, the more I became drawn to the charm of Arita ware painting.
Nowadays, there are production methods that are easier to mass produce, such as transfer and pad printing, but I learned that in Arita, handmade and hand-painted techniques are passed down to ensure they never die out.
A picture drawn by hand has a certain warmth to it.
I felt that Arita's painted vessels would definitely create a soft atmosphere at the dining table.
I would like to visit again to see some wonderful pottery.
You can view the utensils introduced this time here.
May you enjoy your daily meals with your favorite utensils.