The Six Ancient Kilns official website
The Six Ancient Kilns is a collective term that refers to Japan’s
six distinguished kilns of Echizen, Seto, Tokoname, Shigaraki, Tamba and Bizen.
These kilns have produced pottery from medieval times to the present day.
The term was coined by a historic ceramics scholar, Fujio Koyama, in 1948,
and the Six Ancient Kilns were designated as Japan Heritage sites in 2017.

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News from Rokkoyo TOPICS & EVENTS

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News from the Pottery Production Areas TOPICS & EVENTS

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岡山県 備前 びぜん - BIZEN - OKAYAMA PREFECTURE

Bizen City is located in the southeastern part of Okayama. It faces the Seto Inland Sea and has a moderate climate. The city is situated at the intersection of the Yoshii River (one of the three major rivers in Okayama) and the Sanyo Road from Yamaguchi to Kinai, an excellent location in terms of logistics and transportation. It is the birthplace of Bizen ware, where a large number of pottery kilns still exists today.

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愛知県 常滑 とこなめ - TOKONAME - AICHI PREFECTURE

Tokoname City is located on the western coast of the Chita Peninsula in Aichi. The area is home to Tokoname ware, which has continuously kept up with times through its versatile production of products such as clay pipes, teapots, architectural ceramics, and sanitary ware. Making the best of its location and sea routes, Tokoname was said to be the largest production area of the Six Ancient Kilns in the middle ages.

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愛知県 瀬戸 せと - SETO - AICHI PREFECTURE

Seto is a city located east of the Nobi Plain and Owari Hills in northern Aichi. Surrounded by mountains and forests, the Seto area has been blessed with high-quality clay and wood for fire. The city of Seto is famous for its pottery and ceramics, so much so that the generic word for ceramics in Japanese is "setomono". It has thus been considered Japan's pottery capital for a very long time.

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福井県 越前 えちぜん - ECHIZEN - FUKUI PREFECTURE

Echizen is a town located on the west end of the Reihoku region of Fukui, bordered by the Sea of Japan. Ceramics created here were previously known as Kumaga ware and Oda ware respectively, but were renamed as "Echizen ware" in 1947 by ceramics scholar, Fujio Koyama, and continue to be referred to as Echizen ware today.

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滋賀県 信楽 しがらき - SHIGARAKI - SHIGA PREFECTURE

Koka City is located in the southern part of Shiga, south of Lake Biwa. Koka City has been historically known as a transportation hub. Between 4 million years ago and 400 thousand years ago Lake Biwa shifted, depositing high quality clay, the Paleo-Lake Biwa Formation, and giving birth to Shigaraki ware.

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兵庫県 丹波篠山 たんば - TANBA - HYOGO PREFECTURE

Tambasasayama is a city in the central eastern part of Hyogo near Kyoto and Osaka. Tachikui, a rural area richly endowed with nature, has utilized the slopes of its mountains to build kilns. Known as the home of Tamba ware, Tachikui still retains approximately 60 pottery studios in the district.

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六古窯ライブラリー LIBRARY

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