Tamba Pottery Festival 2026: Ten Days to Walk the Valley
The Tamba Pottery Festival runs from Friday 9 to Sunday 18 October 2026, at Tachikui in Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture. This is the 49th edition. Its proper name is the Autumn Village Walk.
That name says everything. This is not a sale that finishes in a day or two but an event that takes ten days to walk the kilns.
This article covers how best to work those ten days. On the history of the pottery see Tamba ware, and for dates of pottery festivals across Japan see the pottery festival calendar.
What happens at each venue changes from year to year. The figures here are what the organisers have published at this point. Always check the official site before you go.
Dates for 2026
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Dates | Friday 9 October to Sunday 18 October 2026 / ten days |
| Hours | 10:00-16:00 |
| Edition | 49th |
Ten days is a long run for a pottery festival. Where Mashiko and Arita finish in a few days, Tamba spans two weekends. A festival of a few days concentrates everyone into the same hours; with two weeks, the crowd spreads out and you can take your time.
It does end at 16:00, though. This is a region in the hills, the light goes early, and starting in the late afternoon does not work. Plan around being there from the morning.
The three venues of the Tamba Pottery Festival
The festival has three venues.
| Place | Character |
|---|---|
| Tanbo-no-Sato, around the Heisei kiln | The Tamba traditional crafts park. The hub where work from the kilns is gathered |
| Festival Square (in front of Restaurant Shishigin) | The venue at the centre of the events and the food |
| kamanjyo (in front of the oldest climbing kiln) | Beside the oldest surviving climbing kiln. The one thing in Tamba to see |
Around these venues, kilns stand along the valley, each opening its own shop. This is the real heart of the festival. Tamba is a pottery festival you walk.
Seeing the oldest climbing kiln
If you come to Tamba, see this if nothing else.
Tachikui has what is held to be the oldest surviving climbing kiln in Japan. Built at the end of the Edo period, it is 47 metres long. The long, narrow kiln climbing the slope is still standing.
A noborigama is a kiln with several chambers linked along a slope. Flame burned at the firemouth below passes upward from chamber to chamber. The scenery of Tamba's natural ash glaze was born from that structure. Ash from the wood rides the flame, falls on the work and melts into glass. Look at the shape of the kiln first and the pieces read differently: you know what those flows of green and brown are.
That is why one of the venues, kamanjyo, stands in front of this kiln.
Getting to the Tamba Pottery Festival
| Means | Route |
|---|---|
| Train and bus | JR Fukuchiyama Line to Aino Station, then about 10 minutes on the Wing Shinki bus, alight at Tanbo-no-Sato-mae |
| Car (from Osaka) | About 10 minutes from Sanda-nishi IC on the Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway |
| Car (from Kyoto) | About 20 minutes from Tannan-Sasayamaguchi IC on the Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway |
Ten minutes from Sanda-nishi IC, about an hour from central Osaka. It works comfortably as a day trip.
By train it is ten minutes on the bus from Aino Station. Get off at Tanbo-no-Sato-mae and you are there. You can also get off one stop earlier at Tachikui Kokaido-mae and walk.
There is an advantage to coming by public transport. According to the organisers, anyone arriving by public transport is given a Tamba ware lottery ticket. It also means the organisers would rather you came by train and bus, so public transport is the safer choice if you can manage it.
The official site carries no detail on parking or traffic restrictions, but:
- Tachikui is a narrow road in a valley. The kilns are scattered along both sides and there is no room to spare. You cannot plan on parking in front of a kiln
- With ten days, any single day is less concentrated, but the weekends are busy.
- Parking and restrictions can be run differently from year to year, so look at the official site close to the date before you visit.
When to go to the Tamba Pottery Festival
| Busy | Quiet |
|---|---|
| The first weekend (10 and 11 October) | Weekdays (13 to 16 October) |
| The last weekend (17 and 18 October) | The opening Friday (9 October) |
| 11:00 to 14:00 | The 10 o'clock hour |
The best window is the weekdays from 13 to 16 October. Go on a weekday and there is little crowd, and you can talk with the people at the kilns at length. Tamba is a region of climbing kilns and natural ash glaze, so being able to ask why a colour came out as it did is worth a great deal. On a busy weekend that time can be hard to find.
That said, some kilns do not open on weekdays. If there is a particular kiln you want to visit, check in advance.
About Tamba as a pottery region
Tamba ware is one of the Six Ancient Kilns. For around 800 years, since the end of the Heian period, it has been fired in the valley at Tachikui.
A Tamba piece does not carry glaze that was applied; it carries scenery the kiln gave it. Ash from the wood rides the flame, falls on the work, and melts at high temperature into glass. This is natural ash glaze. Some of it greenish, some running brown, some so thickly covered in ash that it ran down the side. Depending on where a piece stood in the kiln, every one is completely different.
Medieval Tamba fired everyday pieces: water jars, pots, grinding bowls. It kept firing for use, not for display. Most of the kilns at Tachikui still work around pieces for daily life.
We cover the thinking behind firing without glaze in yakishime, and how the region came about in Tamba ware.
How to work the Tamba Pottery Festival
- 1. Get the overview at Tanbo-no-Sato The Tamba traditional crafts park. Work from the kilns is gathered here, so you can take in the styles and the price range in one place.
- 2. See the oldest climbing kiln Looking at the kiln before you choose a piece changes what the scenery of natural ash glaze means.
- 3. Walk the kilns along the valley This is what the Village Walk is really about. The kilns are scattered within walking distance.
- 4. Go back to the kiln you liked With a ten-day event, you do not have to settle it in one visit. Coming back on another day is an option.
Naturally ash-glazed pieces are the category where the gap between a photograph and the real thing is widest. How the ash has settled looks different with the angle and the light. Pick it up, tilt it, and decide after that.
What to bring to a pottery festival
- Cash Individual kilns are sometimes cash only, so bring some.
- Newspaper or a towel Yakishime chips at the corners and the rim. Something to wrap in is reassuring.
- Shoes you can walk in You will be on the slopes of a valley. The kilns are scattered along the road.
- A layer to throw on Mid-October in the hills. Mornings are cold. Do not forget something warm.
Related articles
Getting to know Tamba
- Tamba Ware Guide: Japan's 800-Year Ash-Glazed Pottery
- Japan's Six Ancient Kilns: All 6 Regions Compared
- Noborigama: The Climbing Kiln, Chamber by Chamber
Yakishime and kilns
- Yakishime: Unglazed Pottery Fired to Its Limit
- Anagama: Inside Japan's Oldest Wood-Fired Kiln
- Bizen Ware: Pottery With No Glaze at All
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
- Kodai (Foot Ring): The Part Collectors Check First
Pieces available at Nokaze
For the days you cannot be there
The festival runs for ten days only. 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 best time to visit the Tamba Pottery Festival?
Where is the Tamba Pottery Festival held?
What is the oldest climbing kiln in Tamba?
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