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    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 01)
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 02)
    • To Tajimi and back: foreign visitors' impressions of our city
    • Walking in Tajimi >
      • 01 Walking in Takata - Onada
      • 02 Walking in Tajimi - The Immovable Wisdom King
      • 03 Walking in Tajimi - Suigetsu Kiln
      • 04 Walking in Tajimi - North of Toki
      • 05 Modern day Nagase St. - flash backs from the past
      • 06 Around Oribe Street
      • 07 The Tajimi Ginza Arcade Area
      • 08 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 01)
      • 09 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 02)
    • Cycling in Tajimi
    • Ceramics >
      • Makigama Fair in Tajimi
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        • The roots of the Mino ware renaissance
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 1)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 02)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 03)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 04)
        • Beyond Mino Ware (Part 05)
      • The ascending kiln
      • Kobe Kiln: Tradition-meets-innovation
      • A polar bear's pottery performance
      • Shiro Tenmoku (01): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Shiro Tenmoku (02): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Finland Meets Tajimi
      • Ceramic treats in Tajimi - a Mini Tour
      • Learning pottery at the Ho-Ca workshop
      • Master Potter Hidetake Ando
      • Brave New Pottery - 3rd Ceramics
      • English Guided Tours 2019
      • Ikuhiko Shibata - Not Your Ordinary Potter
      • Kasahara - the Tile Kingdom
      • The Mosaic Princess Tile Enthusiasts
      • Striking Gold in Mino 2021
      • Toso - the Legacy of a Mysterious Master Potter
      • A Muromachi Style Kiln Firing
    • Life in Tajimi >
      • Tono-ben: Great Ice-breaker phrases for the traveler >
        • Tono-ben Karta - a card game
        • Tono-ben; Everybody Loves Fumi-chan
        • Learn Tono-ben (Karuta cards)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi: My Life in a Seemingly Ordinary Rural Town (Part 1)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 2): About a future where people live wherever they want
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 3): Now is the time to see the countryside
      • The Festival - Oh, What a Night!
      • The Life of an American Japanese
      • Festivals in Tajimi
      • 2018 in Tajimi - Visually
      • Film - A day in Tajimi
      • Virtual Travel - The day when Our World Shrank
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 01)
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 02)
      • Flower Viewing Beyond the Crowds
      • Manga: The Kappa Scene
      • Shidekobushi - the rare Magnolias of the Tono region
    • History >
      • A Failed Coup d'etat - And the Death of a Tajimi Samurai
  • エッセイ
    • 多治見​滞在中の過ごし方
    • 薪窯フェア
    • 国際陶磁器フェスティバル美濃 ’24
    • 外国人観光客へのサービスを充実させる取り組み
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (Part 01)
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (PART 2)
    • ​多治見に訪れた人たち、そしてその後
    • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート1
    • 多治見ウォーキング >
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート2 不動明王の滝
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 高田/小名田 ​パート3 水月窯
      • 多治見歴史探索ウォーキング - 土岐川の北側
      • ながせ通りウォーキング 昔の姿に思いを馳せながら
      • おりべストリート周辺 - パート1
      • 多治見 銀座通り
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート1))
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート2)
    • 陶器・タイル >
      • シロクマの焼き物パフォーマンス
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 1)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 02)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 03)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 04)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 05)
      • 美濃焼ルネッサンスのルーツ
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART1
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART2
      • 登り窯
      • 焼き物の楽しみ方
      • 幸兵衛窯:伝統と革新の出会い
      • 多治見で作陶
      • 安藤日出武
      • タイルキングダム - 笠原町
      • 陶磁器の本拠地でグランプリを目指せ!
      • 柴田育彦 ボーダーレスな陶芸家
      • 新しい陶磁器産業の形
      • モザイクタイルプリンセス
      • フィンランドと多治見の出会い
      • 陶祖 - 謎めいた名工が遺したもの
      • 青山双渓氏、「白天目」の再現に挑んだ窯
    • 食べる・飲む >
      • 多治見で乾杯!
      • 五平餅を食べられるお店と作り方
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      • 超辛口の日本酒への情熱
      • 多治見のお正月の自然薯料理
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 1
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 2
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 3
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 01)
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 02)
    • 夏祭り - なんて素敵な夜!
    • 人込みを避けてお花見を満喫しよう
    • 多治見のお祭り
    • シデコブシ 東濃地方の珍しい木蓮の花
    • ビジュアルで2018年の多治見を振り返ろう
    • 多治見の楽しい方言 東濃弁
    • バーチャル・トラベル
    • ビデオ - A DAY IN 多治見
    • 失敗に終わったクーデター
    • 2019年 多治見るこみち イングリッシュ・ガイドツアー
    • アメリカン・ジャパニーズとしての暮らし
    • やくならマグカップも:カッパが登場するシーン
    • 東濃弁でカルタ遊び
    • みんな大好きふみちゃん
    • 多治見でサイクリング
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08 - Walking in Ichinokura
a tajimi pottery town (part 01)

