The roots of Japanese porcelain part 1

Just got back from a jam packed 3 days with my parents touring the pottery towns of Imari and Arita in Saga, Kyushu. It was my first trip to this southern island of Japan and I hope it won't be the last. Everyone was so friendly. They were incredibly kind and helpful and the taxi drivers are a hoot. More than once, someone said hello as I passed them, just unbelievable for a big city girl like me but so nice.

Anyway, but I digress. We flew to Fukuoka, domestic flying in Japan is a throwback to what flying used to be. Relatively carefree and you get to leave your shoes on in security. I even got to bring my tea through security, although they do scan it, for what I don't know but they gave me back my half drunk bottle afterwards. Once we landed, 2 or 3 stops on the subway which is in the airport to Hakata, then a train to Takeo onsen, a sleepy hot spring town which was to be our base for the next two days. Well, the flight was a little late, the train was a little late (gasp!) so we were a little late arriving at the inn. It was a gorgeous ryokan, over 100 years old and their chef had trained in one of the top restaurants in Japan and had also appeared on the Iron Chef. We all soaked in the hot spring, recovered from our journey and sat down to a feast. It was gorgeous, and very filling (2 nights in a row) but the great thing is, you don't need to go anywhere afterwards to lie down. Here is a little sample of what it looked like

The following morning, round two. Well the portions were less than half the night before, but still a hefty amount to put away at 8:30 in the morning, then to our destination, Imari. The weather really was with us and the day was bright and clear. I really had no idea what to expect, I just knew it was a name that everyone knew associated with pottery and although I was a little fuzzy on the details, I knew the pottery was very beautiful. The passing scenery from the train was so tranquil, it was as if the area was caught in a time warp. There were gorgeous old houses with serious roof tiles, fields and soon to be rice paddies. Here is our train which is only one car and runs on a single track. The trains can only pass each other when one is stopped at a station, not sure a feat that the London underground can pull off. Most of the stations are unmanned and you take a ticket when you get on the train and pay the conductor when you get off. Each stop is numbered so the conductor/driver(same person) knows how much to charge. Life moves a bit more slowly here.

We got to Ookawachi yama where 20 potteries are clustered, we passed many more on the ride up but really you need a car to hit them all so we consoled ourselves with the 20 that were accessible.

It turns out we did this a little backwards. The whole pottery business started in Arita around 400 years ago but geographically it was not good for keeping crafts men sequestered. It was a highly coveted and highly guarded skill these potters possessed and to prevent the artisans from running away and spreading their skills elsewhere, they moved the lot of them to this mountain. There, they were essentially kept prisoner by a mountain behind them and a toll booth in the front. So probably it made more sense to go to Arita first, but what can you do. I believe we hit every pottery on that little mountain and it was very interesting to see individual styles as well as a lot of similarities. We did a little shopping but mostly we did a lot of looking. There weren't many tourists about so in most shops, we were the only ones there. It was a lovely time, quiet, peaceful, surrounded by beautiful objects and nature.