Arita Porcelain Country

Porcelain was first made in Japan in this narrow Saga valley, after suitable stone was found on a hillside here in the early 1600s. Within decades Arita's blue and white and its later enamelled wares were being shipped out through the port of Imari, which is why Europe knew the ware by the wrong town's name. The valley still works: kilns behind houses, showrooms with a century of stock, and lanes walled with tonbai, recycled brick from dismantled climbing kilns, packed with clay. A shrine above the town has a torii, komainu and lanterns made of porcelain rather than stone, blue-painted and slightly startling in the rain.

What you actually see

• Tonbai walls - lane walls built from broken kiln brick and clay, patched and repatched for generations.
• The porcelain shrine - Tozan shrine's blue and white torii, guardian dogs and lanterns.
• The ceramics museum - Kyushu's collection covering the export trade and the enamelled styles.
• Working showrooms - kiln shops selling seconds and current work, from everyday bowls to gallery pieces.

When to go

The pottery fair over the Golden Week holidays turns the whole town into a street market and draws enormous crowds, which is either the reason to come or the reason to avoid those dates. Otherwise, weekdays are calm and most showrooms open through the day. Autumn has a smaller autumn fair. Winter here is grey and wet.

Honest expectations

Outside fair week Arita is very quiet, with shuttered fronts, irregular opening hours and workshops that close on unannounced days. Local trains run infrequently and the sights are spread along a valley, so a day without a car involves a lot of walking. Prices for serious pieces are high, and the cheap souvenir ware is not made here.

Nearby

Imari's Okawachiyama kiln valley is half an hour north, and Takeo onsen lies east.