Up in the mountains near Hita there is a small village that specialises in making pottery the old-fashioned way. They have river powered hammers (Korosu) to powder the clay, pools to mix the clay by hand, kick style pottery wheels, and huge wood fired kilns. There are 10 families that make pottery in this village, but instead of stamping the pieces with their family name, they simply say Onta, as they choose to promote the village as a whole. The families take turns using the different kilns, so that no one family has an advantage over the others. There are minimal buses available from Hita, better to visit with a car. Check out our Map for the location.