Hand grenades, gas burners and patio furniture are not items usually associated with ancient potting centers, yet in Shigaraki, southern Shiga Prefecture, even these odd items have been fired.
The Shigaraki staple most folks are familiar with, though, is the pudgy tanuki that stands in front of drinking establishments throughout Japan. It holds a sake flask in one hand and in the other, a promissory note for the booze; it never pays, though. If you've ever been to Shigaraki, you cannot miss the numbing variety of garish tanuki that stand in front of many tourist shops.
Tanuki are synonymous with modern-day Shigaraki, just as room-heating hibachi were during the postwar period. But there is so much more to this ancient potting center, first established in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333), than this folksy novelty.