Hasami Town in Nagasaki Prefecture will hold Open Hasami 2026, a new event that invites visitors to tour the "behind-the-scenes" of the pottery town, including its craftsmanship, food, and culture that are not usually visible. The first edition runs for four days, from Saturday, October 31 to Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday), 2026.
A Pottery Town Built on Division of Labor
Hasami ware has a history of about 400 years, and the region produces about 14% of Japan's everyday tableware, making it one of the country's leading ceramics-producing areas. The craft is not completed in a single workshop. It is supported by a division of labor in which many trades are connected: mold makers (katayas, 型屋) who create the molds that give each vessel its original shape, body makers (kijiyas, 生地屋) who shape clay into vessels, kilns (kamamoto, 窯元) that apply painting and glaze and fire the pieces, and trading companies (shosha, 商社) that deliver the products across Japan.
About 260,000 people visit the Hasami Pottery Festival each spring, but the people and work behind a finished vessel are still not widely known. Hasami also has many attractions beyond the vessels themselves, including food, agriculture, history and culture, and daily life.
To share these attractions and increase the number of people who want to visit again and again, six organizations from government, tourism, and industry established a new organization called the "Open Hasami Project." The six are Hasami Town, the Tohi Chamber of Commerce (東彼商工会), the Hasami Town Tourism Association (波佐見町観光協会), the Hasami Ware Promotion Association (波佐見焼振興会), the Hasami Ceramics Industry Cooperative (波佐見陶磁器工業協同組合), and the Nagasaki Prefecture Ceramics Wholesalers Cooperative (長崎県陶磁器卸商業協同組合). Together with businesses and organizations in the town, the project aims to create a "new autumn culture."
Open Hasami 2026 is the first event of the project. Beyond simply buying Hasami ware, it opens up the work and people involved in making each vessel and the appeal of the town behind them. Visitors travel around kilns, workshops, farms, restaurants, and historical and cultural sites to see, touch, and experience a side of Hasami that is not usually visible. They can peek into workshops, talk with makers, try making something themselves, and enjoy local food, and they are free to visit whichever places interest them.
What to Expect: "See, Learn, Play: Shall We Open It Up?"
Under the theme "See, Learn, Play: Shall We Open It Up?", visitors tour manufacturing sites they normally cannot enter, meet makers, and experience local food and culture around town.
1. See: Go Where Pottery Is Made
Kilns, workshops, and manufacturing processes that are not normally open to the public will be opened for these four days only. Visitors can see for themselves where, by whom, and how the vessels they use every day are made.
2. Learn: Meet the People Behind the Vessels
Through craftsperson demonstrations, workshop tours, and workshops, visitors can meet makers directly. They can learn the background and stories of making that a finished vessel alone does not reveal, such as "So this is the kind of person who made this bowl."
3. Play: Tour the Town from Workshops to Food
Open Hasami is not an event held at a single venue. Visitors tour kilns and workshops, restaurants, and cultural spots at their own pace and find their own way to enjoy the town.
4. Taste: More Than Pottery
Shops in town will offer special menus and new menus created for the four days, so visitors can enjoy Hasami through food as well, throughout the day.
Open Hasami 2026 Overview
Name: Open Hasami 2026
Dates: October 31 (Sat) to November 3 (Tue, national holiday), 2026
Note: Hours vary by business and program.
Location: Various locations in Hasami Town, Nagasaki Prefecture
Organizer: Open Hasami Project
Official Website: https://open-hasami.com/
Event Base: Hasami Town Auditorium
The base of the event is the Hasami Town Auditorium (波佐見町講堂), which is a nationally registered tangible cultural property. For visitors who are not sure where to start, recommended routes will be suggested according to their interests and how they like to spend their time. Visitors can freely combine "see," "learn," "play," and "taste" to find their own Hasami, and touring the town itself is part of the fun of Open Hasami.
Address: Hasami Town, Nagasaki Prefecture 859-3711 (波佐見町井石郷2196-2)
Access
By car
- Approx. 5 to 6 minutes from Hasami-Arita IC on the Nishi-Kyushu Expressway
- Approx. 15 minutes from Ureshino IC on the Nagasaki Expressway
By public transportation
- Approx. 15 to 20 minutes by bus from Kawatana Station on the JR Omura Line, and get off at the "Nishinohara" bus stop (right in front of the venue)
- Approx. 15 minutes by taxi from Arita Station on the JR Sasebo Line
Why Open Up Hasami Now?
Hasami Town, home of Hasami ware with its history of about 400 years, is currently facing issues such as population decline and a shortage of people to carry on the work, and is asking how to pass its daily life and craftsmanship on to the next generation. For this reason, the town needs more people who are involved with it and more partners who will build its future together.
The project hopes to reach everyone: people who live in Hasami, people who work there, people who have visited, people who love using Hasami ware, and people who do not yet know the town. By helping them learn not only about Hasami ware but also about the people, work, culture, and daily life behind it, the project hopes to increase the number of people who like Hasami and want to come back. Government, tourism, and industry are working together across boundaries to open up the appeal of the town itself, with the hope that Open Hasami will become an opportunity for people to meet and for new challenges to begin.
Re-Editing the Attractions Already in Hasami
Open Hasami is not an event that creates something entirely new from scratch. The stars are what is already part of Hasami's everyday life: its workshops, kilns, shops, agriculture, food, people, and culture.
Events and initiatives already taking place in the town, along with its people, places, culture, and industries, are connected into the four days of "Open Hasami" and re-edited. Things that once seemed separate are linked together, creating new encounters.
When doors open all over town, the whole of Hasami becomes one large venue. Rather than "going to see an event," touring the town itself becomes the event. Visitors can see both the Hasami they know and the Hasami they did not know, and the familiar town looks a little different. That is the new way of enjoying Hasami that Open Hasami offers.
Organizer Comment
Hasami has many attractions that are not yet widely known, not only pottery but also work, food, culture, and daily life. We hope Open Hasami will give the people of the town a chance to rediscover these attractions themselves, and give visitors from outside the town new encounters to enjoy. Together with the people of the town, we want to nurture a new Hasami culture that makes people think, "When autumn comes, let's go to Open Hasami."
