Traditional craft
Amakusa Toujiki
天草陶磁器
Pottery and porcelain from the Amakusa islands of Kumamoto, home of the pure porcelain stone that kilns all over Japan rely on.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 17 March 2003
- Type
- Ceramics
- Region
- Kyushu & Okinawa
- Official name in Japanese
- 天草陶磁器
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 本渡市、上天草市、天草郡苓北町、天草市
The island of porcelain stone
Amakusa stone is close to ideal for porcelain and glaze. It is low in iron and can make porcelain on its own, without other materials, so it gives an especially white body. Kilns across Japan, including Arita and Kyoto, use it. Amakusa itself makes translucent white porcelain, and pottery with a red namako double glaze or black glaze. It is made in Amakusa, Kamiamakusa and Reihoku in Kumamoto.
Two heats
Potters use Amakusa stone and local clay, mainly thrown on the wheel. After glazing, pottery is fired at about 1,250°C and porcelain at about 1,300°C.
A living for the villages
Amakusa was ruled directly by the shogunate. From the early-to-mid Edo period, village headmen turned to pottery to give villagers a living. Uchida Sarayama was making porcelain before the 1670s, followed by Takahama and other kilns, and Mizunodaira pottery was founded in 1765. Today about ten kilns each work in their own style.
Good to know
- Visit an Amakusa kiln to see how one island's stone becomes both porcelain and pottery.
- Look for red namako glaze, made by layering two glazes, typical of Amakusa pottery.
Questions travellers ask
Why is Amakusa stone famous?
It is low in iron and can make porcelain alone, so it gives a very white body; kilns across Japan use it.
Does Amakusa make pottery or porcelain?
Both: translucent white porcelain and glazed pottery.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.