Chestnuts, black beans, and wild boar meat are the specialties of the area, and many people come here to enjoy the rich food, and you can find some fancy restaurants in the middle of the countryside that have been converted from old private houses.

A trip to the green, rural area to dine on some delicious food is appealing, but this time I would like to recommend a trip with the theme of “pottery”.

The Tamba-yaki pottery produced in this area is from one of the six oldest kilns in Japan with a history of 800 years. There is a pottery village with about 60 kilns, and it is a sacred place for “Mingei” (folk art) pottery.

“Mingei” means ‘the daily necessities of the people.’ Made by unnamed craftsmen, the beauty of this pottery was described by the philosopher Mr. Muneyoshi Yanagi. Their simple and practical designs are very appealing, and recently they have been attracting more and more young fans.

If you are visiting from Tokyo, the quickest way is to rent a car from Kyoto, but I wasn’t too confident in my driving skills, so this time I took the train from Shin-Osaka to Sasayama-guchi station and rented a car from there to start my trip to Tamba-Sasayama.

The first place I headed to was the Konda area, where the pottery makers of “Tamba Tachikui-yaki” are located. If you are a fan of Mingei, this is a must-see place.

Lunch Spot: Tama no suke (玉の助）

A quick lunch at a restaurant “Tama no suke” (玉の助） specializing in “Tamagokakegohan” (a dish of white rice mixed with raw egg, seasoned with soy sauce) in the Konda district.

Place1 . Tanso Klin（丹窓窯）

The first place I visited was Tanso Kiln, where the spirit of Mr. Shigeyoshi Ichino is still alive. Ichino trained in the studio of Bernard Leach, a British potter who participated in the Mingei movement, and was a close friend of Muneyoshi Yanagi.

Small slipware dishes and other items can be purchased at relatively low prices.

Place2 . Toshihiko Kiln（俊彦窯）

Next was the Toshihiko Kiln, owned by Mr. Toshihiko Shimizu, who is also a second-generation pupil of Mr. Kanjiro Kawai.

This kiln has recently become popular overseas as well.

Place3 . Tamba-yaki Tachikui Noborikama（丹波焼立杭登窯）

Located near the Toshihiko Kiln, the Tamba-yaki Tachikui Noborikama Kiln is also a must-see. It is the oldest Noborikama style of kiln in Tamba-yaki and the prefecture has designated it as an important tangible asset of folk culture heritage.

The view of the woodland area from the top is also beautiful.

After the luxurious shopping experience of buying pottery while listening to the craftsmens’ stories, I went to Sasayama, a historic castle town.

Place4 . Tamba Kotokan Pottery Museum（丹波古陶館）

Here, be sure to visit the Tamba Kotokan Pottery Museum and see the masterpieces of Tamba-yaki.

Place5 . Taos Guest House

I stayed at Taos, a century-old traditional Japanese house that has been recently turned into an inn, with a co-working space, dining room, two bedrooms, and spacious accommodation for up to six people.

In fact, one of the inn’s specialties is “Mingei tableware”.

Why are there so many Mingei folk-art pieces inside? It’s because this inn is run by Plug, a nearby store with a large selection of Mingei pieces.

Place6 . plug (interior shop)

If you find a product you like, be sure to visit Plug as well. This store is also very sophisticated, and you will have a great shopping experience here.

Dining Spot . Shunsai Matabee(旬菜又兵衛)

In the evening, I went to Shunsai Matabee, which is run by Kinmata, a historic ryokan established in the Edo period, within walking distance from the inn.

As expected of an izakaya run by a high-class ryokan, all the dishes were delicious and beautifully arranged.

Place7 . Chinese Tea Cafe Kotori

If you want to explore more folk-art spots, head to the Chinese Tea Cafe Kotori.

The interior of the renovated samurai residence next to Sasayama Castle is very tasteful, but the restaurant is actually run by the daughter of Masaaki Shibata, a potter who is also deeply involved in Mingei, and the dishes served here are made with his pottery.

There is also a corner in the store where Mr. Shibata’s pottery is sold.

In this article, I have only introduced you to the Mingei folk-art spots, but it is also fun to wander around the castle town, which still retains the atmosphere of the Edo period.

The post 7 Places You Must Visit in Tamba-Sasayama to Discover “Mingei” Pottery appeared first on Trip Planner Japan.

