F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-207
Onta Ware Karausu Festival
小鹿田焼 唐臼祭おんたやき からうすまつり
Held every May 3-4 in Sarayama, Sakae-machi — the mountain hamlet that is home to Onta ware (ontayaki) in Hita City, Oita — the Karausu Festival is a once-a-year pottery market. The ten kilns (in recent years nine) of the village pack their workshops, eaves, and storerooms with vessels freshly drawn from the kiln for the occasion and sell them on the spot. Scattered along the valley stream are water-powered clay-crushing 'karausu' (trip hammers), whose creaking 'gii' and thudding 'don' echo through the valley all day long — sounds chosen for Japan's '100 Soundscapes' — turning the whole hamlet into the festival ground. In contrast to the grand autumn Folk-Pottery Festival, the May Karausu Festival is known as a more unadorned chance to take in village life and the craft up close amid fresh spring green. Said to have been founded in 1705, with techniques passed down from a single heir each generation, Onta ware's production technique is a nationally designated Important Intangible Cultural Property.
H I G H L I G H T S
Highlights
- 01Water-powered 'karausu' trip hammers crush clay all day, sounding one of Japan's official '100 Soundscapes'
- 02Ten kilns (nine in recent years) pile freshly fired vessels under their eaves, in workshops and storerooms for direct sale
- 03Onta ware's distinctive patterns — chatter-mark (tobi-kanna), brush-mark, and slip-trailing — bought straight from the source
- 04The fresh-green mountain hamlet itself becomes the festival ground in an unpretentious rural scene
D E E P D I V E