Mashiko Pottery: Where Japanese Folk Craft Still Lives

Mashiko Town, Tochigi Prefecture. About two hours by car from Tokyo, in the gentle hills south of the Nasu range, sits this small pottery town.

Today more than 300 potters have studios in Mashiko, and the pottery market held twice a year draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the country. But the region has only been this famous for about a hundred years. Mashiko ware became known to the world from the moment one potter — Hamada Shoji — brought in the philosophy that beauty lives in everyday pottery.

The History of Mashiko: From Small Local Industry to the World

A plain regional kiln in the nineteenth century

Mashiko ware begins in the nineteenth century — a comparatively short history against the Six Ancient Kilns, which run from the eighth.

Otsuka Keizaburo, who had learned technique from Kasama ware in neighbouring Ibaraki Prefecture, noticed Mashiko's abundant clay and opened the first kiln here; that is taken as the origin of Mashiko ware. Mashiko clay is coarse-grained and highly plastic, and the region first developed producing large household pieces: jars, vats, teapots, braziers.

Through the Meiji and Taisho eras Mashiko gradually grew in scale, but it remained one regional kiln among many making practical ware. The person who would change the region fundamentally appeared in the early twentieth century.

Hamada Shoji: the moment Mashiko became a world region

In 1924 a young potter moved to Mashiko: Hamada Shoji (1894–1978), later called the master of mingei ceramics.

After graduating in ceramics from Tokyo Higher Technical School, Hamada worked on research at the Kyoto Municipal Ceramic Research Institute with Kawai Kanjiro, with whom he would later develop the mingei movement. Then in 1920 he travelled to Britain with the English potter Bernard Leach and established the Leach Pottery at St Ives in Cornwall. Exchange between Japanese potters and the wider world had already begun.

Those four years took Japanese ceramic technique to the West while Hamada himself absorbed deeply the beauty of European ceramics and folk craft. On returning to Japan, the place he chose to make pottery was Mashiko. Why not Tokyo, or Kyoto, or Nara?

In his own words: the clay was good. Coarse, plain, unadorned Mashiko clay. He felt it was the material most fitted to embodying the philosophy of mingei.

The Mingei Movement and the Revolution of Yo no Bi

When Hamada settled in Mashiko, Japan was in the middle of industrialisation. From the Meiji era onward, mass-produced machine goods reached every corner of daily life, and craftspeople's handwork was increasingly seen as outdated and inefficient. In that era, a movement of ideas was born.

Yanagi Muneyoshi and the birth of mingei

The philosopher Yanagi Muneyoshi (1889–1961) published the prospectus for a Japan Folk Crafts Museum in 1926. The following year he founded the Japan Folk Crafts Association with Hamada Shoji, Kawai Kanjiro and others, launching the mingei movement in earnest.

Mingei is an abbreviation of "folk craft" — a word Yanagi coined himself.

At the core of mingei is yo no bi, beauty through use: the idea that genuine beauty resides precisely in the practical objects used every day. Not signed art works by masters, but the tea bowls, jars and chopstick rests that anonymous craftspeople made carefully as their daily work. Yanagi called the beauty that seeps out of them a beauty of health and of directness.

And it is because that thinking developed in Japan that the ceramic culture we have today — with tens of thousands of potters working — came into being.

What the three of them changed

In the mingei movement, three men conveyed its appeal in their own distinct ways.

• Yanagi Muneyoshi　Put the philosophy of mingei into words and spread it through museums and publications.
• Hamada Shoji　Based in Mashiko, embodied the mingei ideal through his own making.
• Kawai Kanjiro　From Kyoto, surveyed folk kilns across Japan and showed the diversity of mingei ceramics.

Through their work, regional pottery across the country that had been overlooked as "just household goods" was re-evaluated, and the mingei movement came to hold the power to reconsider Japanese craft culture from the ground up. Mashiko ware, as its symbolic region, became known to craft enthusiasts worldwide.

What Makes Mashiko Special: Clay and Glaze

Mashiko clay

Mashiko clay is based on iron-rich clay taken from the Kanto loam layer together with a coarse sandy clay.

