Gen-emon Kiln and Museum

Established in 1753 in Arita, Gen-emon kiln has made handmade porcelain continuously for over 260 years. The workshops are open daily, where you can watch potters working floor-level wheels, painters applying underglaze with fine brushes, and kiln workers stoking fires with red pine logs. The adjoining Ko-Imari Museum was created by Gen-emon VI after he toured European museums in 1970 to study pieces exported from Arita in the late 1600s. The collection spans early 1630s pieces through export ware designed for European tables, plus porcelain fragments excavated from historic kiln sites in the area.