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Noritake. It’s a word from my childhood, a word my mom would say as she talked about the china she wanted. I didn’t buy any, but there was the word. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see it, to recognize it here in the pottery region of Japan. It’s only one of many company names around here. Many of them have descended from generations of potters. In 1675, Saga Nabeshima Fief Kiln was moved from Mt. Nangaware in Arita to Okawachiyama in Imari, and that’s how our day went — Arita to the quaint village of Okawachiyama, where you can still see potters at work.

In Arita, we visited Arita-kan, a Kabuki styled puppet theater with puppets made of Arita porcelain. The puppets are mechanical, each one moving to portray the story of “The Defeat of the Giant Serpent of Mt. Kuokami.”

Lunch at the “Lion” was an experience in itself. Kaj and I ordered a seafood dish which was grilled by a chef right at our table. We stuffed ourselves on prawns, crabmeat, calamari, and gigantic scallops, accompanied by roasted eggplant, garlic, corn soup, and pickled vegetables. That’s 11 yr. old Jason Rome in the background, the dinofan who’s been emailing me a few years now. Thanks, Jason, for helping make this trip possible.

Porcelain bridges, walls, gate posts, and the carp kites that signify how many boys are in the family (flying in front of homes this month in honor of Children’s Day) splash color across the small town of Okawachiyama. 

Japanese tea ceremonies centuries ago were part of the political process. Tea bowls were a symbol of wealth and honor. In the late 1500′s, Japan invaded Korea in what became known as the “Pottery War.” Korean pottery was favored in Japan, and the daimyos involved in the Korean invasion captured Korean potters and destroyed their kilns. They established new pottery villages for them, among them this one.

The blue noren hanging in the doorway announces that a shop is open for business.

Kaj and Jason play near the Korean cemetary, beyond the ceramic bridge…

Okawachiyama’s winding narrow main street leads to a hilltop shrine.

Potters continue to live here today. Modern kilns have replaced the “secret kilns” built for the original potters. Pottery designs and techniques were well-guarded, and eventually, it would be Japan, not Korea, known for these exquisite pottery products. While the present-day potters use electric kilns and other modern equipment, the secret kilns are still standing, tucked into alleys and hillsides.

Secrets, stories, lives interrupted and redirected, history made and recorded in pottery, tying the centuries together here in Okawachiyama.