Pottery Tour

Gave another free pottery tour of Okawachiyama Village last weekend. Had a nice time with a family from Boston living in Osaka.

Apologies for not updating the shop site and this blog much recently. I've been a bit overwhelmed with new house stuff (see photo). Look for new items being added to the Village of the Secret Kilns Pottery Shop in the near future!

Music Inspired by Okawachiyama Pottery Village

Last year I took Keith Stead on a tour of Okawachiyama pottery village. We spent several hours strolling through the narrow lanes, visiting kilns and talking with local potters.

Keith is a Royal College of Music graduate and an accomplished smooth jazz musician. Recently Keith composed, arranged and produced music based on his visit to this quaint Japanese country villlage. Find the delightful 4-track EP here. My favorite, Echoes of a Dream, has me hitting the rewind button.

David

Sun Set

Hot day after hot day. That's been my summer. Forbes is saying this has been just about the hottest summer ever. And I believe it. But I must say that, with the help of AC running all night it hasn't been all that bad. Perhaps I have been here so long that I am accustomed to it. I have had more than my share of beach days and have had a nice sunburn to remind me of all the fun I have been having every Monday except 3 in the last 3 months.

There is an noticeable lag in all things pottery in the summer. Perhaps it has something to do with bring an oven up over 1000 degrees in a room that is already 40. The painters and sales people slow down enough but the people who "fire" are more likely to be found in their garden or at one of the dozens of town festival than anywhere near a stove (BBQs not withstanding) and I have never even heard of a wood kiln running in the summer months ... I'm sure some people do it ... but they must be crazy.

For me the end of summer means Sunset Live. Sunset is a 3 day concert/festival/party/event held in Keya on Itoshima in Fukuoka Prefecture. Sunset features the very best in Japanese reggae and Ska with a healthy dose of jazz, rock and folk thrown in for good measure. The three stages are all on or next to the beach and the atmosphere is sexy, friendly and playful .... and I am getting excited just thinking about it.

I would like to write more ... but ... yeah ... well, I would rather be packing my car. It starts in just a few short hours. You have a good weekend ... but unless you get married to a rich supermodel or happen to be going to Sunset Live I doubt it will be anywhere near as good as mine.

I'll try to get some pics up next week, assuming I don't loose or break my phone ... I would say thats about a 50/50.

Mark

My little pottery garden

There is something I have been meaning to tell you about for some time now. For 3 weeks, maybe more. But it involves me spending some time outside and, in Japan, in the middle of rainy season, no one spends any more time outside than is absolutely necessary.

You see, loving The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael and fine eating, I have planted a small herb garden. Nothing particularly impressive, but it is mine and I am, never the less, quite proud of it. I have been wanting to put a picture of the garden up but also, more closer to the occasionally kept to theme of this blog, I wanted to show you some of the pottery I have been finding. You see, the garden is in the front yard of my house. A house that was built by the owner of one of the larger pottery shops on the main drag in down town Arita many years ago. Right up until literally the day before I moved in, hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of ceramics were stored here.

When I first moved in and started clearing the out of control foliage that I can still bairly call a “yard”, I would often find cracked or smashed pieces of “yakimono” laying on the ground. Mostly small fragments but many large items as well. Occasionally, I even came across ones that were still completely intact (I found a couple of my favorite sake cups clearing out a dead bush). I thought that I had removed most of the discarded porcelain, but now that I am digging and tilling the earth, I am stating to find hundreds more pieces. Digging a hole to shove a basil plant in often feels more like an archeology dig than farming. I try to keep that kind of fun mindset cause if I didn't, pulling a little piece of pottery out of my garden every 10 seconds would get really tired really quickly.

But it is fun ... sometimes I recognize a fragment as the work of a kiln or potter I know. Often I find myself holding a tiny piece and wondering what the original object was. Once in a while I even look at a design or pattern and wonder who would make/buy something so ugly ...

Mark

SURFS ... down

The other morning I woke up early(ish) and hit the road. But this time it wasn't about the yummy yummy squid. With board, wax and wet suit in tow, I took off for the beach. I drove an hour and a half to Keiya on Itoshima. Sure there are closer places to surf but this is my favorite point. A beautiful cape with 33.3 Km of shoreline, most of it sandy beach. One of my favorite places in Japan now that I think about it. The weather man had told me it was going to be warm and sunny. The oceanographers told me there were going to be waves.

I had the day off and I was determined to make it a great one!

I don't know where my sun, warmth and waves went but would like to make abundantly clear that I saw nothing of the sort. It was gray. Gray and damp. I would compare it to the drizzle of London in the fall but I have never actually been to London. Ok... umm... it was not unlike the drizzle of London (Ontario) in the fall.

The one good think to come out of this fools errand was I got to go to Natty Dread. Natty Dread is a hand made beach side restaurant that can't even boast running watter amongst it's charms. But what it can boast is, what has to be Japan's finest Jerk Chicken. A spicy, smoky, slow cooked over an open flame piece of heaven.

Mark

Life is Change, Squid is Good

Living in Japan will change a man. Perhaps living anywhere will change ya. Perhaps just living changes all who are blessed to go on doing so.

Yesterday before sitting down to watch a day of sumo I drove out to my favourite squid place. A little BBQ place near Karatsu. It's on a secluded beach on the far tip of a peninsula that darts deep into the Tsushima Strait at the very bottom of the Sea of Japan. Sure there are closer places that sell squid. Hundreds I suppose. But this place is my favourite and the long drive through mountains and farm land is just part of the experience.

How strange this would have seemed to me a few (well ... it may actually be a few more than a few) years back. I had eaten squid before I came to Japan. It was a dare. Now I have a "favorite squid place". I recommend it to friends and when I haven't been there for a while I find myself missing it. "Life is change. Growth is optional." Indeed.

Mark

Tell me why I don't like Mondays

It was a beautiful weekend but the new week somehow brought yet another rainy Monday with it. How many weeks/months (years!?) can this unlucky trend last?

I had a small BBQ on Saturday night. Just a couple friends making Jerk Chicken and having a few drinks together. The weather in Arita is great right now. Warm in the days, but not oppressively hot like it will be in a few weeks. Then becoming cool and crisp in the evenings. Reminds me a lot of Canadian summers.

Mark