Try your hand at hand building and wheel-throwing with guidance in English. Lessons are offered to one group at a time, ensuring the ultimate private pottery experience.（Please make reservations via our website)

This Shingon Buddhist Sect Buzan School Temple in Mashiko City， Tochigi Prefecture is dedicated to the 11-headed Kanzeon Bodhisattva.  Saimyoji temple is the twentieth temple in the Bando (33 Kannon temples of kanto region) pilgrimage circuit. The gabled thatched two-story gate and three-story pagoda constructed in 1492 and the miniature shine in the main temple hall that is said to be created during the Muromachi period have all been designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan. A statue of a laughing Yama (king of Hell) next to the Bodhisattva Jizo who protects those who have fallen to hell is also found here at the temple. The laughing Yama (king of Hell) is said to be the incarnation of the jizo."

Developed since the19th century for its fine quality and proximity to the big market Tokyo， Masiko-yaki pottery has long been liked for its daily use items such as pots， water jars and teapots. There are nearly 260 kilns， 50 shops and potters of youth and experience who create works of great variety. Pottery markets held in spring and autumn attract hundreds of thousands of Mashiko-yaki lovers. Even beginners can join workshops to learn how to decorate， hand-form or use a potter’s wheel， and enjoy authentic ceramic art.

The Pottery Fair have been held twice a year since 1966.Once in the spring during Japan’s Golden Week Holiday, and once in the fall around November 3rd. There are about 50 shops and as many as 550 tents set up selling pottery. There is a great variety of pottery sold from traditional Mashiko pottery, such as vases and pots to articles for daily use like cups and plates. The Pottery Fair provides a great chance to enjoy talking with young artists and local potters in the shops and tents. Besides pottery, freshly-harvested vegetables grown in Mashiko and some other speciality items from the region are big attractions of the fair. Every year about 600,000 people come to enjoy the fair.

Higeta Indigo Dyeing Workshop, established during the Kansei era (1789–1801), is a fabric-dyeing and weaving workshop. It is a rare workshop in Tochigi that inherited traditional indigo dyeing. It still uses the dyeing area created at the time of its establishment to dye the fabric in the traditional manner. Inside the 200-year-old building with a thatched roof, 72 earthenware indigo vats are neatly arranged. The building and the vat area are Tochigi Prefecture’s tangible cultural assets, and visitors can freely visit and see them. Indigo is a plant dye that has long colored ethnic costumes. Long ago in Japan, 80% of commoners’ cloths were dyed with indigo. The indigo color produced by the traditional Japanese indigo dyeing and plant dyeing methods is called Japan Blue and, together with the dyeing methods, is highly recognized around the world. The workshop engages not only in dyeing but also cotton cultivation, yarn-making, yarn dyeing, and handweaving in order to preserve the cotton tradition essential to the indigo dyeing culture. The workshop sells indigo-dyed cotton fabric, coasters, and tablecloths. Please come and see the traditional techniques and the beauty of indigo.