Lightly tossed, or dull cracks. With slightly varying tones, the sound of mortar crushing the clay flows in a narrow but bright valley. This sound is selected as one of the “100 Soundscapes of Japan to be Preserved,” and Ontayaki Pottery created here in Sarayama is known as one of the greatest folk pottery in the country.
　From the Hita Basin, go back up the Ono River that used to be a pilgrimage route to Mount Hiko, entering into Sarayama River, a tributary surrounded by the mountains. It is told the village of pottery was established in 1705, roughly 300 years ago. Ceramic clay was found in the mountain nearby, and with the support of the Kuroki family providing the capital and the Sakamoto family providing the land, the Yanase family is said to have established the village by conveying the technique of Koishibarayaki Pottery.
　In the Bungo Kokushi (“Chorography of Bungo”) published 100 years later, pottery is introduced as a specialty of Hita, and that there are three potters in the village. Their life must have been half-farmer, half-potter for a long time, but blessed with soil, water, and trees for fuel, the village gradually developed. Into the beginning of the Meiji Period, there were six potteries in the village. Since then, they have increased to ten potteries as of today, but these rustic and earthy products had a hard time for long with the newer products coming from industrialization.
　Ontayaki pottery became well-known in the market in the early Showa period, from the essay written by a leader of folk crafts Muneyoshi Yanagi, titled “Hita no Sarayama.” He found “beauty” and “strength” in the Ontayaki pottery. Furthermore, Bernard Leach from the UK visited the village saying “I came to learn from Ontayaki Pottery.”
　The pottery in Kyushu prospered with the skilled Korean potters brought back by the Daimyou (feudal lords) from the west of Japan who participated in Hideyoshi’s troop to Korea. Many of the potteries in other parts of Kyushu made tea cups and such for the lord. But Ontayaki pottery continued to make daily ceramic ware for the general public. Even when the lord is gone, the people will continue to live. Ontayaki Pottery has been long supported by the public to this day.
　The technique is traditional. The products are diverse, but they are all daily tableware. Although there are no drawn patterns, the hakeme brush streaks, uchigake glazing, and tobikanna patterns made with iron tool are all renowned characteristics that make Ontayaki unique. The beauty and power of folk pottery will keep attracting people despite the waves of mechanization and modernization.