About the Ogawa Bunsai Family Residence
The Ogawa Bunsai Family Residence (小川文齋家住宅) is the home and workshop of the Ogawa Bunsai line of potters on Gojozaka in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, whose late Edo main house and storehouse and early Meiji climbing kiln were registered as three Registered Tangible Cultural Property structures on November 2, 2018. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the house as conveying the character of Gojozaka, which grew with the pottery trade.
According to Bunsai Kiln, the first Ogawa Bunsai (Bunsuke) learned kiln building in Kyushu and in 1847 built a kiln at Kaseyama in Yamashiro (now Kizugawa) at the invitation of the Ichijo family, who granted him the name Bunsai. After the Meiji Restoration he set up independently on Gojozaka in Kyoto in 1873, and the family has made ceramics here for six generations.
Three Structures
The main house is a town house of the omoteya type facing south onto Gojo-dori, its front built with projecting beams, a projecting lattice on the west of the upper floor and a heavily framed lattice window to the east. The storehouse, a small two-storey store, adjoins the north-west corner of the house (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
The climbing kiln, built east-west to use the rising ground along the north edge of the plot, has six connected chambers and measures 5 metres wide and 11 metres long. It is mainly of firebrick with a brick chimney at the north-east corner. The Agency values it as a rare relic of the pottery industry's prosperity in a heavily urbanised Gojozaka. All three were registered as contributing to the historic landscape of the country.
Visiting and Location
The Ogawa Bunsai Family Residence is a potter's home and workshop, and we found no official information on public access. Please view it only from Gojo-dori. Bunsai Kiln accepts enquiries about pottery classes and commissions (Bunsai Kiln).
Bunsai Kiln notes that the climbing kiln was damaged in 2018 and repaired the following year. The address is 502 Gojobashi-higashi 6-chome, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto.
References
- Bunsai Kiln (official website)
- https://bunsaigama.com/
- Ogawa Bunsai Family Residence Main House (Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00012576
- Ogawa Bunsai Family Residence Storehouse (Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00012577
- Ogawa Bunsai Family Residence Climbing Kiln (Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00012578
Last verified: 2026.10.07
