Nippon Ichi--The Best in Japan

Nippon Ichi--the best in Japan--is a phrase often heard or seen; for example, driving not far from Mishima where our gallery is we come to a small town in the Izu peninsula that has a sign that reads 'Nippon Ichi beautiful town! Or, in a past issue of the gourmet magazine they had a whole issue devoted to Nippon Ichi, the best sushi restaurant, the best bakery....glad to say the best beer is my local favorite Baird beer! Anyway, Asahi Newspaper has been running a Nippon Ichi series recently and one column was devoted to Nippon Ichi for pottery; here not necessarily meaning the best, yet the the most popular top ten. A total of 17,221 folks took part in the survey and the results were listed in the column, photos shown here. I will let you try to figure out the kanji--next to the number is the pottery style and then in parenthesis the prefecture where the style is located -- and post the results in a near future blog. Good luck! The number on the far right is how many people voted for the style and the gentleman seen is Nakajima Seinosuke, a former antique dealer now TV celebrity for an appraisal program. By the way, the next Nippon Ichi column planned for the column after this one was Nippon Ichi wine, a short list for sure. The photo of the kiln is that of Sakaida KakiemonXIV...hint..hint....