shigaraki

Today, it was a national holiday, Sports Day. Since Satoshi had the day off, we decided to go to Shigaraki.

From Osaka it took about an hour and 45 minutes; we took the JR train to Kusatsu and transferred to the Kusatsu line.

From Kusatsu, we rode until Kibukawa and transferred to the Shigaraki Kogen Railways, and rode to the end of the line, Shigaraki.

Shigaraki is located 300 meters above sea level in Shiga Prefecture. This weekend they held their Pottery Festival.

Shigaraki ware is one of the oldest types of pottery in Japan and dates back to the 16th century.

Shigaraki ware is known for its transparent dark blue, shades of green, brown and yellowish-red glazes. The pieces are fired in a kiln called Anagama.

There is a Ceramic Cultural Center located about 20 minutes from the Shigaraki station.

There, artists from around the world gather to study Shigaraki style pottery as well as learn about other Japanese pottery styles and also share their pottery styles.

One thing that we tried was "Tanuki no Harazutsumi" or bang the stomach of a tanuki like a drum. It is actually a local sweet.

It is a pancake-like outside (mikasa-kiji), with a thin mochi flavored with Asamiya maccha (the local green tea) and has an "an" (sweet bean paste) filling in the middle.

Neither of us had been to Shigaraki before so it was an interesting experience, too bad the weather wasn't too cooperative. Pottery, pottery everywhere!! (and lots of tanukis, too!!) :)