It's a grill, it's a mini-kiln, it's a shichirin!

Pottery making is one of the most popular hobbies in Japan. Thousands of amateur potters reach the semiprofessional level, but they seldom fire their works by themselves. Unless they have their own kiln, they have to ask pottery schools or professionals to fire their pieces -- a service for which they must pay.

To solve this problem, Ome-based professional potter Akira Yoshida has developed an innovative method, which utilizes a shichirin, a small open-topped grill. Shichirin were commonly used for grilling fish or meat in Japanese households until a couple of decades ago. These days they are still available at super markets or department stores for less than 3,000 yen.

According to Yoshida, you can fire quite a variety of pottery using shichirin, including Shigaraki, Bizen, Shino wares and even pieces adorned with gold and silver, all by yourself, almost anywhere outdoors, without any special devices -- and inexpensively. According to Yoshida's calculations the cost of making one guinomi (sake cup) is about 170 yen at most.