Shussai Kiln

Published: Aug 11, 2026

Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Shussai KilnmingeipotteryIzumofolk craft

Representative image — not a photograph of this location.

Shussai Kiln was started in 1947 by five local men in their twenties, none of them trained potters, who decided to make useful things for ordinary households. What turned it into something more was who noticed: Yanagi Soetsu, the founder of the mingei folk-craft movement, along with Kawai Kanjiro, Hamada Shoji and Bernard Leach, all of whom advised the young workshop. Their principle — that everyday objects made by anonymous hands can be beautiful precisely because they are not trying to be art — is still how the kiln works.

Nothing here is signed by an individual maker. The pieces are plates, bowls, cups and pots in a small number of glazes, the best known of which is a deep cobalt called Shussai blue. The showroom, Mujisho-kan, holds several thousand pieces at prices set for use rather than display, and the workshop is on the same site. For anyone who has read about mingei and only ever seen it behind museum glass, this is a working kiln you can buy from.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

Mujisho-kan showroom 9:30 AM – 6:00 PM

Closed: Closed Tuesdays

Entrance Fee

Free to enter | Pottery priced individually

Best Season

Year-round

Visit Duration

45–90 minutes

Getting There

Access Information

3368 Shussai, Hikawa-cho, Izumo. Car recommended; roughly 15 minutes from Izumo Airport or Hikawa IC. The Mujisho-kan showroom is open 9:30 AM – 6:00 PM and closed Tuesdays. Free to enter. Phone 0853-72-0239.

Insider Guide

Premium

**Buy something you will use.** The whole philosophy of the place is that these are tools, not objets. Plates and rice bowls are inexpensive by craft standards and are what the kiln is for. Pieces are unsigned by design — do not go looking for a maker's mark. **Shussai blue is the signature.** The deep cobalt glaze is what the kiln is known for, but the ash and iron glazes are equally characteristic and less picked over. Handle several of the same item; small variations between them are the point. **Closed Tuesdays.** The showroom takes Tuesday as its rest day, which catches out people combining it with an Izumo Taisha visit on a quiet weekday. **Packing for the flight home.** Staff will wrap purchases properly for travel. If you are flying out of Izumo Airport, which is fifteen minutes away, this is genuinely practical rather than a souvenir gamble. **It sits between the airport and the shrine.** Hikawa is on the route from Izumo Airport toward Izumo Taisha, so it slots into an arrival or departure day without costing a separate trip.

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