Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu

The Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, sits in Tajimi, the center of the Mino ware ceramic tradition in Gifu Prefecture. Mino kilns have produced some of Japan's most celebrated pottery styles, including the rustic Shino and Oribe wares of the Momoyama period, and the museum traces that lineage through a permanent collection alongside rotating exhibitions of contemporary ceramic art. The building itself is composed with the local landscape in mind, using wide glass walls to bring natural light into the gallery spaces. Tajimi has more working kilns per square kilometer than almost anywhere else in Japan, and the museum serves as a good orientation point before exploring the surrounding workshop district.