He was a master of the craft who ruled over the architectural world of the Showa Era, and was referred to as “The Kenzo Tange of the East, and Togo Murano of the West”.

The Nissay Theatre in Hibiya Tokyo, often mentioned as one of Murano’s masterpieces, occasionally holds free architectural tours, so I decided to drop by.

A guide kindly explained a great deal about Murano’s nearly paranoid-level commitment to his style, so I’ll be introducing this unique architectural space while adding what I learned.

First, the entrance.

It’s rumored that some of the mountains in Spain disappeared because of the sheer amount of beautiful, white marble used. Murano was very particular about eliminating the border between the floor and the reception counter in the photo, and so it looks almost as if it has grown up from the floor.

From trash bins and stands to ash trays, nearly everything located within the theatre was originally designed by Murano.

And the red carpet of the stairs leading to the theatre floor is not actually placed on the floor, but the marble has been hollowed out and the carpet embedded. (!)

The handrail with its elegant, delicate curves, was created with the image of “a gentleman reaching out to a lady.”

One of Murano’s famed architectural pieces, the elegant spiral staircase.

Apparently, Murano was very particular about the back of this spiral staircase being perfectly smooth, and didn’t overlook even the smallest of irregularities.

If you touch it, it really is incredibly smooth, and you can almost hear the groans of the tired workers from the time it was made.

The ceiling inside the theatre is akoya pearl oyster, and the walls are glass mosaic tiles. Together they create a wide-open, dreamy space that almost makes you dizzy.

It is said that no matter how hard the skilled craftsmen worked, the task of sticking the tiny pieces of baked glass onto the wall only progressed about 10cm(3.9in) per day.

And apparently, during the final check, Murano was displeased with this corner of the theatre door marked in the photo and personally added a small accent. From the eyes of an amateur, the need for the accent is a complete mystery…

When looking at the way the chairs are aligned, perhaps a number of people feel it’s a little “insane” or “like a nightmare.”

Murano was famous as an extreme perfectionist. When taking a tour of another of his works, the Meguro Ward General Government Building, a guide said that Murano looked up at the ceiling 7 floors above himself and said “I need to move that 10cm to the right…” or something along those lines. (That eyesight is nothing to laugh at, either…!)

I asked the guide, “Weren’t there any craftsmen at the time devastated after hearing that?” to which he replied, “Well, he was a god, so…” It seems everyone at the time followed Murano unwaveringly.

The pure passion and desire to create something truly good along with an extraordinary level of perseverance created a piece of architecture which is still cherished today.

That being said, the ‘perfect’ structure originally envisioned by the master Murano has been partially altered due to unavoidable circumstances such as creating a barrier-free space, the addition of LED lighting, etc.

Although I’m not personally connected to the architecture, even I thought “Murano must be rolling over in his grave over these changes…” and felt a bit worried. If you stop by sometime, I recommend you stop and take the time to take in all the details of the building. I think it deserves to be a world heritage site.

The number of buildings left by Togo Murano is decreasing, but some remain, so if you ever travel around Japan you should definitely add them to your list of sights to see.

The post Hibiya’s “Nissay Theatre”, Designed by Showa’s ‘Architecture God’ Togo Murano appeared first on Trip Planner Japan.

Coming from an impoverished upbringing, she often moved house as a child. After succeeding as a writer, and as if to heal her wounds of that time, she planted her roots in the shape of a gorgeous home in Shimoochiai in Shinjuku Ward.

It’s currently the “Fumiko Hayashi Memorial Hall”. The designer of the home was Bunzo Yamaguchi, one of the leaders of the modern Japanese architectural movement, who studied under the Berlin architect Walter Gropius.

It’s a 7-minute walk from the Seibu Toei subway “Nakai Station”. The home of Fumiko Hayashi still stands at the foot of a hill with a solemn atmosphere.

To be honest, she invokes a strong image of poverty, and so regardless of her success I imagined that her home would be more cozy, but the size was astonishing with the area of the property being 900㎡.. ‘Th-this is a mansion!’ I thought.

The quaint slopes and stairs leading up to the entrance make you feel as if you were lost on a small path in Kyoto. The traditional scenery makes you forget you’re in Shinjuku.

Looking down on Fumiko’s house from the top of the hill, it looks like this.

The Shimoochiai area, which used to be an area where many artists gathered to live, is full of quaint slopes. The whole area felt to me like something that could be in a painting itself.

