Nagoya Festivals

Aichi is Japan’s modern-day hub of automotive manufacture. Long before that, about 800 years before Mr. Toyoda’s Type G Automatic Loom, Aichi was a hub for pottery. During the Heian Period (794-1185), Japan had ‘Six Ancient Kilns’ of ceramics production, two in Aichi: one at Seto, and the other – by far the largest and most important – was in Tokaname, with some 3,000 kilns found in the Chita Peninsula area. During the Meiji Era (1868-1912), Tokaname-yaki – the red clay pottery for which the city is famed – became the primary component of much of Japan’s roofing tiles, water, and sewerage pipes as the nation modernized, as well as teapots, sake pots and jars for carrying water. Production of pottery continues in the area to this day, with approximately half of the city’s manufacturing output being ceramic based. It is this history of excellence that is celebrated each year by the Tokoname-yaki Pottery Festival. About the Tokoname-yaki Pottery Festival Due to Tokoname’s status as Japan’s most famed pottery hub, every year, ceramics lovers – artists, wholesalers, and others from all around the country descend upon the city to revel in all things pottery. From October 3 to 11, 2020,…