Tsuboya Pottery Museum, Naha

The Naha Municipal Tsuboya Pottery Museum offers a deep dive into the evolution of Okinawan ceramics. Established in 1998, it is the region’s only museum dedicated entirely to Tsuboya neighborhood ware, showcasing its origins, techniques, and cultural significance from the Ryukyu Kingdom era through modern times.

Inside, the museum hosts a well-organized permanent exhibition spread across two floors. The first floor features a preserved historic kiln discovered during construction, multimedia displays including video footage and multilingual audio guides, and reproductions of traditional Okinawan homes to place pottery in everyday life.

The second floor focuses on the distinctive types of Okinawan pottery. One category includes practical, unglazed vessels, traditionally used for everyday storage and cooking. The other features brightly colored, glazed ceramics, made using natural Okinawan materials and refined enamel techniques that developed over centuries.

Visitors gain context exploring how Tsuboya neighborhood became the center of Okinawa’s pottery in 1682, when the Ryukyu Kingdom consolidated kilns from across the region into this district-making it the island’s production center for roof tiles, storage jars, decorative shisa statues, and tea wares. Special attention is given to signature artisans such as Jirō Kinjō, the first Okinawan designated a Living National Treasure, and Kobashigawa Eishō, who revived Okinawa’s characteristic red enamel glazes.