We’ve been sailing up the west coast of Japan, with the ports getting smaller every stop. Last night we turned east and are now on the top of Honshu. Aomori is in a protected harbor facing the north, with the central mountains coming right into the sea. The below image is only half of the total panorama I took – it’s so desolately beautiful.
Today I decided to dive into local arts & crafts. We jumped on the bus and drove an hour west to Tsugaru. I knew we were in the north when I saw the 3-meter tall orange and white poles along the expressway – they get a lot of snow up here. It wasn’t long before we saw plenty of snow slowly melting along the road. We visited the small Shamisen Hall, which is a single-room museum to the creator of a shamisen school/style about 100 years ago. It’s s three-string type of guitar that is played with a large pick (“bachi“).
The museum has a stage where we enjoyed a 20-minute live performance. The body of a shamisen is more like a drum that a wooden box like a guitar, so the player uses the bachi to make a beat in addition of strumming the strings. You can also pluck the strings with the left hand while using the bachi at the same time. The Wiki entry gives a decent description of the instrument.
Unfortunately we were asked not to take video and my seat was too far back for good pictures. So here’s a video I found that’s actually from the same school/style that the museum supports.
Then it was time to get crafty. Along the way we passed many apple trees – seems apples are big in Aomori. Our guide said they trim the trees in a way to keep them short for ease of harvesting.
Tsugaru Kanayama Pottery was founded in 1985, but our pottery guide says they take their inspiration from the Kofun era (250 to 580 AD). They had some massive kilns, each chamber capable of firing 2000 pieces.
In the studio they had many pieces ready for the next time the kilns are heated. This studio is not into using glazes, so they celebrate the little differences in each individual item. The dimensions may be the same, the not the coloring. In the below picture some of the plates have splashes of glaze to emphasize the non-glazed.
Leaving the shop there is a Q & A wall exhibit. This answers is bracketed by two cups showing the two different kinds of partial-glaze they use.
Here are some examples of their wares. I’m not a fan of brown dinner plates, and I’m sure I’d break them all while flying home anyway.
It was a simple day. If you want, they will sell you their fire bricks so you can make your own pizza oven or something.
