Akahadayama Motogama

The Layout of Akahadayama Motogama

Akahadayama Motogama (赤膚山元窯, Akahadayama Motogama) is a working pottery of Akahada ware in Akahadacho (Gojoyama), Nara City, Nara Prefecture, where a large climbing kiln from the late Edo period (1830 to 1867), a medium kiln built around 1951, and an exhibition room and former workshop from the late Meiji period were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2007. The family that runs Akahadayama Motogama passes down the potter's name Furuse Gyozo (古瀬堯三) from one generation to the next, and a Nara City lecture handout is credited to the eighth Furuse Gyozo.

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the pottery sits in the hills on the western edge of Nara City. The exhibition room and former workshop stands toward the south of the site with its ridge running east to west, and the climbing kilns rise behind it on the north slope, running north to south up the hill. The medium kiln lies almost parallel to the large kiln, and the database coordinates put it just west of its older neighbor.

The national description calls the exhibition room and former workshop the hinge of the site, the building that links the family's living quarters with the kilns. Walking from the house past the exhibition room and up the slope to the kiln yard is the easiest way to read how Akahadayama Motogama is laid out.

Akahada Ware and the "Middle Kiln"

Akahada ware is said to have begun in the Tensho era (1573 to 1592), when Toyotomi Hidenaga, lord of Koriyama Castle in Yamato, invited the potter Yokuro from Tokoname in Owari Province to open a kiln. The revival that led to today's Akahada ware came in the late 18th century, when Yanagisawa Yasumitsu (known as Gyozan), lord of the Koriyama domain, brought the potter Jihei from Kyoto. A Nara City lecture handout identifies Akahadayama Motogama, also called the Furuse kiln, as the heir to Jihei's kiln.

The Akahada kilns later split into three: the East Kiln, the Middle Kiln (Naka no Kama), and the West Kiln. Akahadayama Motogama is the Middle Kiln under a later name, and Nara Prefecture's tourism site still lists the pottery as "Akahadayama Motogama Furuse Gyozo Naka no Kama Jihei."

The same handout gives two reasons the site matters. Three climbing kilns survive side by side, showing clearly how climbing kilns grew smaller over time. And the whole chain of production still happens on one property: clay dug nearby is stored on the hill behind the kilns, refined by levigation in a settling yard on site, and glazed with mixtures made in-house. The handout calls both features rare in Japan and notes that many kiln tools, clay molds, and potter's wheels also remain.

The surrounding area is traditionally linked with the Haji clan, who made haniwa figures here in the Kofun period, and earthenware and roof tiles were produced in nearby Nishinokyo in the medieval period, so pottery has a long history on this ground.

The Three Registered Structures of Akahadayama Motogama and the Kiln Repair

The three structures of Akahadayama Motogama were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on July 31, 2007, under consecutive numbers 29-0115 to 29-0117, each as a structure that contributes to the historic landscape of the country.

• Akahadayama Motogama Exhibition Room and Former Workshop (29-0115): late Meiji period, extended in 1942. Wooden, partly 2-storey, tiled roof, building area 215 square meters
• Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln (29-0116): late Edo period. A brick multi-chamber climbing kiln with 8 firing chambers, 18 meters deep, 5.4 meters wide, and 6 meters high
• Akahadayama Motogama Medium Kiln (29-0117): around 1951. A brick multi-chamber climbing kiln with 5 firing chambers, 9.7 meters deep, 3.3 meters wide, and 4.4 meters high

Set the two side by side and the shrinkage is plain: 8 chambers become 5, and a depth of 18 meters drops to 9.7 meters. That gap in the numbers is the downsizing the lecture handout describes. A third, smaller kiln also survives on the site, but it is not part of the registration.

The large kiln became the focus of a conservation project in fiscal 2015, and dismantling, repair, and excavation began that September. In February 2018 a Nara City cultural heritage lecture was held at the Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln itself to report on the work, and in 2023 a lecture co-hosted by the Nara City Board of Education and the Akahadayama Motogama Preservation Society included a tour of the pottery.

Visiting Akahadayama Motogama

Akahadayama Motogama is still an active pottery, and visitors can see the exhibition room, the former workshop, and the climbing kilns. A visitor guide from the Kansai Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry (last updated March 2015) gives the hours as 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday, closed on the fourth Wednesday of each month, and states that photography is not allowed inside the exhibition room and workshop. Fees apply to the hands-on sessions: underglaze painting takes about 1 hour and hand-building about 2 hours. Groups book by phone or fax.

The same guide says English-speaking staff can assist with advance reservation and that an English pamphlet on the history of Akahadayama Motogama is available. Because the guide is several years old, confirm opening days and workshop details with the pottery before you go (phone 0742-45-4517).

By train, take a Nara Kotsu bus bound for Akahadayama from the south exit of Gakuen-mae Station on the Kintetsu Nara Line, ride about 10 minutes to the last stop, Akahadayama, and walk about 2 minutes. From Nishinokyo Station on the Kintetsu Kashihara Line, take a bus or taxi; on foot it is about 4 kilometers. Drivers will find free parking with room for 2 large buses.