Arita

　　We were overwhelmed by the beauty of lots of Imari wares. Then we moved to another porcelain town of Arita. We stopped by a Japanese-style restaurant in Arita and we were surprised by their porcelain wares rather than their cuisine. More than 100 porcelain wares shops were aligned along the main street. Its number made me wonder how they were able to exist together. We dropped in at two famous factories. My wife was interested in porcelain and she knew the name of the factories. Tableware which had been used in Japan's Imperial Household and that used as a present for participants to an Imperial happy event like a wedding ceremony or some other official banquets were exhibited. I wanted to take pictures of them, but it was prohibited. Some wares were made more than 100 years ago, and they'd like to avoid deterioration by flash.
　　We toured three representative porcelain sites in Japan today. I started to feel that beautiful porcelains make our daily life happy.

焼き物の美しさに圧倒され、有田に移動した。まずは腹ごしらえと和風レストランに寄った。出てきた器にまたビックリ。写真を撮らせてもらった。重い箱形の食器。料理よりも出てくる食器に感嘆した。続いて町を散策。恐らく１００軒以上はあるだろう焼き物の店が道路沿いに並んでいた。こんなに多くて商売になるのか？と心配になるくらいの数だった。そのうち、有名な二軒に立ち寄った。皇室で利用されている食器、皇室の慶事で使われる引き出物などの展示があった。撮影は禁止されていた。さらに数世紀前に作られた国宝級の伊万里焼の壺がいくつも並んでいた。価格は付かないのだろうと思う。
この日は、唐津焼、伊万里焼、有田焼と見て回った。美しい焼き物は生活を豊かにするような気がしはじめた。