Kyushu, Japan · Town / small city
Twin porcelain towns at the heart of Saga, the birthplace of Arita-yaki and Imari-yaki ceramics since the 17th century: Tozan Shrine with its porcelain torii and the Tonbai Wall alleys built from kiln fragments in Arita, and the hidden potters' village of Okawachiyama, once the Nabeshima clan's secret kilns, in Imari.
Train — Direct JR 'Midori' or 'Huis Ten Bosch' limited express from Hakata (Fukuoka) to Arita Station, about 1h20min with no transfers, one train per hour; covered by the National JR Pass and the Kyushu Rail Pass. To also reach Imari, the private Matsuura Railway connects Arita and Imari in 25 minutes (not covered by any JR pass).
🏺 Traditional crafts
In Arita, a National Historic Site: this is where the stone that made Japan's first porcelain possible was found in 1616, and four centuries of quarrying have split the rock face in two. Free and open access, fifteen minutes on foot from Kami-Arita station.
On the outskirts of Imari, a mountain village with about 30 workshops where the Nabeshima clan secretly produced Nabeshima-yaki porcelain reserved for the imperial court; stepped Edo-era kilns and panoramic views from Nabeshima Hanyo Park.
A mid-17th-century Shinto shrine honoring the Korean potter who brought porcelain-making to Arita, with a torii gate and komainu guardian dog statues made entirely of porcelain.
From 29 April to 5 May, Japan's largest ceramics fair: some four kilometres of stalls along the main street. The 2025 edition drew 1.14 million visitors in seven days. There is park-and-ride with a shuttle, plus a parallel online edition.
The autumn version, at the end of November: far calmer than the spring one, geared to studio pieces and local food, with autumn leaves and free shuttles. It is when normally closed parts of the Izumiyama quarry are opened.
A retail complex of some 66,000 square metres with specialist Arita porcelain shops, a gallery, restaurants and a hotel. It is the same site that older guides call Arita Toji-no-Sato Plaza: it changed its name, they are not two places.
The most identifiable speciality of Arita: a gratinated curry served and baked inside a porcelain piece that the customer takes home. There are also tea rooms where you choose your cup from a large collection before taking your coffee, and set menus served on pieces from different kilns. Another local dish is godofu, a creamy paste similar to tofu.
A nationally designated Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings since 1991: 16 hectares, 165 traditional buildings and 130 elements of the setting. It mixes Edo-period ceramic merchants' houses with Western-style buildings from Meiji and Showa, and it is the same axis on which the fair is set up.
One of Japan's three great float fights, at the end of October: two mikoshi crash into each other to the beat of the drum that gives it its name and end up thrown into the Imari River.
From mid-June to the end of August hundreds of porcelain wind chimes are hung throughout the valley, and the collective sound between the rock walls is the attraction. A good excuse to see the kiln village at a time of year almost nobody chooses.
Several Arita workshops are open to visitors for underglaze painting, hand painting or throwing. Shipping the piece after firing usually takes weeks.
Japanese porcelain was born out of Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea between 1592 and 1598, after which the lords of Kyushu forcibly deported whole communities of Korean potters: in Japan they are called 'the pottery wars'. The individual figure of Ri Sampei, honoured as the father of the ceramics, is questioned by historians, and his canonical story was fixed in the Meiji era. In Okawachiyama there is a monument to the anonymous Korean potters: it is where this history is told best.
A former potters' quarter with walls built from old kiln bricks and discarded porcelain shards, meant to hide production techniques from rival workshops.
Free and open every day, with a replica of the Zwinger Palace in Dresden, a baroque garden and a sake distillery with tastings. Warning: the art gallery inside the Zwinger has been closed since the pandemic with no reopening date, even though many guides still list it.
In early November in Okawachiyama: on the 3rd there is an offering at the shrine where the founder of the kiln rests, and on the 4th the fude-kuyo is held, the ceremony of thanks to the worn-out decorating brushes, which are ritually burned.
The only significant onsen in the two municipalities, in Imari: fifteen different baths, a sauna, a large rock rotenburo with a garden and its own restaurant. Ureshino and Takeo, usually cited as the onsen of Arita, are in other municipalities.
Imari-gyu is the local wagyu brand, of the same quality standard as Saga-gyu, with yakiniku and grill restaurants concentrated in the town. It is the main dish on the Imari side, against the lighter cooking of the Arita side.
At Imari Station, a free gallery shows historic Ko-Imari and Nabeshima pieces on rotation. Ten minutes on foot, beside the river, an Edo-period house preserves the shop downstairs and the living rooms upstairs, and opposite the station a clock stages scenes from local history every hour.
A design hotel and restaurant within the Arita Será grounds, with rooms and tableware entirely dressed in Arita porcelain. It has no hot springs: Arita has no onsen.
The climbing kiln that archaeology links to the first production of Japanese porcelain, also a National Historic Site. Next to the quarry, a small Benzaiten shrine preserves a monumental ginkgo.
A small municipal museum in a stone warehouse in the old town, with Ko-Imari, Kakiemon and export Imari. It complements the Kyushu Ceramic Museum, which is the big one in the area.
Take-no-Koba park is known for its azaleas and for the view over Imari Bay; the Iroha-jima viewpoint, on the coast, is the local classic for sunset over the archipelago.
Imari defines itself as the town of ceramics and fruit: there are orchards with nashi pear picking from August to October and strawberries from January to May. It is the local counterpoint to museum visits.
Next to Arita Station, a thorough look at the history of porcelain across all of Kyushu, with historical and contemporary pieces.
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