Fancy experiencing pottery or knife making (with pretty scenery) during your trip?
Hitoyoshi Caft Park is a place to drop by to experience all kinds of handicrafts – from leather craft, to glass etching, to knife making, to pottery on wheels, and more.
This adorable place looks like a small traditional town, with each building hosting a different type of artisanal workshops.
The craft park’s shop stocks local artisans’ creations (the craftsmanship on the bladed hand tools was incredible), as well as local specialty goods and knick knacks.
Don’t worry, there’s a cafe (and vending machines) to keep you well fed and replenished.
I was keen to do some knife making, but unfortunately the knife making workshop was closed that day. We got to do a spinning pottery session, which we had one-on-one sessions with the pottery master; she was keen for us to take home perfect pieces, and got me to make a second one as the first one got a slight dent while lifting it off the wheel 🤣
At the end of the workshop, we got to choose what colour our bowl/cup will become, and where (within Japan) it’ll get sent to when it’s been fired in the kiln.
Getting there
Located in Ishino Park next to its camping ground (which also looks spectacular), this craft park is off the beaten tracks but not hard to get to.
A 15min bus ride from Hitoyoshi Station will get you there. Catch one heading towards Yumae-Eki (湯前駅行) and get off at Ishino-Koen-Mae (石野公園前). Check your return bus times when you get there though; we had to ask the kind shop lady to call a taxi for us to take us back to Hitoyoshi Station.
Hitoyoshi Station is pretty cute too, and has a unique clock tower that jingles with 17 moving dolls.
Attention train lovers – there are really cool trains to catch from Kumamoto to Hitoyoshi Station. More about them later 😉 The view from the train getting there and back were amazing.
Hitoyoshi Craft Park is a beautiful, peaceful place and I’ll definitely schedule a revisit on my next Kyushyu trip, so it’s a 🥈 (=worth a detour) on #myrevisitlist.
[Photos taken 21/04/2018]
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