Yachimun no Sato, Yomitan pottery village March 23, 2017

Yachimun is Uchinaguchi (ancient Okinawan/Ryukyuan language) for POTTERY. In standard Japanese the word is YAKIMONO. “Sato” is the word for village. “no” is the same as the apostrophe-S (‘s) in English. Ergo Yachimun no Sato means the “Potters’ Village”.
In 1682 all of Okinawa’s potters from the Chibana, Takaraguchi, and Wakuta kilns were gathered by the royal court and relocated to a new area with newly constructed kilns and there they were to proceed with their craft. The new area was known as Tsuboya.
In the 1970s the Yachimun village became the home of many pottery artisans who had found that Tsuboya was far too populous. The artists found new freedom and facilities at the Yomitan location. Soon it became a hub of pottery activities.

2017 Okinawa Trip diary is @ mickmc.tripod.com/2017diary.html