Picture
View of Ichinokura town in Tajimi
Welcome to another walk in Tajimi!

Ichinokura village is a treat for the pottery enthusiast. Here you will find the Ichinokura Sakazuki Art Museum, and close by you will find the Kobe Kiln, with exhibitions of Kobe Kato's works, and a collection of old Persian pottery among other things. We will come back to that in the next installment, but this time we start our walk in front of the museum, where you will find this map. There are many historic kilns and many famous ceramic artists working in the area. You can also try your hand at pottery making at the pottery facility next to the museum.
Picture
Looking at this map that you will find at the start of today's course, it is not difficult to tell that Ichinokura is a pottery town. We inserted a close-up of the legend to help you understand the map. There are kilns, remains of old kilns, and ceramic factory chimneys still standing all over the town.
Picture
Legend: Left column from top: Kiln (open to visitors or sales), Kiln (not open to visitors), Pottery shop (direct sales), Pottery shop (no direct sales), Eatery/Shop. Right column from top: Chimney, Kiln remains, Bus stop, Shrine, Public toilet

people are the true colour of a place

Today we will walk past several places related to pottery, but while objects - like ceramics - are always interesting, I like to connect the object to it's maker. It makes it come alive in a whole different way. Like many other potters here in Tajimi, Hidetake Ando is a person of great originality. He has also been awarded the honorable titles of Gifu Prefecture Important Intangible Cultural Property Holder and Tajimi City intangible cultural property holder.
Picture
I guess being an independent craftsman allows a person to grow in the way he likes, and enjoying those characters is one of my favourite pastimes here in Tajimi. Ando speaks in a thick Tono-ben dialect and has great stories to tell. He is a master well known in Japan in particular for his Kiseto works, but here is another piece that I particularly liked when we visited Ando in his studio.
Picture
Nezumi shino guinomi (sake cup)
Tajimi is situated in what was historically called the Mino Province, which has lent its name to the famed pottery made here. "What is so wonderful about Mino ware is this relation to nature, the uniqueness of every firing and every piece, and of course the inspiration from the old masters," says Ando. "But you should never try to imitate what they did. Conditions then were completely different. They didn’t have access to boundless information, for example, like we do. What we need to do is to try to take our pottery even further in our own unique way, finding our own personal way of expressing ourselves. That is my path. That's also the advice I would give to potters in other countries who would like to create Mino ware."

There are many other personalities like Ando here, several famous masters in the world of ceramics We will come back to them in the next instalment.

Pleasant walking in pottery land

It’s quite fascinating to think about how the various villages around Tajimi were divided by manufacturing genres - Takata thrived from its rare clay that is excellent for making sake and sochu bottles since it doesn’t leak, Kasahara had many tea bowl producing kilns, and Ichinokura was - and still is - full of small family run kilns making sakazuki (sake cups), or small plates. This contributed to the name of the ceramics museum in the village - Sakazuki. There are still a great number of these small kilns active today, as well as some very famous potters, which makes the village an excellent place to walk in for the pottery lover. This article is about your discovery of those kinds of places.

Your start- and/or end point

After getting off at the Ichinokura bus stop (see below), continue in the same direction across the bridge and turn to the left, where you will find the Sakazuki Art Museum and maps over the area. Here is also a Pizza restaurant where they cook the pizza in a kiln for you. Maybe a good place to return after your walk :)

​
As usual we provide a map you can use for navigation. Our first walk took quite a while as there is much to document along the way.


