Yamagata Prefecture
In Hirashimizu, a centuries-old pottery tradition continues to this day.
Quietly nestled down in the shadow of Chitoseyama Mountain on the eastern edge of Yamagata City, just a stone’s throw away from the bypass, pachinko parlors, and car dealerships is a little village known as Hirashimizu.
Hirashimizu is a quiet place, a narrow valley between mountains with a little stone-walled creek running through the middle, and little plank bridges leading to individual houses. Here also, owing to the iron-rich clay of the nearby mountain, a centuries-old pottery tradition continues to this day. While the numbers have diminished over time, several pottery kilns operate to this day, producing some extraordinary earthen wares.
Quick Info
Cost
Free to explore
Pottery and Sake Tasting experiences are paid experiences here.
Average Duration
30 minutes – 1 hour
Address
平清水 Yamagata, 990-2401
Other tips
Hirashimizu is best accessed via taxi or rental car and is about a 15 minute drive from Yamagata Station. See rental car options here.
Shichiemongama is probably best known of the surviving kilns, and its showroom is packed with all kinds of covet-worthy articles. The Shichiemongama style combines a certain corporeal roughness gliding seamlessly into a lustrous, gradient glaze. You can also try your hand at the craft, and take a class in their workshop.
Next to Shichiemongama is Kusakida Kobo Kameya, a shop specializing in silks, washi (traditional Japnese paper), and other articles naturally dyed with plants cultivated in nearby fields. The store also sells beautifully dyed Mayudama, or “cocoon jewels”, used in New Year’s decorations to bring good luck and a bountiful cocoon harvest in the coming year. An enormous variety of flowers and plants grown year-round, including the famed benibana, or deep-red safflower, to which Yamagata’s biggest summer festival, the Hanagasa Matsuri, is dedicated. (Note that the store is closed to the public from December 25th to the end of February.)
Just a block up from Shichiemongama you’ll come across a fantastic little sake shop called La Jomon. It’s worth taking a few minutes to explore this store, as the proprietors offer a beautifully curated selection of Japanese sake, as well as drinking snacks, with an emphasis on Yamagata-made selections. La Jomon partners with different local breweries to produce unique small-batch sakes that exhibit all the qualities that make Yamagata Sake so famous.
Experiences
Hirashimizu also has a special ceramics and sake tasting experience that you can take part in during your visit. This tour is run by multiple shops and local guides here in Yamagata.
Learn more about the experiences offered here.
Access
Hirashimizu is best accessed via taxi or rental car and is about a 15 minute drive from Yamagata Station.
Here is the address to the pottery shop in Hirashimizu.
〒990-2401 Yamagata, Hirashimizu, 153 七右エ門窯
