Ooh er! Well, about a month or so ago Katie and I went in search of all things pottery related in a town called Karatsu, just west of Fukuoka. We wanted to see the famous potters at work, watch stuff being cooked in big kilns and perhaps secretly hoped a pottery master would offer us both an all expenses paid apprenticeship.... Actually it was a bit of a wash out and weather wise, literally so, as it pissed with rain for most of the day and I couldn't fathom how the umbrella I nicked off Jon managed to open the wrong way every time... also, the 'kilns' turned out to be little galleries displaying beautiful but extortionately priced cups and the like. Niether Katie or I have any kind of understanding or appreciation for the different styles of pottery and I'm afraid that any admiration for what we saw was more in the vein of "bloody hell, 4 man (40,000 yen) for a plate? That's two hundred quid! And it looks like the one I got from the Hyaku Yen (100yen) shop last Thursday!". Yes, we are philistines...
What would have been a very disappointing day, turned out to be brilliant, thanks to the misinterpretation of the lady working at the station. After the kiln incident, we went to the station to see if there was anywhere within walking distance where we could actually see stuff being made. I think we managed the words 'see' and 'pottery'. She very kindly got on the phone and minutes later and with map in hand, we arrived at a little shop near some boutiques in a shopping mall. The lovely lady there was under the impression we wanted to make stuff and had set up a little table in the corner. Being a bit knackered, wet and clean out of any new words, we did as we were told and set to making little sake cups. Think both our efforts were looked at with much amusement and we were shown off as the in-house entertainment to any customers who happened to come through the shop whilst we were in there. Anyway, I was quite pleased with the 'rustic' quality of mine, which reminded me rather eerily of a similar pot I made when I was in junior school. Nice to see my motor skills have progressed since then....
So, obviously we weren't around to pick up said cups after the firing, so the lovely lady posted them to us. Katie's cup had kanji on it, kanji that Kumi reckons is wrong.... Mine's more wobbly than I remembered but does the job nicely.
In further developments the ever well connected Mutsuko found out about a pottery class in Nakatsu that is open pretty much every day. Mutsuko kindly took me and Katie to check it out on Thursday and we're all really inspired (even Mutsuko, who had gone in chaffeur/interpreter/good company mode thinks she's going to have a go). The owner Hatabe-San actually trained in Karatsu, as fate would have it and his wife speaks English very well and crochets too! First class on Thursday. Nice one.
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