Find you way using our landmarks

We have charted a route along the river and up high where you get a view of the village - we shot the panorama there that now sits at the top of this article.
Click the icon in the upper left to view a list of all locations.
​

Getting off the bus

gallaries and shops along the way

The ceramic tile ceiling

At the Hachiman Shrine there is a small annex building with a rare ceramic tile ceiling. Don't miss this rare ceramic treat! You can get a taste of it in the video here above.

the hachiman shrine

This is where you'll find the tiled ceiling.

a view of ichinokura from up high

the ​Tōso monument

I have written a piece on the mystical historical character Tōso, a figure that is honoured in many places around this region. The real person on which it is based varies from village to village in Tajimi. At the shrine at the end of our route, the ceremony is held in honor of Kato Saemon Tsunemasa, who fired earthenware in Ichinokura in the early Edo period (1603-1868), and his achievements are celebrated with a prayer in front of the monument to his pottery founder.

Tajimi lies in the region that was traditionally called Mino, famous for its excellent clay and the ceramics - Mino ware - that it has produced across the centuries. Shinto is the native religion of Japan, and the country is also a bastion of Buddhism. But perhaps to many people in Tajimi, Tōso feels closer to heart. This story in some ways reminds me of the spirits, or kami, of Shinto, who are believed to once have been real people. I cannot think of any nameless spirit, however, that has played such an important role in securing the livelihood of generations of potters and kiln workers across the centuries.

Take a closer look at the Tōso monument in Ichinokura at the end of our route.

Some of the kilns, galleries, museums and sights of interest

Ichinokura Sakazuki Art Museum
The Ichinokura Sakazuki Art Museum exhibits some 1500 delicate sake cups produced in Ichinokura from the end of the Edo period (1603-1868) to the Showa period (1926–1989). The museum shop sells a wide range of works by artists in ceramic, glass and woodwork. We also offer pottery making and pottery painting courses, and a tour of the kilns. (Text from the Museum site)
Sentarogama Gallery
Ceramics gallery - Map Open 10.00 - 17.00, Closed Sundays and holidays
Sentarogama Gallery - about the works
Here you can find works by Hidetake Ando (mentioned above), Suzuki Michiyuki, and Kô Ando. Hidetake's grandfather Sentaro built a kiln in Inoue, Mino City in the early Meiji period. The family has been in business for 130 years. The potters here produced traditional Shino, Oribe and Kizeto, while trying to develop new techniques, "in the hope to get closer to the art of clay and fire".
The ceramic ceiling at the Hachiman Shrine
A rare sight in the ceiling of an annex building to the shrine.
The Tōso monument
​Tōso is a universal name for the first potter to build a kiln in a place. The ceremony here is held in honor of Kato Saemon Tsunemasa, who fired earthenware in Ichinokura in the early Edo period (1603-1868), and his achievements are celebrated with a prayer in front of the monument to his pottery founder.

