Pottery? Tossing a little clay on the wheel, then doing something with your hands in a sensual kind of way and there you go! Right? In case you never tried it by yourself, you’d be amazed, how much it actually takes to produce a decent piece of pottery! Unlike a declining hobby for German housewifes who like to get their hands dirty, pottery in Japan happens on a completely different level. There is a distinct sophisticated appreciation of these handmade pieces, which do not wait around on somebodies shelf collecting dust, but are in frequent use at cafes, bars and restaurants. We chose ten of the best places in Tokyo, which will certainly get you interested in those delicate clay sculptures by letting you enjoy all sorts of styles, shapes and textures of handmade pottery.
Written by Heather Lorusso
1. The Nihon Mingeikan - let’s dig out some history first!
With the Industrial Revolution, Japanese Folk Crafts were actually becoming a dying art. However, Yanagi Soetsu - along with experts in ceramics, textiles, and woodblock printing - saught to revive traditional crafts by beginning the Mingei Movement.
Important for us is now, that he also founded the Mingei-kan - The Japanese Folk Craft Museum, which houses almost 17000 pottery items fitting specific criteria to bring these things back to the people. Many of the pieces in this collection are anonymous, but there are also quite a few by the founding members of the movement, such as Hamada Shoji, Kawai Kanjiro, and Bernard Leach.
2. Kurodatouen - selected pottery marvels
Opened in 1935 by Ryoji Kuroda (who helped popularize the art form by writing popular books on contemporary and historical Japanese pottery) this is a jewel of a gallery with beautiful pottery pieces on display.
Ouside Kurodatouen, so elegant!
Kurodatouen sign in Ginza. Since 1935
The best part is the second floor, where they rotate the artist on a weekly basis. I was lucky enough to stop in when they were showing the whimsical sculptures of Chisato Yamano. My favorite piece was a twelve-inch vase called Takotsubo which was painted with sinewy white octopi swirling in a sea of dark black paint. Amazing!
What is it about using beautiful pottery that makes food taste so delicious? When a carefully prepared meal sits on a thoughtfully produced plate - it simply couldn’t be better! Here are some excellent places to experience delicious pottery!
3. Kiraku - pottery center in Yokohama
Entering Kiraku is a pottery lovers dream come true, and leaving it near impossible. In Yokohama, Kiraku is a huge pottery compound type of place, and is only a three-minute walk from Eda Station.
Outside of the store is a little discount stall where you can pick up really gorgeous pottery at a very good price. After you enter the actual building, there is a restaurant on your right and another store on your left selling hundreds of kinds of pottery. The specialty is Arita, a type of porcelain produced in the Kyushu region of Japan. Upstairs on the left, you can take a pottery class (I took one!), and on the right is the most wonderful cafe in existence, where tea party fantasies are indulged to the highest extent.
When I ordered coffee the waiter asked me to go and choose my favorite cup! My heart skipped a beat, since the walls were lined with thousands of the most beautiful hand made coffee cups. Daunting at first, the task of picking one becomes an exercise in intuition. It’s not only fun and surprising when you discover the cup you react most instinctively to, it’s also fun to watch other people pick theirs. It could probably be a life’s work trying to drink out of each one.
4. Ocharaka - cosy cafe in Kichijoji
The pottery sitting outside Ocharaka in Kichijoji is what first drew me to this cafe. The cozy, friendly atmosphere I found inside now made it one of my favorite places in Tokyo. The waiter pulled out huge boxes of fresh Japanese teas for us to look at and smell. He also took some time to explain the processes by which they are harvested and prepared. I chose a smoky scented bancha which came in a luscious and earthy white tea set.
There is a little shop attached to the cafe where you can buy the cups and dishes you just used (that seems to apply to quite a few places in Tokyo). Most of the pottery is Japanese, but there are also foreign pieces with a Japanese influence.
5. Maison de Parfum - British study-feel cafe
Another recommendation for a coffee shop: Maison de Parfum (Tel. 03-5478-1432) is a small, second-floor coffee shop really worth stopping by when spending an afternoon in Shimokitazawa. Having a cup of delicious coffee served in beautiful cups in this cosy-dark lighting cafe with wooden furniture and antiques almost feeling like an old British study.