Well then, let’s pay the surprisingly cheap 150 yen entrance fee and head inside.

By the way, this area which is now the entrance used to be the service entrance. The main entrance for guests at the time is currently closed from outside, but you can check it out after entering, so be sure not to miss it. From the main gate to the entrance, you’re surrounded by bushes of Moso bamboo, and the atmosphere feels like an old-fashioned restaurant in Kyoto. It’s a gorgeous approach.

The shape of the house is a combination of two buildings coming together, and I thought it even looked like modern luxury Japanese inns with detached rooms, but really, this was an idea to evade building regulations at the time.

When this house was built around 1941, there was a floor area limit of about 100㎡ per house (during that era, luxury was seen as an enemy) and so a mansion of this size shouldn’t have been built.

By first building a home for her painter husband’s, and then another under Fumiko’s name, they were able to connect them to avoid the regulations. Fumiko, who lived so freely, found a pretty cool way to break the rules.

It’s a beautiful piece of Japanese architecture that will take your breath away no matter what angle you look at it from.

Before building the house, Fumiko bought around 200 texts on architecture, and designed the blueprints and layouts for the home herself. So she was clearly enthusiastic about visiting Kyoto to tour and study old houses. She must have been someone with an incredible sense of beauty in all things, especially so in writing.

The interior is beautiful as well, so you absolutely must check it out. Most of the furniture is fixed, the kitchen is what we’d now call a system kitchen, despite the war at the time the toilet flushes with water, and money has clearly been spent on the other furnishings.

It’s as if Fumiko herself is saying defiantly: Luxury is the enemy?  This is the house of a successful female writer, you got something to say!?

She ordered the carpenter to put printed cotton from India in the closet where futons were kept. It’s a gorgeous piece that seems out of place in a cool and sharp interior design, something that just screams that this is the house of a woman writer.

The concept which Fumiko considered most important was a “house with a north-south-east-west wind.” The wide open porch and large windows on the north side of the house allows for great air flow.

Apparently all of the sunny and comfortable rooms were for family, and she did not like to spend a lot of money on a drawing room. It seems the editors who would come to pick up manuscripts had to wait in the cold and dark north-facing rooms. (Although, the editors that she was fond of were allowed to wait in the warm, sunny rooms).

The cupboard attached to the well polished artificial stone sink is still lovely to this day. The kitchen is another area Fumiko decided to spend money on. Being peculiar about the areas we use water is quite feminine, right?

Almost all of the light fixtures in the house are new, but this one is supposed to be from the time the building was completed.

This study was originally a storage room.

Despite living in such a luxurious home, it’s said Fumiko spent most of her time here. She set up a permanent sleeping space behind her chair, and spent her days writing until she slept, then waking up and writing.

It’s said her premature death could have been caused by her not refusal to turn down work. She worked on an unreal amount of serialized publications. Looking out the window at her beautiful garden must have been one of her ways of relaxing.

The amazing thing about the Fumiko Hayashi Memorial Hall is that you can get a tour from volunteer guides while you view the inside. When I went, I didn’t have much time and so I just quickly looked around in about 15 minutes. The guides will take you around and explain things in great detail for about an hour if you’ve got the time, though. (You can check the official site to see the contents of the tour.)

For me, this was a beautiful house that made me think “This is a mini Kyoto here in Shinjuku!” Why don’t you go and check it out on a day off when the weather’s nice?

See also⇒　Walking around Fumiko Hayashi’s house and the town of traditional fabric dyeing

The post A Walk Through the Home of a Famous Author, Fumiko Hayashi. A Piece of Kyoto in the Heart of Tokyo appeared first on Trip Planner Japan.

Even if world-famous product designers such as Jasper Morrison, Konstantin Grcic, or Naoto Fukasawa designed MUJI’s products, they never divulge the name of the designer on the products, keeping the philosophy of the brand “Muji”.

He believed that beauty resides in practical handicrafts made for the common people not luxury goods.

It used to be thought that there was no beauty in the mundane things that were used every day by common people, but the movement of Yanagi and others brought the beauty of common things into the limelight. Now there are stores all over Japan that specialize in selling Mingei works and museums that exhibit only Mingei.

It is no surprise that Naoto Fukasawa, who was involved in many of MUJI’s product development projects was appointed as the director of Nihon Mingei Kan (The Japan Folk Crafts Museum) in Tokyo, the first and most respected of the many Mingei museums in Japan.

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