The Saga Prefectural Products Distribution and Design Corporation, in collaboration with Koimari Sake Brewery, a sake brewery that has been brewing sake in Imari, Saga for over 100 years, has begun selling the first new patterns of NOMANNE Arita ware Cup Sake in 16 years. The new products are available to purchase from the Sagair souvenir store at Kyushu Saga International Airport for a limited time. 

NOMANNE Arita ware Cup Sake is pure rice sake made exclusively from Saga Prefecture rice. This tasty beverage is served in local Arita ware porcelain cups, each with a traditional design. These make an amazing souvenir if you’re ever in the area!

NOMANNE Lineup

Five varieties of these cups have been released prior. After drinking, many prefer to use them as cups, vases, penholders, or simply as a decoration. The Maeda family, which runs the brewery, originally ran a kimono fabric shop in Imari. This is where Arita ware is the most popular, and it certainly seemed to leave an impression. 

Sakura Nishiki: ¥5,500 (Tax Included)

Sakura Nishiki is the perfect spring design, dotted with cherry blossoms. These are the symbol of a new beginning, and often mean that something good is about to happen. 

Kawari Daruma: ¥5,500 (Tax Included)

These Daruma have a purposefully strange shape. Traditional Japanese Daruma dolls have different meanings depending on their colors: red wards off evil, green is for good health, and white is for achieving one’s goals. 

Both sets will be available for presale for a limited time. Each NOMANNE cup comes in a beautiful box that makes a perfect gift. 

Ginza Tsutaya, located on the 6th floor of the GINZA SIX department store, is now holding a Spring Ceramic Fair until March 7, 2022.

Many popular ceramic artists are coming together for the event. This year’s lineup includes dishes and mugs with botanical patterns and animal motifs in spring-like colors to add color to tables and living spaces. A large number of works, from vases to tableware and even ceramic brooches, will be on display, including works by Wato Maekawa and Oda Pottery. 

Participating Ceramic Artists

Ritsuko Imai

After studying pottery in England, Imai currently lives and works in Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture. This year’s exhibition will show off her dyed works, including Zougan works, a technique in which different materials are inlaid into one material. Enjoy her small plates and teapots with soft colors.

Miki Furuhata

Miki Furuhata is a pottery artist in Nagano. Using gentle colors and unique self-made glaze, her colorful pieces are a lovely addition to one’s daily life.

Hanako Sakashita

Hanako Sakashita uses a ‘kneading’ technique, in which colorful clays are kneaded together to create patterns, marbles, stripes, checks, and countless other patterns. Enjoy the many textures, shades, and patterns found in her works!

Wato Maekawa

A ceramic artist living in Toyama Prefecture, Wato Maegawa creates works inspired by the four seasons. Her flower-shaped plates are reminiscent of Japanese sweets.

Toutousya

Using candle wax to make prototypes, these ceramic brooches and boxes are made with a technique adapted from candle making. These hand-painted pieces are very popular, and those on sale in this year’s exhibition are covered with flowers, birds, and animals in spring colors.

Oda Pottery

Oda Pottery was founded in 1921 in Mizunami City, Gifu Prefecture. Their lineup features vases that are easy to incorporate into any interior. 

From January 5 until February 13, 2022, the Museum of Japanese Art Yamato Bunkakan in Nara will feature a large exhibition of Japanese pottery, spanning from the Jomon period to the present day. 

Important Cultural Property – Painted Platter (Imari Ware) / Yamato Bunkakan Collection

Celadon Porcelain Vase – By Soubei Kinkouzan (Taisho Period) / Privately Owned

The exhibition will feature both potteries from the museum’s collection and those held by private individuals. The history of pottery in Japan began in the Jomon period around 14,500 BCE, and this earthenware eventually evolved into Sue ware, formed on a potter’s wheel. The Nara period saw the emergence of glazed ceramics. During the Momoyama period (1573-1603), the world of pottery was revitalized with the popularity of the tea ceremony. During the Edo period (1603-1868), porcelain was first successfully fired in Arita, and these pieces became popular throughout Japan. Painting on ceramics also became popular during this period, and although pottery saw less popularity after the Meiji Restoration, it has since evolved in different ways with more modern technology. 

Japanese men’s brand TENEO and Shibakusa Pottery, which was founded in 1841 in Hida-Takayama, are set to begin their first exhibition tour on July 9 which aims to make traditional Japanese craftsmanship part of our modern lives as contemporary art.

FULL HAND MADE with HAMAMOTO 

TENEO is rooted in the concept of combining and evolving the differing cultures and backgrounds of Japan and France. Shibakusa Pottery has been producing pottery in Gifu’s city of Takayama since the Edo Period and operates on the motto of “Handing down tradition is on the decline; tradition is the continuation of innovation.” Both TENO and SHibakusa have come together to launch a project that aims to develop and advance traditional craftsmanship, and so they are opening a series of exhibition pop-up shops beginning at DiEGO Omotesando in Tokyo on July 9 before heading to Discover Japan Lab. in Shibuya PARCO, g GIFT AND LIFESTYLE in Roppoingi Hills, and elsewhere.