It’s the kind of place where you can lose a few hours sipping your drink, writing by the light of a stoneware lamp and admiring, if not using, the handmade ashtrays.
To get there, leave through the North Exit at ShimoKitaZawa station, go right out of the exit and make your first left. After you cross a small intersection, it will be on the second floor on you right. Look for the sign with the steaming cup of coffee and lots of fresh flowers on the stairwell
6. Kou’s - pottery restaurant
The gorgeous plates and bowls used in Kou’s Restaurant in Shibuya are the imaginings of designer Tsuneko Tanaka who has been dreaming up these gorgeous pieces for twenty years.
The interior of the restaurant has an earthy feel and the rich organic walls, set off the slick, yet natural, seasonally inspired look of Tanaka’s work. Good food served - tasting even better on those beautiful dishes!
In case you are not hungry, you can also get a glimpse of her pottery at her gallery in Yoyogihachiman. Here, all of Tanaka’s latest designs are on display and for sale (about 1500 Yen and up), with a collection changing twice a year.
Pottery is considered one of Japan’s highest art forms, because it combines beauty with everyday usefulness. You can pick up something handmade and special for under 1000 Yen, or lose yourself in its beauty being willing to pay an infinite amount of money.
The next few places feel more like galleries than shops and are certainly worth a visit. They sell some of the most beautiful pottery from around Japan and all over the world. Go and be inspired and remember: looking is free!
7. & 8. Bruan and Utsuwaya - earthy style vs. slick and bright
Along with Ocharaka, the next two stores are also on Nakamichi in Kichijoji. This makes having a “Super Clay Day” convenient.
Bruan is a gorgeous shop with a rustic feeling and shelves full of tastefully arranged pottery from all over Japan. Everything in this store looks natural. The potters have chosen to let the color of the clay peep through, and the glazes are all rich, dark, and earthy.
As a compliment to such rugged looking pieces, and just up the street, Utsuwaya has many contemporary porcelain cups, bowls, and vases, with beautiful, smooth surfaces and bright colors.
9. Etienne - French pottery in ShimoKitaZawa
Finding Etienne in ShimoKitaZawa just made me realize, how unique and different Japanese pottery is! Looking through the French pottery at Etienne, you can also notice a very natural feel to the pieces, however, this is expressed in entirely different ways.
Most of the Japanese pottery I’ve seen makes use of earthy glazes with bits of clay showing through. It’s also quite common to see a slight unevenness to the bowls and cups. It retains the earthiness the lump of clay had even before it was a pot. Almost, as if the potter hadn’t created it, it would have eventually created itself.
The French pottery at Etienne, on the other hand, is still very natural looking, but uses paint in a way very deliberate way with delicate pictures of leaves and flowers. Etienne is a really relaxing place, and if you are up for it, the clerk is more than willing to tell everything you always wanted to know about pottery.
10. Food made from scratch tastes better than fast food, and eating food out of bowls made from scratch tastes even better.
After finishing my caramel ice cream in a room full of coffee cups at Kiraku, I signed up for a hand-building pottery class. I was pleasantly surprised that my instructor, Hisae Kunugi, spoke perfect English when I returned to start my first course. I had two hours, my one-on-one instruction and enough clay for two rice bowls. Let’s go!
First Hisae Kunugi taught us how to make the clay nice and malleable. After that, we had to get all of the air pockets out using a method called Kikuneri where the clay ends up taking the form of a flower, Kiku in Japanese means crysanthemum in English.
After making the bottom of a bowl, I had to make long coils that I would stack on one another and smooth together. By the third coil, you could tell it was a bowl and I was able to change the sides to give it a shape.
Smooshing the coil into the sides
Bowl almost finished, just need to fix the cracks!
When I was finished, I cut my bowl off the wheel, wrote my number on the bottom and picked out the glaze I liked.
In two weeks time I can go and pick them up. Exciting! While I’m there, I might as well treat myself to another cup of coffee for a job well done. I wonder which cup I’ll choose this time!
