Tokoname pottery
Tokoname has a long history regarding ceramics due to the local high quality clay found around the area. Tokoname has been associated with ceramics production since at least the Heian period (800 AD). By the Kamakura period (1200 AD) over 3000 kilns were active.
The smoke from the woodfired kilns coloured the whole town so black that it is said that you couldnt dry laundry in the wind and even the birds turned black of sot. So in the 1900´s the woodfired kilns was replaced with kilns that fired raw oil. But when the oil prices sky highed in the 60ths, Japan abounded raw oil as a fuel for the kilns and it was no longer profitable to keep the industry and factorys going, that now mainly made ceramic pipes that started to get replaced with plastic in the 50´s. Remaining was the potters that started to use gas as a fuel. Some of them started with bonsai pots - that was a booming post war hobby that grew in Japan.
Recently the city has began to resque some of the old buildings and kilns in the centre of Tokanome and has created a ”Pottery walk” along the narrow streets, dotted with workshops, shops and cafés. Here you can see a lot of the Tokoname pottery history. There is also a pottery museum in town worth a visit.
*Dont expect to find any bonsai potters along the ”Pottery walk”. They are spreaded around town and far from everyone has an open gallery for visitors since most of them sell only to retailers and are quite busy in their production. If you want to know wich potters you can visit, go to the tourist information in the centre of Tokoname. They will help you out with adresses and phone numbers.
Link to the tourist information on Google maps:
(Text updated nov.2024)
Scenery from a hill in Tokoname. Notice the tree growing in the chimney of an abondoned pottery.
Some of the potterys in Tokoname open for visitors.
And the window of a rescently closed down pottery.
In ditches, slopes and backyards broken bonsai pots are still laying around.
Inside one of the biggest old kilns in Tokoname
Old pipes, jars and vessels has come to new use preventing the soil from landsliding
At the cafes and shops you can find both old and new ceramicware for sale.
The only remaining enormous ”climbing kiln” in Tokoname once fired with wood.
Around the ”Pottery walk” you find several nice cafés.
Thank you.
Thor
Nov. 2017
