Yokkaichi Banko Yaki

Teapots and hot pots

Banko teapots (kyusu) have long been loved by tea drinkers. They are said to bring out the taste of tea, and the more you use them, the more a calm, unique gloss appears. Banko is also Japan's donabe town: its clay hot pots hold over 80% of the national market. It is made in Yokkaichi and nearby towns in Mie.

Often left unglazed

Potters use fine clay and stone from around Yokkaichi, shaping pieces on the wheel, in press moulds or by hand, then adding patterns or carving. The best-known pieces are fired without glaze, while others get overglaze painting.

Named to last forever

About 260 years ago, in the mid-Edo period, a wealthy merchant and tea lover named Nunami Rozan made pottery as a hobby. Hoping his work would last forever, he stamped it banko fueki, everlasting and unchanging, and that gave Banko its name. The craft stopped after his death, was revived in the late Edo period, and today's Yokkaichi Banko grew from pieces made in the early Meiji period by studying those techniques.