Toki Ceramic Festival, Gifu

My boyfriend and I visit Toki in Gifu at least once a year. Specifically, we visit Oribe Hills there. It is one of the biggest manufacturers of yakimono, or ceramic goods, in Japan. We go there annually to update our cupboard, even though we already have a LOT at home. 

A plate that is usually sold for 1000 yen would be sold at the manufacturer price here for around 600 yen. That’s a crazy discount... but, not crazy enough! During Golden Week every year, they hold the Toki Ceramic Festival that lasts for a few days, and you can buy some bowls and plates for some really surprising prices.

As long as you don't mind that many of the discount plates are either older designs (from last year or the year before), or that some have tiny flaws on them, you can walk into any of the many big shops there and shop to your heart’s content. Very often, you can get 2 or 3 nice ceramic bowls for about 1000 yen. If you want to get a matching set for a family or a bunch as a souvenir, this is perfect!

If you have the time, and can exert the effort, to dig through some “buckets”, you can even find some last-one ceramics for like 200 yen! Sometimes you can’t even get a nice plate at Disco for 200 yen, but you can here and only during the matsuri. Be aware that some of them have been at the bottom of the warehouse for some time, so they are sometimes covered with dust, but nothing a quick wash can’t take care of.

The ones with flaws are also not bad at all. They might have an air hole or an extra lump here and there, usually not too noticeable. Some shops also go out of their way to put labels on each flawed item to show you exactly where the flaw is, so that you aren’t buying something you aren’t happy with. That’s really nice!

And again, these flawed ones are just 100 or 200 yen each. I wouldn’t be too sad even if they end up not being my favorite.

At these bigger ceramic manufacturers you can also bargain to bring the price lower. That’s kinda rare in Japan and I didn’t know about it, but this year we got a plate to go down from 500 yen to 350 yen just because we asked.

If you are a bigger spender, you might look at the booths along the roads. These are usually set up by local artists who hand make each and every piece they sell. They are much more expensive in comparison. 2000 yen a plate is typical. I even saw ones that were around 40,000 yen!

I definitely don’t have the money for that kind of yakimono but just walking around and looking around (and touching them, occasionally) is great, too. They are all really pretty and artistic, so it is like an exhibition too, that you can go to for free.

One problem we face every time is that we often end up buying a lot and it is very heavy to bring home. Some families bring luggage or a small shopping pull-cart as they walk around. Maybe next time we will do that too!