Kilns & Regions

A town founded on casting Takaoka, in Toyama Prefecture, owes its metal tradition to a castle town. In 1609 Maeda Toshinaga, second lord of the Kaga domain, built Takaoka Castle and, to promote local industry, invited seven casters (imoji, 鋳物師) from the surrounding area. Their quarter, Kanayamachi on the Senbo River, is regarded as the birthplace of Takaoka bronze. From iron to copper alloys The first Takaoka casters made iron castings such as pots and kettles. From the mid-E

Shino in one sentence Shino is a characteristic style of Mino ware, made in eastern Mino — today mainly the Tōnō area of Gifu Prefecture, with Toki, Tajimi and Mizunami as key centres. It developed in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, the late sixteenth century, although pottery in Mino is much older. The glaze: thick, white, alive Shino's signature is a thick feldspar glaze, white to creamy and opaque. Look for: Pinholes like citrus peel across the surface; Hi-iro, warm reddish "f

A tea bowl born from a journey Ohi ware is unusual among Japanese ceramics: its origin can be tied to a specific journey. In 1666 the first Ohi Chōzaemon travelled from Kyoto to Kanazawa with the tea master Sensō Sōshitsu, the fourth-generation head of Urasenke. Sensō had been invited by Maeda Tsunanori, fifth lord of the Kaga domain. Chōzaemon had trained under Raku Ichinyū. From the start, then, Ohi ware grew up inside the tea culture of the Kaga domain and its patronage of

Two towns, one family of pots Drive north-east from Tokyo for about 100 km and you reach Kasama, in central Ibaraki Prefecture. Just to its north-west, across the prefectural line in Tochigi, lies Mashiko. The two towns are known as "brother kilns", and in 2020 their shared story was recognised as a Japan Heritage story under the name "Kasamashiko". This guide explains how they are related and what that means when you look at a piece of studio pottery from either town. How Ka