Day One Japan

Saga (佐賀県)

Walk through Arita’s old porcelain district, from kiln-brick walls to a ceramics museum and a shrine with a porcelain gate.

Pottery shops along a street in Arita’s Uchiyama historic district
Arita’s Uchiyama district · Pekachu · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and framed for this page

Getting to Arita’s Uchiyama district

From Saga Station (佐賀駅)

Head toward Arita on JR Kyushu and choose a connection that stops at Kami-Arita (上有田駅). The last leg is a local train on the Sasebo Line (佐世保線). Check the connection in advance, especially if the first train is a limited express.

Kami-Arita Station (上有田駅)

The wooden station building at Kami-Arita
そらみみ · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized

Three stops in order

  1. 1. Arita’s Uchiyama district (有田内山地区)

    Start in the old porcelain district near the Tombai walls (トンバイ塀). Look for fragments of kiln bricks and pottery in the walls, then browse ceramics shops along the main street.

  2. 2. Arita Ceramic Museum (有田陶磁美術館)

    Visit the compact museum in a converted pottery warehouse. Look for the large plate illustrating how Arita’s craftspeople made porcelain.

  3. 3. Tozan Shrine (陶山神社)

    Finish at the shrine’s blue-and-white porcelain torii and guardian dogs. The entrance crosses an active railway. Wait behind the line whenever the warning sounds.

For the return, check departures from both Kami-Arita and Arita (有田駅). Limited expresses use Arita.

Transport and visitor information checked .