NOTE: We just received the info about an upcoming handmade rug and pottery exhibition by Jirka and Etsuko Seki - two artisans living in Oshika-Mura, a rural artisans village in the mountains of Nagano:
at Tsuta Salon (2nd floor)
5mins from Omotesando tube station (B3 exit) in front of Aogaku Kaikan
5-11-20 Aoyama, Minato-ku
Wed 24 - Mon 29 May 2006, 10am-7pm
If you liked the article, this is definitely worth seeing!
15 Comments
- Share and Enjoy:
As of December 31, 2008, PingMag and sister site PingMag MAKE are both on extended hiatus, and will not be updated for the foreseeable future. We are eternally grateful for your fantastic support over the years.
Important Notice
31 Dec 2008
Ryu Itadani: A World in Colors
29 Dec 2008
Magibon: From YouTube to Japan
26 Dec 2008
Benedetta Borrometi: Cheerful Paintings for All
24 Dec 2008
Nakagin Capsule Tower: Architecture of the Future
22 Dec 2008
Cute and Pop! 60s Girls Comics by Eico Hanamura
19 Dec 2008
Japan’s Hi-Tech Toilets
17 Dec 2008
Amusement: Gaming Culture Meets Art and Fashion
15 Dec 2008
HIROCOLEDGE: A New Tradition that Blends into Modern Times
12 Dec 2008
Masato Seto: The Sweet Allure of Betel Nut Beauties
10 Dec 2008
-
None found
WOW! Nice bowl. I remember trying that once in school and it came out lop-sided too. ;)
Posted by: Mike Smullin on May 16th, 2006 at 1:38 am
handmade ‘warm’ pottery has a long tradition. especially in Ukraine where we have thousands years old pottery tradition. I very like it in Japan. It tells us we all came from the history where we were big, young, naive and sensual.
Posted by: tobto on May 16th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Concerning Japanese ceramics traditions outside Japan - in Lithuania we have traditional Japanese ceramic kiln - Anagama. This is how it was built (photos):
http://www.culture.lt/ceramics/anagama/?txt=building2004_in
Posted by: Mindaugas on May 17th, 2006 at 3:54 am
Heather
I discovered PingMag recently and it is one of the places I visit to expand my horizons.
I shared your piece with my readers on ‘Serge the Concierge’and on ‘Now Public’.
I took the liberty of using your photo of the tea set you used.
Have a good day
Serge
Biz:
http://www.njconcierges.com
Blog:
http://www.sergetheconcierge.com
Posted by: Serge Lescouarnec on May 18th, 2006 at 12:31 am
Hey how they are made with hand i will love to see it live!!
Posted by: Melen on December 23rd, 2006 at 12:37 am
I´m planning to move to Tokyo and at the moment I study Pottery/Glass at a school in Sweden.So,your article was very exciting for me to read.
Your comment on “german housewives” was a bit unnecessary(I´m from Germany and there are a lot of talented potters.)
Posted by: miagenarp@telia.com on April 13th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
we had to get all of the air pockets out using a method called Kikuneri where the clay ends up taking the form of a flower, Kiku in Japanese means
Posted by: kurye on February 23rd, 2008 at 9:41 am
Hello, I’m Miss Hellen, thanks for your blog, I found 2 manufacturer http://www.bosi-carpet.com & http://www.goldensilkroad.com who produce beauful handmade oriental rugs and french aubusson, maybe it is useful for you. It would be grateful if it can pass!
Posted by: Hellen on September 10th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Hey how they are made with hand i will love to see it live!!
Posted by: Indian Music on July 7th, 2011 at 3:31 am
we had to get all of the air pockets out using a method called Kikuneri where the clay ends up taking the form of a flower, Kiku in Japanese means
Posted by: Indian Music on July 7th, 2011 at 3:34 am
en guzel sohbet odalari burada tikla gir iceri ne duruyorsun
Posted by: goruntulu sohbet on August 6th, 2011 at 4:16 am
I enjoyed studying this post. I am completely satisfied to search out this put up as a result of I’m interested within the topic.
Posted by: christian louboutin on November 10th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Great post Good content. Thanks you.
Posted by: black friday canon powershot on November 13th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
10 best places in Tokyo if you like handmade pottery good post308
Posted by: air multiplier on April 20th, 2012 at 5:51 pm
10 best places in Tokyo if you like handmade pottery good post1762
Posted by: bladeless fan on April 21st, 2012 at 8:00 pm