Starting with traditional Buddhist altarware,
to the production of ceramics that add color to everyday life over time.
Yamai Ito Pottery is a family-run business.
The pottery is carefully crafted by skilled artisans, one by one, over a long period of time,
The ceramics are filled with the breath of tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation.
Ito Seisakusho continues to pursue the possibilities of pottery, from the traditional to the modern.
Commitment to Our Products
The history of Yamai Ito Seisakusho began more than 60 years ago, when the previous president, Shinichi Ito, became involved in the manufacture of Shinto and Buddhist ritual objects at Yamai Ito Seisakusho, a Mino pottery kiln in Toki.
After the establishment of Yamai Ito Seisakusho, the company began to manufacture sake cups, earthenware bottles, soy sauce jugs, and other products as its main products. The soy sauce jug, in particular, was the first Mino ware pottery to be commercialized. Even now, it is a popular product of our company along with sake cups and other items.
After entering the age of 2025, we added flat plates, mugs, and other products that can be widely used in daily life to our product lineup. From traditional to modern, we continue to pursue the possibilities of ceramics.
Mino ware is a generic term for ceramics produced in the eastern region of Mino Province (present-day Gifu Prefecture) and is recognized as a traditional craft.
Mino ware has a long history, dating back more than 1,300 years. It is said to have developed from Sue ware in the Nara period (710~794), and after the Momoyama period (1573~1603), when Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and others established the rule of Japan, various shapes and colors of pottery were produced under the guidance of Sen no Rikyu, tea master and military commander Furuta Oribe, and others. Oribe Furuta's ingenious "Oribe-favorite" pottery is very famous.
The Tono region has been blessed with important resources for producing ceramics, including high-quality clay such as Mokubushi clay and Kagaome clay, and abundant water from the Toki River, and has flourished as one of Japan's representative ceramic production centers, as various techniques were developed in accordance with the times.
