April 29, 2000

Mashiko, Japan
What’s in a pot?

“One of the central buildings on the street is a public learning center, where anyone can stop in to pot, to take pottery lessons, or just to sit down and chew the fat.”

Fermata cycled out to nearby Mashiko* on April 29^th to have a look and find out. You’d be hard put to find another small town in Japan so totally identified with its culture, in this case pottery. In a word, or rather in three, we call it pride of place.

The first step that Fermata takes in putting together a natural, cultural or historical tourism program for a community involves making an assessment of its resources. Next we look at community pride–how does the locale feel about its image and what does it do to project it?

The town of Mashiko is without question the pre-eminent center for folk-art pottery in Japan, and it has reached that pinnacle through careful planning and use of this cultural resource. In the first week of May Mashiko holds its Spring Pottery Market, and people come from all over the country to look, take pottery lessons*, eat* , stroll, and shop*. The Market began in 1966 and now attracts an estimated 300,000 visitors. Although Mashiko’s demographics reflect the declining birthrate throughout Japan, unlike smaller towns in the area Mashiko has a steady influx of new residents attracted by the unique cultural flavor of the town: Mashiko is home to over 300 kilns and more than 500 potters. Outlying towns such as Motegi (English page) have absorbed some of the overflow, thus spreading the practice and enjoyment of ceramic art. Mashiko has never conducted a survey to determine the economic impact of the festival, but city officials say it is considerable.

One of the first things you see upon entering the town is the Higeta Indigo Dye-works*. Housed in a traditional, straw-thatched house, it has operated continuously here for over three hundred years. The Higeta family grows its own cotton, spins its own thread, weaves its own fabric on hand looms, creates its own patterns and dyes every piece by hand. The final product is striking and of the highest quality.

The throngs of people on the streets testify to the economic impact of this event. But unlike other areas in Japan that have exploited a natural or cultural resource in ways that are ill-matched or that despoil the authenticity, Mashiko’s mainstreet looks like the deliberate result of careful preservation. It is clear at a glance that the people who live in this town are proud of their cultural heritage and that they intend to maintain it. When the main drag was rebuilt several years ago using combined private, local, prefectural and federal funds, no expense was spared to retain the flavor and the authenticity of the town.

Nevertheless, "improvements"always involve a certain amount of subtraction from what was originally there, and Mashiko is no exception. To get a good idea of what the town felt like a decade ago, head down mainstreet away from the shops, towards the station. You will find a collection of small pottery shops still run in relatively dark, cedar-shingled houses. The pottery too tends to replicate the original earth tones and thicker styles for which Mashiko was originally known.

If your taste in ceramics runs more towards the colorful, the fanciful and the modern, the unquestioned arbiter of style and taste is Toko, back in the direction of the main drag. Toko means "ceramics storehouse,"and part of the building is in fact housed within a traditional Japanese stone granary*, replete with ivy running up the walls.

On past Toko, just over the hill, you’ll find the Kyohan Center on your left. All of the stuff there is mass-produced, slightly cheaper (but not always) than the art pottery sold in the better shops, and not really worth spending much time at unless it’s to gaze at the world’s largest naked raccoon*.

One of the central buildings on the street is a public learning center, where anyone can stop in to pot, to take pottery lessons, or just to sit down and chew the fat. The fundamental idea that all cultural traditions depend on making the culture accessible is one that Mashiko plainly understands and actively promotes. A few yards beyond you can turn left, park, and enter the pottery museum complex, Mashiko’s tribute to the man who made it famous, Hamada Shoji*. The museum has arrayed an impressive collection of ceramics from every town in Japan that boasts a ceramic "style,"and even the least-tutored glance will tell you that the variety is unbelievable. The museum also has a permanent display of work by Hamada himself; amazing tributes to a man who well-deserved the title of "Living National Treasure."

A separate part of the complex has a ceramic workshop as well as working "noborigama*", the stone kilns built on an inclined slope that typify traditional Japanese earthenware. In the back end of the complex stands Hamada’s own completely restored home. There is a story about him that typifies his character as a folk-artist for which he was famous. When the Imperial Household Agency* informed him that the Emperor* desired to visit his workshop, he appreciatively agreed. Since potting by its very nature required that Hamada’s workclothes would be spattered with clay, the Agency also directed him to change into a tuxedo for the imperial visit. "To be seen by the Emperor is a great honor,"said Hamada, "but if he will see me work he must see me as I am."It would be hard to invent a more unbending dedication to the authentic and the real.

Interestingly, the pottery trade is only a small chip of what’s available in and around Mashiko. The city has a beautiful park atop a high hill, and if you veer off to the right you will find yourself in the parking lot of Saimyoji*, a Buddhist temple built in the year that Columbus first sailed for the New World. The temple also has a stand of shikeidake, or square bamboo (English), so called because its stalks are four-sided rather than round. This decorative plant originally came from China (English), grows to almost thirty feet in height, and is a phenomenally beautiful garden ornament. The approach to Mashiko park, if you watch the roadside closely, is also marked by two enormous soy vats, now old and unused and home to living things.

The city’s tourist council has plans to actively develop the natural aspects of the city, since the pottery festivals have the obvious drawback of concentrating most of the town’s tourism in two giant peaks, leaving equally gaping valleys that need to be filled in order to attain greater financial stability for the inhabitants.

Whether you come to Mashiko to experience its folk art or its natural scenery, you won’t be disappointed.

Getting there:

By car Japanese/English Reaching from Tokyo is a cinch. Take the Tohoku Expressway to the Kanuma Exit, about 100 kilometers north of the Kawaguchi Junction. You will exit onto Kanuma-Inta Dori, a large four-lane road that you should follow for about 8 or 9 kilometers. You will pass under the Shinkansen (bullet train) tracks, and come to a traffic signal. This is Highway 4; turn left. At the fourth traffic signal turn right; this is Highway 123 and it goes straight to Mashiko. After about 20km you will cross a railroad track and then hit a traffic signal after 400m. There’s a 7-11 on the left and a service station on the right. Turn right at the light and follow this winding road until it hits a T-intersection. Turn left and you’re on mainstreet. After one more stoplight you’ll be in the center of the shops.

By Train Japanese/English

This is also pretty easy. Take the regular Tohoku-sen or the bullet train out of Ueno Station and alight in Oyama. In Oyama transfer to the Mito Line and get off in Shimodate. In Shimodate switch to the Moka Line; it’s about half an hour to Mashiko.

Trip du Jour, April 29, 2000
Mashiko, Japan What's in a pot?
by Seth Davidson

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