Onta Pottery Village — Attraction in Hita

It’s a unique experience, a small village in the middle of the mountains, all houses basically dedicated to the craft, you see then drying the products outside and the shops are inside their homes. Such a local feel, the price range is reasonable with some going cheaper and some more pricey. They got a small free local museum, all the stuff inside is in Japanese though but nice enough to look at. The parking lot by the museum isn’t the biggest, it was quite empty when I got there around 9:30 am but completely full when I left around 11 am. Guess it depends on season and weather but it doesn’t seem like there are any other parking spots around so I suggest arriving earlier if...

This pottery village is a gem! Totally connected with the natural environment, river water is used to grind the clay taken from the river bank, very fine grinding, the potters move their wheel with their feet, the kilns are built using the natural inclination of the terrain and use the small wood pieces that remain from the local wood shops in the surroundings, I met potters with 50 years of expertise. And the local cafe prepares teuchi soba nooddles. This cafe is almost on top of the river, soft refreshing wind enters from the window and refreshes the air and brings the music of a calm stream. The lady in charge of the restaurant was very...

Am a potter hence wanted to visit this place to possibly make some ceramics or buy some unique pieces. However, there were probably only 4-5 shops that were opened, with many store owners being quite nonchalant and products were limited. Not as wide of a range as one would’ve expected. Interesting to still see how they pound the yellow clay using the force of the water. Love the cute (and only food store) soba...