Tokoname

Tokoname is one of the Six Ancient Kilns of Japan, producing since the twelfth century, and the walking route through the old district is made of its own waste: the retaining walls are built of shochu bottles and clay pipes stacked on their sides, and the lane surfaces are laid with broken saggars and kiln shelves. The Noborigama climbing kiln of 1887, a stepped chamber kiln up a slope with ten chimneys, is preserved and enterable. What Tokoname makes now, besides sanitary ware and pipe on an industrial scale, is teapots: red unglazed kyusu of iron-rich local clay, which is held to soften the astringency in green tea, and the better ones are made by named potters with fitted lids and integral strainers. Workshops and shops line the route. The maneki-neko cats are a local product too, and an enormous one looks down over the road.

History

Tokoname has made ceramics since at least the Heian period, and its wares of that time have been found from Aomori in the north to Kagoshima in the south; by the Kamakura period over 3000 kilns were working here, and in the Edo period the area was part of the Owari Domain (Wikipedia, Tokoname).

Highlights

• Walls of bottles and pipes - retaining walls built from the kilns' own seconds.
• Paved with kiln shelves - lane surfaces laid with broken saggars and shelves.
• The 1887 climbing kiln - a stepped chamber kiln with ten chimneys, preserved.
• Red kyusu teapots - unglazed iron-rich clay pots made by named potters.

When to go

All year; weekdays when workshops are open. Half a day.

What to expect

The walking route is hilly and the surfaces uneven. Many workshops close on Sundays and holidays. Good teapots are expensive and the cheap ones in tourist shops are not the same thing. Industrial Tokoname around the old district is unattractive.

Nearby

Centrair airport is two stops south; Nagoya is north.