Six Ancient Kilns of Japan
Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo
Tamba ware (also called Tamba-Tachikui ware) began between the late Heian and early Kamakura periods in the hills of Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture, close to Kyoto and Osaka, and is still made there today. Around 60 kilns remain, and a younger generation is active too. Drawing on the official Six Ancient Kilns materials, this page outlines how Tamba ware developed and what sets its glazes and techniques apart, along with the Tamba-connected potters, exhibitions and shops that megu knows about.
In its early days Tamba ware was influenced by Tokoname. Until the Edo period it was fired in anagama — trenches dug into the hillside and roofed over — making storage jars, pots and grinding bowls for everyday use. The Tachikui district, where the main kilns stand, was well suited to drying pottery because Tamba's characteristic morning mist clears early.
At the start of the Edo period (the end of the Keicho era), a Korean-style semi-underground climbing kiln was introduced, and the kick wheel spread at about the same time, making it possible to fire large batches in a short time. Products diversified into pepper jars, tea wares, sake flasks and more. In 1654 the Sasayama domain set up a kiln guild to control sales, and tea jars coated with red clay, along with grinding bowls, were shipped in quantity to Kyoto, Osaka and Edo. In the late Edo period a style called "white Tamba", decorated with white slip, also emerged.
From the Meiji era on, the kilns followed demand: large sake bottles, then medium-sized flasks in the Taisho era and plant pots in the early Showa era. The mingei folk-craft movement drew attention to Tamba's beauty, and after the war it was highly praised by Shoji Hamada, Kanjiro Kawai and Bernard Leach. At the 1958 Brussels World's Fair a brazier by Ichino Hiroyuki won the Grand Prix in the ceramics category. The Tamba-Tachikui climbing kiln, restored by the community and fired again, is said to be the oldest surviving climbing kiln.
Rather than holding to a single technique, Tamba has kept making all kinds of everyday vessels in response to the needs of each era. In the anagama period, the bright natural glaze formed by ash falling on the pots during firing was itself a striking decoration.
Since the climbing kiln arrived, wood-ash glazes have been central, along with ash from rice straw and chestnut burrs, and they remain the main glazes today; earth-ash, iron (black) and white glazes are also used. The kick wheel adopted at the same time as the climbing kiln turns counter-clockwise — unusual in Japan — and is handed down as a technique particular to Tachikui. When you pick up a piece, look at how the natural and ash glazes have run.
The Six Ancient Kilns of Japan (Nihon Rokkoyo) is the collective name for six representative pottery-producing areas whose production has continued from the medieval period to the present day: Echizen, Seto, Tokoname, Shigaraki, Tamba and Bizen. The name was coined around 1948 by the ceramics scholar Fujio Koyama, and in 2017 the six were recognised together as a Japan Heritage under the story "Kitto Koisuru Rokkoyo" (roughly, "You're sure to fall for the Six Ancient Kilns: pottery towns born and raised in Japan").
Of the six, only Seto made glazed ware; the other five are known for yakishime — unglazed stoneware fired hard at high temperatures.
24 people. Potters who have exhibited at a shop or gallery in Tamba, or whose profile mentions Tamba. This is not a complete list of the area's potters.
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