Its defining features are grittiness and water retention. Fired, a slight grain remains on the surface and gives a distinctive earthy feel to the touch. It is not as dramatic in texture as Shigaraki, and it is nothing like the smoothness of Arita porcelain: a moderate coarseness is Mashiko clay's particular quality.

The clay also works exceptionally well with glaze, bringing out a wide range of surfaces.

The representative Mashiko glazes

Mashiko glazes carry a warmth of their own. In keeping with the mingei spirit, restrained glazes that make use of the beauty of the material have traditionally been preferred over showy decoration.

• Nukajiro (rice-husk white)　A milky glaze made from rice-husk ash. It fires to a soft white or cream, sometimes with a faint blue cast or speckling. Fine crazing can appear across the surface, and combined with the texture of the clay it produces warm pieces. Unlike the cold white of porcelain, it is sometimes described as a white like human skin — a colour particular to Mashiko.
• Kaki (persimmon)　A glaze high in iron that fires to a rust red or persimmon orange-brown. As the name suggests, the tone is as warm as ripe persimmon fruit. The colour shifts gradually with use, giving the sense of a piece growing. Often used on rice bowls and small plates, it suits Japanese food particularly well.
• Kuro (black)　A glaze producing a deep jet black. Known for Hamada Shoji's frequent use of it, it is one of the glazes that stands for Mashiko. It looks simple, but subtle variation appears across the surface as the light shifts, giving a depth beyond a plainly black piece. It also sets off pale ingredients like white rice or tofu.
• Ame (amber)　A translucent glaze from amber to honey. As the name suggests, its warm, syrupy shine is characteristic. Because it lets the material show through relatively clearly, combined with Mashiko's coarse clay it reflects the beauty of the material directly.

Beyond glaze, painting with iron pigment is another Mashiko characteristic. Grasses and geometric motifs drawn with a fluent brush read as improvisation rather than calculated design, and hold something new to find each time you look.

Forms Shaped by a Commitment to Daily Use

The mingei principle of beauty through use appears directly in the forms of Mashiko ware.

Rice bowls

The Mashiko rice bowl is fundamentally a rounded form that settles firmly into the hand. Its thick body retains heat well, and even with hot rice inside, the heat reaching your hand is moderated. In a Japanese household the rice bowl is not merely a container but one of the most intimate pieces you touch every day. In that sense the Mashiko rice bowl has a special standing as pottery you grow attached to through daily use.

Mugs and tea cups

Mashiko mugs are widely used in modern life as pieces that suit coffee, black tea and Japanese tea alike. They have become especially popular with younger buyers in Japan and abroad in recent years, raising Mashiko's profile as everyday mingei.

Large serving bowls

Large bowls for pasta, salad, simmered dishes and more are one of Mashiko's strengths. Generous forms and bold glaze expression give them real presence on a table.

Flower containers

Mashiko flower containers hold a beauty of subtraction: put wild flowers or seasonal branches in carelessly and it works. Simple, strong forms outnumber complicated ones, and they are popular as interior pieces too.

The Mashiko Pottery Market

No account of Mashiko ware is complete without the Mashiko Pottery Market. Held twice a year, in spring and autumn, it is known as one of Japan's largest.

• Spring market　About four to five days over Golden Week (late April to early May).
• Autumn market　About four to five days from late October to early November.

During the market, tents and temporary shops fill around fifty locations across the town, and more than 300 artists and kilns exhibit. Attendance across spring and autumn can reach 500,000 to 600,000 — a genuinely major event.

Its appeal is not only scale. Because many artists sell their own work, you can choose while talking directly with the maker. What clay is this? How is this colour achieved? The Mashiko market is where those conversations happen. Prices run from very reasonable to one-off pieces by well-known makers, so it works for beginners and experienced collectors alike.

Getting there from Tokyo, parking and how to avoid the crowds are covered in our guide to the Mashiko Pottery Fair.

Tradition and Innovation Together

About a hundred years have passed since Hamada Shoji settled in Mashiko. Today Mashiko is a lively region where artists protect the mingei tradition while constantly attempting new expression.

