Japan Heritage story
The Six Ancient Kilns: pottery born and raised in Japan
きっと恋する六古窯
Seto, Echizen, Tokoname, Shigaraki, Tanba and Bizen are Japan's Six Ancient Kilns, pottery towns working without a break since medieval times. Their hillside lanes, chimneys and walls of old kiln bricks invite you to wander.
Key facts
- Theme
- Food and sake, Mines and minerals
- Era
- Muromachi, Azuchi-Momoyama, Edo
- Region
- Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku
- Official name in Japanese
- きっと恋する六古窯
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- 日本生まれ日本育ちのやきもの産地
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 岡山県（備前市）・福井県（越前町）・愛知県（瀬戸市, 常滑市）・滋賀県（甲賀市）・兵庫県（丹波篠山市）
The story
The six towns have made pottery for many centuries. Seto alone made glazed ware, from the late 10th century, and its name became the Japanese word for ceramics, setomono. The other five fire unglazed stoneware: Tokoname was the great power of medieval pottery, and Echizen, Tanba and Shigaraki opened under its influence between the late 12th and 13th centuries, while Bizen grew from older Sue ware.
Long, hot firings make the pots tough, and the clay, technique and flame mean no two come out the same. From the 1400s, the wabi-sabi taste of the tea ceremony prized exactly that plain, natural look, and the six towns made tea wares for warlords and tea masters.
What to see
- Seto: the Kamagaki lane, lined with walls built from old kiln furniture.Google Maps 窯垣の小径 (opens in a new tab)
- Tokoname: the pottery footpath and Dokanzaka, a slope walled with clay pipes and shochu bottles.Google Maps 土管坂 常滑 (opens in a new tab)
- Shigaraki: the cheerful tanuki statues that greet visitors.
- Tanba: the Tanba Tachikui climbing kiln, the oldest still in existence.Google Maps 丹波立杭登窯 (opens in a new tab)
- Bizen: kiln sites over 50 m long, and Bizen tiles on the former Shizutani School.
- Echizen: red roof tiles, one of Japan's three great roof tiles.
The six towns are in Aichi, Fukui, Shiga, Hyogo and Okayama. See more history and heritage, and the Shizutani School story.
Good to know
- Follow the chimney smoke and the walls of pottery shards into the back lanes.
- Look for pottery guardian dogs at shrine gates and bridges decorated with ceramics.
- Each town has its own character, so compare a rugged Tokoname pot with an elegant glazed Seto piece.
Questions travellers ask
What are the Six Ancient Kilns?
Seto, Echizen, Tokoname, Shigaraki, Tanba and Bizen: six pottery towns working continuously since medieval times.
Which of the six uses glaze?
Seto. The other five are known for unglazed, high-fired stoneware.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
- Ako: the town that made Japan's finest salt
- Arimatsu: an Edo-era tie-dye town in Nagoya
- Awaji: the first island in Japan's creation myth
- Echizen-Fukui: 400 years of towns built in stone
- Esashi: the herring town that outshone Edo
- Fukiya: the birthplace of Japan Red
- Gifu: Oda Nobunaga's town of hospitality
- Hakone Hachiri: walking the Edo stone road over Hakone
- Hida no Takumi: 1,300 years of master woodworkers in Takayama
- Hitoyoshi-Kuma: 700 years under one clan
- Iga and Koka: in search of the real ninja
- Inaba and Tajima: landscapes made by the Sea of Japan wind
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.