Japan's Biggest Ceramics, Pottery, and Porcelain Street-market Event

For centuries, the city of Seto in Aichi Prefecture has been famed as a production center for pottery and porcelain of superior quality. The small city is the site of a huge annual festival devoted to pottery, porcelain, and other ceramics that takes place the third Saturday and Sunday in September.

I got there by taking a train on the Meitetsu Seto Line from Sakaemachi Station – conveniently located in Sakae's underground shopping area – to Owari Seto Station.

Depending on the train, the ride takes less than 40 minutes, and as soon as you exit the station, you're at the festival!

This year, the 88th Setomono Matsuri, featured some 200 merchants, kilns, and food vendors lining the streets around the station and flanking the Seto River.

Very close by the station was an information tent that offered maps of the city in English and other languages, so I picked one up.

I also received a fan that bore a simple map highlighting the main attractions of the Setomono Matsuri.

On the back was a glossary of words in the local dialect, which would make a fun souvenir for someone who's studying Japanese.

The festivities officially kick off at 9:00 am each day, continuing until eight at night. Along with all the vendors hawking their wares, the festival includes musical performances, roving mascot characters, and handicraft activities for kids and adults.

I took my time exploring the stalls. The variety of different kinds of pieces on display was amazing!

The event also spills over from the festival proper into the covered Ginza-dori shopping arcade a block north of the river, where many of the permanent shops and restaurants get into the act with festival menu selections or sales at festival prices.

This stand in the arcade sells takoyaki – savory grilled dumplings with a hunk of octopus meat inside – but also on hand for the festival was Chicago Kaminarimon, an entertainer of local renown who specializes in rakugo – traditional comic storytelling. Chicago is also a cartoonist, and today at the takoyaki stand he was drawing caricatures for festival-goers. I didn't pass up the opportunity to have him do one of me. I also got a packet of freshly made takoyaki to snack on as I wandered on.

Some of the arcade shops had set up games and other fun things for children to do. This place was letting kids catch crayfish.

On reaching the end of the arcade, I doubled back along one of the festival roads and kept exploring the wares on display.

Just off the east end of the festival route, near a Shinto shrine called Fukagawa Jinja, was a small hilltop plaza with food stalls, activity tents, and a stage featuring a succession of performances by musical acts.

One of these acts was Cool-X, a vocal and dance unit of five young men that's based in Nagoya. I stopped to watch some of their performance.

I also stepped onto the grounds of the nearby shrine, which turned out to be an oasis of tranquility amid all the dynamic bustle of the festival.

By then, I was feeling a bit peckish. The takoyaki had been fine, but now I was ready for something a bit more substantial! The festival guide showed what looked like a food court at the northwest end of the event area, so that's where I headed.

At the food court I found several tents selling local food from Seto and elsewhere in the region. This one offered inari-zushi, a specialty of Toyokawa, another city in Aichi Prefecture.

This tent had torimeshi – chicken and rice – from Takahama. They also sold ten-musu, which is an onigiri rice ball containing a deep-fried shrimp and is a Nagoya speciality.

And here I found Seto-style yakisoba -- stir-fried noodles. I got in line and got me some.

It made for a fitting and delicious end to a fun-filled day!