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  • Home
  • About Tajimi
    • Tajimi Tourism Association
    • Free E-books
    • Navigate >
      • Eat & Drink in Tajimi (TOP) >
        • Restaurant Finder
        • Local food and Drink >
          • Food - Wild Yam a treat for the New Year
          • Food - Eel à la tajimienne
          • Drink - Sake in Tajimi
          • Drink - Sake. "Excellently Dry"
          • Food: Cook a local snack - Gohei mochi
          • Food: The History of the Gohei mochi
      • Plan your trip to Tajimi and Gifu
      • See >
        • Places
        • Historical figures
      • Mino Ware >
        • Famous kilns in Tajimi - a pottery town in Gifu prefecture, Japan
        • Mino ware ceramics and pottery Shopping
        • Pottery and ceramics galleries in Tajimi, Japan
        • Courses, equipment and stores for Potters
      • Experience >
        • Pottery Workshops in Tajimi, Japan
        • Pottery painting & Tile Art experiences in Tajimi
        • Fruit Picking in Tajimi
      • Eat & Drink in Tajimi >
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        • Unagappa Sweets
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      • Souvernirs
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      • Getting around
      • Lodging
    • Event Calendar
  • News index
  • Essays
    • Pottery Retreats - A Creative Escape
    • Tajimi partners with local businesses to improve services for foreign tourists
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 01)
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 02)
    • To Tajimi and back: foreign visitors' impressions of our city
    • Walking in Tajimi >
      • 01 Walking in Takata - Onada
      • 02 Walking in Tajimi - The Immovable Wisdom King
      • 03 Walking in Tajimi - Suigetsu Kiln
      • 04 Walking in Tajimi - North of Toki
      • 05 Modern day Nagase St. - flash backs from the past
      • 06 Around Oribe Street
      • 07 The Tajimi Ginza Arcade Area
      • 08 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 01)
      • 09 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 02)
    • Cycling in Tajimi
    • Ceramics >
      • Makigama Fair in Tajimi
      • Ceramics Festival Mino 24
      • The Story of Mino Ware >
        • The roots of the Mino ware renaissance
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 1)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 02)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 03)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 04)
        • Beyond Mino Ware (Part 05)
      • The ascending kiln
      • Kobe Kiln: Tradition-meets-innovation
      • A polar bear's pottery performance
      • Shiro Tenmoku (01): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Shiro Tenmoku (02): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Finland Meets Tajimi
      • Ceramic treats in Tajimi - a Mini Tour
      • Learning pottery at the Ho-Ca workshop
      • Master Potter Hidetake Ando
      • Brave New Pottery - 3rd Ceramics
      • English Guided Tours 2019
      • Ikuhiko Shibata - Not Your Ordinary Potter
      • Kasahara - the Tile Kingdom
      • The Mosaic Princess Tile Enthusiasts
      • Striking Gold in Mino 2021
      • Toso - the Legacy of a Mysterious Master Potter
      • A Muromachi Style Kiln Firing
    • Life in Tajimi >
      • Tono-ben: Great Ice-breaker phrases for the traveler >
        • Tono-ben Karta - a card game
        • Tono-ben; Everybody Loves Fumi-chan
        • Learn Tono-ben (Karuta cards)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi: My Life in a Seemingly Ordinary Rural Town (Part 1)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 2): About a future where people live wherever they want
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 3): Now is the time to see the countryside
      • The Festival - Oh, What a Night!
      • The Life of an American Japanese
      • Festivals in Tajimi
      • 2018 in Tajimi - Visually
      • Film - A day in Tajimi
      • Virtual Travel - The day when Our World Shrank
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 01)
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 02)
      • Flower Viewing Beyond the Crowds
      • Manga: The Kappa Scene
      • Shidekobushi - the rare Magnolias of the Tono region
    • History >
      • A Failed Coup d'etat - And the Death of a Tajimi Samurai
  • エッセイ
    • 多治見​滞在中の過ごし方
    • 薪窯フェア
    • 国際陶磁器フェスティバル美濃 ’24
    • 外国人観光客へのサービスを充実させる取り組み
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (Part 01)
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (PART 2)
    • ​多治見に訪れた人たち、そしてその後
    • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート1
    • 多治見ウォーキング >
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート2 不動明王の滝
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 高田/小名田 ​パート3 水月窯
      • 多治見歴史探索ウォーキング - 土岐川の北側
      • ながせ通りウォーキング 昔の姿に思いを馳せながら
      • おりべストリート周辺 - パート1
      • 多治見 銀座通り
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート1))
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート2)
    • 陶器・タイル >
      • シロクマの焼き物パフォーマンス
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 1)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 02)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 03)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 04)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 05)
      • 美濃焼ルネッサンスのルーツ
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART1
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART2
      • 登り窯
      • 焼き物の楽しみ方
      • 幸兵衛窯:伝統と革新の出会い
      • 多治見で作陶
      • 安藤日出武
      • タイルキングダム - 笠原町
      • 陶磁器の本拠地でグランプリを目指せ!
      • 柴田育彦 ボーダーレスな陶芸家
      • 新しい陶磁器産業の形
      • モザイクタイルプリンセス
      • フィンランドと多治見の出会い
      • 陶祖 - 謎めいた名工が遺したもの
      • 青山双渓氏、「白天目」の再現に挑んだ窯
    • 食べる・飲む >
      • 多治見で乾杯!
      • 五平餅を食べられるお店と作り方
      • ウナギ・ア・ラ・タジミエンヌ
      • 超辛口の日本酒への情熱
      • 多治見のお正月の自然薯料理
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 1
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 2
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 3
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 01)
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 02)
    • 夏祭り - なんて素敵な夜!
    • 人込みを避けてお花見を満喫しよう
    • 多治見のお祭り
    • シデコブシ 東濃地方の珍しい木蓮の花
    • ビジュアルで2018年の多治見を振り返ろう
    • 多治見の楽しい方言 東濃弁
    • バーチャル・トラベル
    • ビデオ - A DAY IN 多治見
    • 失敗に終わったクーデター
    • 2019年 多治見るこみち イングリッシュ・ガイドツアー
    • アメリカン・ジャパニーズとしての暮らし
    • やくならマグカップも:カッパが登場するシーン
    • 東濃弁でカルタ遊び
    • みんな大好きふみちゃん
    • 多治見でサイクリング
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