[VILLAGE Report vol.4] This Town Supported Edo’s Dining Tables | Nagasaki Prefecture

Farther west from Saga. In Nagasaki Prefecture, there are 3 nationally designated Traditional Craft Products and 10 prefecturally designated items in 7 categories.

A town of about 14,000 people became number one in Japan.

Hasami ware began about 400 years ago, in Keicho 4. It is porcelain centered on blue-and-white decoration and celadon.

What we want to focus on is the following fact. In the late Edo period, Hasami's production of blue-and-white ware reached number one in Japan.

These were not expensive vessels for feudal lords or wealthy merchants. They were tableware at accessible prices, used every day by ordinary people. This small town supported the dining tables of Edo's townspeople.

"Affordable and carefully made" is not a compromise

Hasami's philosophy has remained consistent for more than four centuries. Vessels for use, not for display. Vessels that do not take center stage, but bring out the best in the food.

This attitude is, if anything, well suited to life today. It is not chosen because it is old; it has continued to be chosen.

Once a year, the town fills with vessels

During Golden Week, the Hasami Ceramics Festival has kilns and trading companies in the town about 150 shops setting up stalls. For these few days, when items are offered at 30-40% off regular prices, far more people than the town's population visit.

Many visitors are said to tour neighboring Arita and Mikawachi as well. Across prefectural borders, a belt of pottery towns has formed.

The power to make what comes from outside your own

Nagasaki was a place open to the world even during Japan's period of national seclusion. And the people here did not simply imitate what came in from outside.

Castella has its roots in a Portuguese confection, but the same thing does not exist in Portugal. Champon, too, is a dish born in Nagasaki.

Accept it, then remake it. The same thing should be necessary when sending Japanese things out into the world.

Next issue, we head to Kumamoto, the land of fire.

References: Nagasaki Prefectural Government, "Traditional Craft Products of Nagasaki Prefecture"; Nagasaki Prefecture official tourism portal site "Nagasaki Travel Net"; Hasami Town Tourism Association

—The Value Village Editorial Team

Photo: Nesnad / CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)