Onta-Yaki: A Gem From Japan

“Made for a purpose, made to do work. Sold to be used in everyday life.” Yanagi Sōetsu

Take yourself to Onta, a 300-year-old hamlet nestled between mountains outside the city of Hita, Japan. A small community of potters purify, shape and fire local earth to produce pottery referred to as ‘Onta-yaki’ using techniques and methods passed down from generation to generation.

A winding road runs through the village alongside a river, houses and kilns sit backing onto the river. Here watermills crush the turmeric-coloured earth collected from the mountains into a fine powder, the thump of the millstones echo through the valley as the sound of the passing river settles into the background. During the several annual firings, the smell of the kilns fills the air, and smoke slowly rises from the staggered roofs, cantilevering over the river.

The village has carefully preserved traditional methods, mindfully harvesting local materials and energy from the earth to produce long-lasting earthenware. The clay is collected from the mountains, purified using the power of the river, and then fired and glazed using wood-fired kilns. Each aspect of this production is unique to Onta, including patterns such as "hakeme" (brush marks), "tobikana" (distinct patterns), finger drawings, and "kushigaki" (combed lines), adding to the unique identity of every piece.

There is a strong sense of community in the village of Onta, with families playing a crucial role in the creation of every piece, each one inscribed with the mark of “Onta (小鹿田), the production is the work of the community, not that of an individual. In touch with the Mingei art movement, founded in Japan in the mid-1920s by Yanagi Sōetsu, Onta-yaki is a rejection of the perfect. The Mingei art movement relates to the conceptualisation of national identity in terms of the common people and focuses on simplicity and utility. Onta-yaki was designated by the national government as an Intangible Cultural Property of Japan in 1970, and upgraded to Important Intangible Cultural Property of Japan in 1995 demonstrating the historic, cultural and artistic prowess of this small community.

Made solely using the power of humans and nature, Onta’s potters are creating objects that symbolise the timelessness of our relationship with the earth and a mastery of the elements. We can feel the warmth of the earth as we hold each piece in our hands, making it feel as if it has absorbed the energy of the people and the nature that has created it. Onta-yaki is designed to be used daily, becoming a part of the rituals we perform and the spaces we inhabit.