Bizen Pottery

Bizen is one of the Six Ancient Kilns and has been producing for around a thousand years without significant interruption. Its distinguishing rule is negative: no glaze is applied, and no decoration is painted on. The clay, a dense iron-rich local body dug from paddy subsoil and aged for years, is fired in a wood kiln for ten days to two weeks at high temperature, and everything that appears on the surface - the red flashes, the sesame-seed speckle of fallen ash, the pale scars where straw was wrapped round a pot, the dark patches where pieces touched - comes from the pot's position in the kiln and what happened around it. Two potters cannot reproduce a result exactly. Imbe, the town, has brick chimneys among the houses, dozens of galleries and workshops within walking distance of the station, and a festival in October when prices come down.

What you actually see

• No glaze at all - surface colour produced entirely by fire, ash and kiln position.
• Straw scars and ash speckle - markings from wrapping, contact and falling ash.
• Two-week firings - wood kilns run for ten days or more at high temperature.
• Chimneys among houses - working kilns through the town of Imbe.

When to go

October for the pottery festival; all year otherwise. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Firings are infrequent and you are unlikely to see one - most visits are galleries and shops. Good pieces are expensive and the cheap ones are not representative. Many workshops close on Mondays. The aesthetic is austere and not to everyone's taste.

Nearby

Okayama and Korakuen are west; Himeji is east.