FUKUOKA -- Driving from Fukuoka to the fertile northeast of Saga, the landscape suddenly changes. Gently stepped rice terraces and fields give way to short hills that rise abruptly like sugar lumps and end in craggy, chalky rocks. Towns with square brick chimneys loom, and signs begin pointing to artsy workshops and palatial showrooms. You're in ceramics country.
Ceramics towns and workshops dot the region from coastal Saga to inland Nagasaki prefectures. Arita is historically the king of these, and deserves discussion in a separate article. But the smaller towns of Hasami, Imari and Karatsu nearby make for interesting browsing and a fun way to boost your reserves of select ceramics. You can also watch craftspeople work the pottery wheels and deftly apply glaze to the underfired goods on most days, except Sundays.
Although pottery has been fired in Japan as long as 12,000 years, Saga is special as the first area in the country where porcelain was produced. Around 1598, skilled Korean ceramics artisans were taken to Japan following Toyotomi Hideyoshi's raids of Korea. These Korean potters produced the first porcelain in Japan after discovering fine kaolin clay in 1616 near Arita. Kaolin was subsequently discovered at several other locations in the Nabeshima clan domain.