Kasama Yaki

A pottery town with no single style

Kasama has around 200 kilns, potters and shops. Most work is handmade, and the range is wide: traditional pieces sit next to bold, original ones. That freedom is what makes Kasama unusual among Japan's pottery towns. It is made in Kasama, Mito, Ishioka and other cities in Ibaraki, as Western and Japanese tableware, vases and ornaments.

Red-black clay, white slip

Kasama clay is rich in iron, so on its own it fires a reddish black. Potters decorate it with painting or with white slip (clay mixed with water) to give each piece its own face. Most work is thrown on the wheel, built from slabs or pinched by hand.

Taught by a Shigaraki potter

In the Anei era (1772 to 1781), Kuno Han'emon of Hakoda village, now part of Kasama, began firing a kiln under the guidance of Choemon, a potter from Shigaraki. The Kasama domain supported the kilns until the Meiji period. Until around the 1950s Kasama mainly made kitchen jars and mortars, before turning to tableware and vases. Kasama potters later helped start Mashiko Yaki.