Potteries in Sasayama city, Hyogo Prefecture

Dear fellow travelers,
I hope you are well. I am closing in on my final days here in Kato City, Japan. So, I'll give you a run down on various things.

Yesterday, Professor Imai and I went to Sasayama, which is a small town in the mountains of the Hyogo Prefecture that has many small, family-owned pottery studios and shops. These places are nestled into the green, brown rocky mountain side and look like very traditional Japanese homes in this area. Unexpectedly, the visitor's eye will land upon pottery being displayed in the windows, on the walls, in the gardens, all around. This was our destination for an afternoon of relaxing. Professor Imai took me to one of his favorite places that is run by a family of potters: mother, father, son and daughter. All four of the family potters had very unique styles of expression in their works, for example the son's was meticulous details of white lines etched in black, while the daughter's was floral, feminine and curvy, and the father's was more earth-toned and traditional with unexpected twists. Professor Imai said he liked it because the pottery was traditional wood-fired pottery with a contemporary flair. We share the same taste in pottery, so I liked it immensely. There were so many things I wanted to buy, couldn't afford and could never get home. Like an elliptically-shaped black bowl about 2.5 feet long with dazzling white simple flower petals on one side. It was $230, a bargain for the shop. Some of the pieces ran into the thousands.


We also went to the Tamba Tachikui pottery museum (see the info below), where we saw ancient to modern pots, bowls, saki bottles, platters, mugs, steins, etc. There were a wide variety of styles, shapes and colors. I was very impressed with the museum. Afterward, we spent a good deal of time in the large co-op gift shop in which 30 or so local pottery families were selling their goods from little kiosks. I ended up buying a frog, an owl and a tea pot. I gave the gorgeous purple, red, blue teal, and pink tea pot to Professor Imai as a thank you gift. It was a lovely place to visit and I'm very grateful for it. It made me think a lot of Caradori Pottery.

From : "Tamba Tachikui Traditional Ceramic Center
Tachikui Sue no Sato, Kami Tachikui, Konda-cho, Sasayama-city, Hyogo Pref., 669-2135
0795-97-2034
The Tamba Tachikui Traditional Ceramic Center was founded in 1985 and exhibits ancient Tamba-yaki from Kamakura period to contemporary pieces.
Open: 9:00-17:00
Closed:Third Thursday, Aug.13-15 and Dec.29-Jan.3"

Later that evening after we made our way back along the quiet mountain roads, past all the hibernating rice farms, surprising statues like the one of black beans in the pod, traditional Japanese houses with gardens and flared-shaped, tiled roofs, I spent some time in my apartment haphazardly packing and waiting until dinner.

Professor Imai and Bernie from the Phillipines picked me up at around 6:30pm to go to the the Sushi Roll restaurant that I like so well. It is Bernie's favorite, too. We had plates and plates of sushi. I had bonito, tuna, salmon, smelt roe, lighted battered tempura crab (yum) which was still a bit warm, pumpkin tempura, saki, and green tea. I ate so much!!! Bernie and Imai had a variety of fish including uni, eel, mackerel, crab-tempura, bonito, smelt roe, crab brains, and some fishes liver, too. It was my last night of inexpensive sushi in Japan and I made the most of it!!!

More about Japanese crafts.