Pre-orders for the products to be showcased at the pop-up shop are now available to pre-order online in Japan at TENEO and will be shipped in October. Exhibits include works by the young bonsai master Yusuke Hamamoto, flower arrangements Ayayoshi Ozono who maintains long-time traditional Japanese styles and techniques, and more.

The project will  collaborate with the international tattoo artist Hiro in October as well as many other traditional artists and craftsmen from inside and outside Japan. The pop-up shop also sees the release of the ‘GAS MASK POT/VASE.’ The purpose of these works is to show people new forms and ways of expressing tradition.

The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto has announced a new exhibition. A Chronicle of Modern Crafts: Works from the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto Collection will run from July 9 to August 22.

Crafts are one of the pillars of the activities at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, a facility that opened in 1963. This emphasis has helped form one of Japan’s premiere collections of crafts. Moreover, they have on occasion presented exhibitions such as the International Exhibition of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Contemporary Ceramic Art: Canada, U.S.A., Mexico and Japan, Fiber Works: Europe and Japan, and Contemporary Glass: Europe and Japan, which introduced and compared crafts from other countries with Japanese works, and exerted a strong influence on the Japanese art and crafts scene.

In this exhibition, the museum takes a look back at some of these events from the past based on works from the museum collection while retracing the development of modern crafts. This includes the exhibiting of 305 pieces, 231 from Japanese craftsmen and 74 from those overseas.

Renowned Japanese ceramicist Takemura Yoshinori is releasing his iconic TAKEMURA LAMP collection at the Nihonbashi branch of journal standard Furniture on June 26.

TAKEMURA LAMP

¥71,500 Each (Tax Included)

There are 22 lamps in this collection, all of which are individually crafted with the utmost care and detail. Takemura is known for his gorgeous colour choices and combinations. Takemura used to love chemistry and studied enamel compounds by himself. This has led to him using over 60 colours in his creations. The lamps serve not only to light up a room, but adorn it as an art piece too. They’re also a show of journal standard Furniture’s craftsmanship.

Asahido is now selling a collection of Disney-inspired ceramics made using a traditional Japanese pottery technique known as Kiyomizu which originated in Kyoto.

Winnie the Pooh Hundred Acre Wood Teacup

This collection of teacups features hand drawn designs of Winnie the Pooh and his friends relaxing in their home of the Hundred Acre Wood. They are dyed indigo using a traditional dyeing technique known as gosu which makes the colour run deep into the design. There are cups to pick from, one big and one small and both with different designs. More details here (in Japanese).

Mickey & Minnie Traditional Dyed Pattern Mugs

These smiley teacups are made using the same dyeing technique and feature Mickey and Minnie made from collages of traditional Japanese patterns that have long been used in Kyoto.

Disney Princess Plates

Seven Disney Princesses have been feauted in this hand-painted Kiyomizu ware plate collection, all of which are lined with gorgeous colours including gold. They make for beautiful decorations for any Disney fan’s room.

Mickey & Minnie Kiyomizu Dolls

“Rakuyaki” is the name of the hand-mouldered pottery technique used to crafts these Mickey and Minnie Mouse dolls, one which has been used since the Taisho Period. Compared to the other ceramics on this list, these dolls are baked at a lower temperature, giving the colours a softer look. Red and black are classic colour combinations used in this technique, so Mickey and Minnie were the perfect candidates. Only 100 of each will be sold.

The Kyoto-based luxury resort and spa AMAN KYOTO is now serving a special parfait for spring and early summer until June 30 which is inspired by traditional Japanese zen gardens.

Zen Garden Parfait

The Living Pavilion by Aman

Situated quietly in a secret garden at the heart of a forest, AMAN KYOTO is just a stone’s throw from Kyoto’s famous golden Kinkaku-ji Temple. This secluded spot is home to abundant nature with green filling your vision at every turn.

The Zen Garden Parfait is enjoyed at the resort’s dining space, The Living Pavilion. The sponge of the cake and the cookies are made with matcha and made to look like the moss of a zen garden. The delicious ‘stones’ are made from houjicha tea cookies, while the crunchy cocoa-flavoured cat tongue biscuits are reminiscent of trees. White chocolate sits hidden underneath the garden panna cotta while fragrant matcha tiramisu, which is made from organic matcha from Uji, helps to complete that garden look. Other sweet additions include rich matcha cream, a nine-layered tiramisu, yuzu ice cream, yuzu jam, and more.

The parfait is served in an original matcha bowl made by Japanese ceramics artist George Nakamura.