Shigaraki ware was as authentic as the porcelain of Satsuma or Arita – a complex art form refined over millennia – but it was folk art: the rustic pottery of a humble people. Deliberately ...

In the final stages of the war, due to a shortage of metals, ceramics from various regions in Japan, such as Shigaraki and Mino ware, were used as substitutes for metal and were employed in the ...

We visit Japan's largest and oldest lake, Lake Biwa. A cat leads us to an overlook with a great view of the lake. We meet another cat hiding among the multitude of wares at a Shigaraki ceramics shop.