Iga Pottery Festival 2026: 30 Booths, and the Home of the Donabe
The Iga Pottery Festival runs from Saturday 19 to Monday 21 September 2026, a public holiday, at Ayama Daiichi Sports Park in Iga, Mie Prefecture. This is the 44th edition. Hours are 9:00 to 17:00.
Around 30 booths take the ground, Iga kilns among them. What is on the tables runs from plain everyday pieces to work with a maker's character all over it. Several food trucks come too, so you never have to leave the site to eat.
This article sticks to which of the three days to go, and how to choose an Iga piece. For the ware itself, see Iga ware, and for dates across the country, the pottery festival calendar.
The exhibitor list is published on the official site.
Dates for 2026
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Dates | Saturday 19 to Monday 21 September 2026, a public holiday / three days |
| Hours | 9:00-17:00 (pottery sales from 9:00) |
| Where | Ayama Daiichi Sports Park, Iga |
| Size | 44th edition, around 30 booths |
The whole three-day holiday weekend is the run. You can pick your day, so to miss the crowds aim for the Saturday morning or the last afternoon.
Because the site is a sports park, the booths stand on level ground. Unlike the pottery fairs you walk up a hillside, this one asks very little of your legs.
What 30 booths gives you
On numbers alone this is a different order of thing from Mashiko's 700-odd tents or the bargain market along the Seto River. But each of Iga's 30 booths is a kiln or a maker.
At a large fair, work from the region is mixed in with stock brought by traders from all over. Iga is a place where only Iga makers set up, so you can buy knowing whose hands the piece came out of and what lies behind it.
Two to three hours covers every booth. It does not eat a whole day, which makes it easy to fit into a trip.
Getting there
| Means | Route |
|---|---|
| Car (from Osaka) | Nakase IC or Ueno-higashi IC on the Meihan National Road, then towards Ayama |
| Car (from Nagoya) | Iga-Ichinomiya IC on the Meihan National Road, then Route 25 |
| Train | Ueno-shi Station on the Iga Railway and others. You need a car for the last stretch |
Ayama Daiichi Sports Park is not somewhere you walk to from a station. The Meihan National Road runs through Iga, so it is easy to reach by car, and most visitors do drive.
Coming by public transport, work out the last leg before you travel. This is not a place with frequent bus services.
You can park at the sports park. The middle day of the holiday weekend concentrates, though, so arriving early in the morning or leaving it until the afternoon is the safer plan.
About Iga as a pottery region
In a sentence, Iga is a region whose clay itself is the point.
Iga clay is dug from strata laid down on the bed of the prehistoric Lake Biwa. It holds the remains of plant plankton, which burn away in the firing and leave tiny pores behind. Those pores give the body its resistance to heat and its ability to hold it, and that is why Iga became the region for donabe, the clay pot.
As tableware, Iga belongs to the yakishime line. Fired hot and long without glaze, ash from the wood falls and melts into the green glassy surface called bidoro. There is a saying that Iga has ears and Shigaraki has none: the handle-like lugs pressed onto the sides are an Iga signature.
Neighbouring Shigaraki sits on the same continuous clay strata, and the two can be hard to tell apart. Even so, Iga carries a longer history of being valued for the tea ceremony. There is more in Iga ware.
How to work the festival
- 1. Walk all 30 booths first Thirty booths takes half an hour. Get the price range and the range of styles into your head before you buy.
- 2. If you are here for a donabe, pick it up Weight is the thing with an Iga donabe. Being able to hold what a photograph cannot show you is what a pottery festival is for. Pick it up.
- 3. Go back to the maker who caught you At thirty booths you can go back. It is small enough to ask about the clay before you decide.
- 4. Rest at the food trucks You can eat on site, so there is no need to leave and come back.
If you are buying a donabe, work out how you are getting it home first. An Iga donabe is large and heavy, and carrying one back by train is not realistic. Come by car, or check whether the maker will ship, before you buy.
What to bring to a pottery festival
- Cash Outdoor booths are sometimes cash only. Bring some.
- Newspaper or a towel Yakishime chips at the corners. Something to wrap in is reassuring.
- Shoes you can walk in A sports park means grass and earth underfoot.
- A large bag or a backpack If a donabe or anything big is on the cards, free hands are safer. Plan for carrying it if you might take it home yourself.
Related reading
Getting to know Iga
- Iga Ware: Fire, Ash and the Beauty of Rough Clay
- How to Choose a Donabe | Size, Glaze, First Use and Care
- Yakishime: Unglazed Pottery Fired to Its Limit
Nearby regions
- Shigaraki Ware: Why Its Clay Sparkles After 1,200 Years
- Japan's Six Ancient Kilns: All 6 Regions Compared
- Bidoro: The Glass-Green Drips on Bizen Pottery
Before you go to a pottery festival
- Pottery Fair Calendar
- How to Visit a Japanese Pottery Fair: 9 Regions Compared
- Pottery Classes in Japan: Where to Try the Wheel
- Medome: How to Seal Unglazed Pottery Before First Use
For the days you cannot be there
The festival runs three days a year. Even if you cannot go on those days, we deliver pieces made one at a time by makers across Japan, direct from where they are made. Each carries its maker's name, so you can trace who made it.
See pieces by our makersFAQ
When is the Iga Ware Pottery Festival held?
What is the difference between Iga ware and Shigaraki ware?
How do I get to the Iga Ware Pottery Festival?
Shop the related pieces
New to Japanese pottery? Start here — its history, how pottery differs from porcelain, the clays and glazes behind each style, and how to care for a piece. → Japanese Pottery: The Complete Guide