Hamada's grandson Hamada Tomoo still makes pottery in Mashiko, producing work that carries his grandfather's spirit while taking in a contemporary sensibility.

In recent years, more young potters have moved to Mashiko from across the country to train, and a good number set up studios here after studying at universities or colleges in Tokyo. Those newer makers keep adding fresh perspectives to what Mashiko has been, and the region keeps evolving.

International attention is high, and "Mashiko pottery" is highly regarded within the international ceramics community. Enthusiasts and researchers come to the Mashiko Sankokan from around the world to meet the work and thinking Hamada left behind.

Why Choose Mashiko for Daily Use

The reasons Mashiko ware is loved on modern tables come down to the following.

• Durability　Made thick, Mashiko ware is robust enough for daily washing. Much of it is dishwasher-safe, giving it a practicality that fits the rhythm of modern life.
• Suits Japanese and Western food alike　Eat rice from a rice-husk white bowl and drink coffee from a mug in the same glaze. Mashiko's warm tones settle naturally into either.
• Change you can enjoy over time　Kaki glaze deepens in colour with use, and amber glaze gains depth in its lustre. Using a piece daily until it becomes yours alone is an experience no industrial product offers.
• Accessible prices　For pottery from a famous region, original handwork is available at a relatively reachable price.
• Close to the makers　Many Mashiko artists sell their own work, so through a studio visit or the pottery market you can own a piece whose maker you have met.

The Mashiko Sankokan: Hamada's Spirit, Felt Directly

When you visit Mashiko, the Mashiko Sankokan is well worth a stop.

Opened in 1977, it exhibits the Japanese and international folk craft Hamada Shoji collected over his lifetime alongside his own work. The pieces he gathered as "beautiful things worth referring to" — pottery from folk kilns across Japan, and craft from Britain, Korea and Okinawa — are displayed within what was his home and workshop.

Notably, the climbing kiln Hamada actually used is preserved on the grounds. It is still maintained in working condition, so you can feel the site of mingei ceramics for yourself.

The Sankokan is the best place to understand why Mashiko ware is beautiful before you buy any.

The Mingei Value of Mashiko Ware

The idea of beauty through use that the mingei movement proposed gives the valuation of Mashiko ware a particular character.

Collections of fine porcelain tend to move toward not using and displaying. In the mingei context, though, it is the piece used hard every day that receives the highest regard. Hamada Shoji himself kept saying that a piece which had been used and marked was worth more.

That offers an important suggestion to collectors today. The real value of Mashiko ware appears not when it is put away carefully but when it is used daily and allowed to grow.

And Mashiko's warm tones go exceptionally well with particular foods. White rice in a kaki rice bowl, green stir-fried vegetables in a black-glazed small bowl, an autumn simmered dish in a rice-husk white shallow bowl. In these combinations the colour of the food and the colour of the piece set each other off and give the table depth. The thick body keeps food warm longer, and makes the moment of sitting down to a Japanese meal that much richer.

Related Guides

More on the culture and history of Japanese ceramics

• A Short History of Japanese Ceramics, Jomon to Now
• Mingei: The Folk Craft Movement That Changed Pottery
• Pottery That 'Grows': How Ceramics Change With Use

More on Japan's pottery regions

• Mashiko vs Kasama Pottery: How Two Neighbouring Kiln Towns Grew Apart
• Mashiko Pottery Fair: Getting There from Tokyo, Parking and Crowds
• Japanese Pottery by Region: A Buyer's Map
• Kasama Ware: Japan's Most Free-Spirited Pottery Town
• Yachimun: Okinawan Pottery, Clay of a Southern Island
• Mashiko Ware | Mingei Folk Pottery from Tochigi

How to choose Japanese ceramics

• Why Japanese Pottery Is Worth Buying (and Keeping)
• How to Choose a Japanese Rice Bowl (Chawan)
• How to Care for Japanese Ceramics: A Practical Guide

How to buy Japanese ceramics

• About Us｜Japanese pottery & culture
• Buying Japanese Pottery Online: What to Check First
• New Arrivals