At the pottery school “Tobo Edo Yu” in Iidabashi, both beginners and advanced students are welcome to learn more about pottery. The school offers various one-time experience courses for everyone curious about pottery. Watch our editor-in-chief Marei making Japanese ceramic tableware from scratch using a potter’s wheel!

Celebrating its 22nd year in 2021, “Tobo Edo Yu” is a popular pottery school in the middle of Tokyo. The school’s experience courses can be roughly divided into two types: “Hand-bending experience classes” and “Potter’s wheel experience classes”. This time, I chose a class in which I would use an electric potter’s wheel and make two small bowls. So exciting!

Mr. Karasawa, the owner of the school, will teach you all basics you need to know. Before starting to work the clay, you have to practice how to handle the potter’s wheel. Once you get used to operating the pedal, the next step is learning how to form the cay and keep it soft. Thanks to our teacher’s great on-point advice, I finally created the shape I had originally designed. This was the end of Day 1 of my pottery experience.

After the bisque firing process, I came back to apply liquid glaze to my two bowls. Glazing only took about 10 minutes, but it was super thrilling! (No mistakes allowed!)

After the glaze firing, I visited the classroom to pick up the finished bowls. What surprised me a lot was how lightweight the ceramics were. This is one characteristic of the ceramics at “Tobo Edo Yu”. Really nice! The experience was so much fun, I already started to think about other tableware I would like to make myself. If you like creating something with your own hands that you will actually use in your daily life, the experience classes (or even long-term courses) of “Tobo Edo Yu” are a big recommendation!

Pottery school “Tobo Edo Yu”

http://www.fv-c.com/
Elegance Iidabashi 1F, 3-4-3 Iidabashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/JgrUKmfRNEJHnwBP7
Nearest station: Iidabashi Station