japanese potters: shigeki sakamoto

Discover the tradition of Japanese folk pottery in the tiny hamlet of Onta, where eleven families have been creating traditional pottery for 300 years. Explore the unique blend of beauty and functionality in the work of Mr. Sakamoto, a symbol of Japanese cultural heritage.

The tiny hamlet of Onta sits deep in a forest about ten miles by narrow road from the nearest country highway. Eleven families have been making traditional folk pottery here for the past 300 years -- the Japanese government has declared the entire village a "Living National Treasure." Mr. Sakamoto has been working for some sixty years in the same room, adorned only by a calligraphy that aptly sums up Japanese functional art: "Beauty. Use." You can't have one without the other.