Iga, Mie Prefecture
Tokyo
The donabe rice cooker, “Kamado-san” is made in Iga, Mie Prefecture. Iga is an ancient province with 1,300 years of history. It’s situated about 400 Km (250 miles) south-west of Tokyo.
Among local specialties, Iga-Yaki (Iga-style pottery) is considered to be one of the most highly regarded regional potteries of Japan. Iga-Yaki’s history is as old as the history of Iga itself.
This photo gallery is from my last visit to Iga.
Iga used to be a castle town which surrounds Iga Castle (original castle was built in 16th century). There are many historical buildings in this town. Iga is a birth place of a famous haiku poet, Basho Matsuo (1644 - 1694).
Iga is filled with history and rich culture. Other local specialties include, Iga Gyu (beef), Iga Buta (pork), Iga Mai (rice), Kumihimo (rope), Iga shu (sake), and many more.
Nagatani-En is the highly-recognized Iga-yaki pottery producer, and is the producer of the donabe (clay pot) rice cooker “Kamado-san”.
Nagatani-en was founded in 1832 and has been run by Nagatani family for 8 generations. The property is just so gorgeous and it’s really beyond words.
They make very traditional Iga-yaki pottery as well as creative cookware such as my favorite rice cooker “Kamado-san”, steamer, smoker, and so many other.
Their facilities are all very historical, beautiful, and almost surreal.
Nagatani-en also runs a restaurant in its property. This house the restaurant is in is more than 200 years old. Generations of the Nagatani family grew up in this house. It’s really, really beautiful.
All the dishware at this restaurant is handmade by Nagatani-en. Their Iga-yaki pottery is so gorgeous but never overpowers the food on them.
All the ingredients are local, then cooked in their Iga-yaki cookware and served in their Iga-yaki plates.
It was such a wonderful visit to Nagatani-en. Everybody working there is really sweet and gracious. The CEO, Mr. Yuji Nagatani, is a great person. Just like me, he loves to eat and drink so much. His passion for good food and drink is really amazing. I learned that all the clay cookware is invented by Nagatani-san himself. He believes that good food makes people happy and also connects people. So he always thinks about good food and making good cookware to cook the food in. Indeed, good food connected Nagatani-san and myself. Because I love their donabe rice cooker so much, I decided to come all the way to Iga to visit Nagatani-en, and I got to meet him and his people!!!
