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2025/4/5 (Sat) and 4/6 (Sun) 10:00-16:00 "Uji_river Cherry Blossom Festival held at the same time, Sumiyama Ceramics Festival" Kyoto Prefectural Uji Park (Nakanoshima) area

Kyoto Sumiyama Asakura Mokko will not be exhibiting at the Sakura Festival, but as our hometown of Sumiyama is an area where 70% of the people are ceramic artists, we would like to share this information with you as local information.

●Overall information about the Cherry Blossom Festival

Overview of the 49th Ujigawa Sakura Festival in 2025

The 46th Sumiyama Pottery Festival will be held at the same time.

Location: Around Nakanoshima Island along the Uji River (Uji Park, Kyoto Prefecture)

Date: Saturday, April 5th and Sunday, April 6th, 2025

Event hours: 10:00am to 4:00pm

　*The content may change or be canceled depending on the situation.

Nearest station: JR Uji Station, Keihan Uji Station

Parking information: List of paid parking lots around the Uji River (Uji City website)

Parking lots are crowded. I recommend taking the train.

Organized by: Uji City Tourism Association

I called the Kyoto Tourism Federation's official website to confirm the date and time of the event in 2025. They said, "It has been decided that the event will be held on April 5th and 6th, 2025. The "tentative" marking is probably the same as in previous years, but it is only tentative because the details have not yet been decided." (Added 3/10/2025)

Last year, I went to the Sumiyama Pottery Festival, which was held at the same time as the 2024 Ujigawa Cherry Blossom Festival.

・The food stall zone near Tachibanabashi Bridge,

The "Tower Island" in the back is the Sumiyama Pottery Festival Zone, and the other is the "Tower Island" Zone.

・If you walk from Uji Station, it takes about 16 minutes (20 minutes if there are many people)

・If you park in a parking lot near the Pottery Festival venue

・What kinds of pottery are there?

Last year's brochure for the 48th Ujigawa Sakura Festival in 2024

If you walk from Uji Station (the map below shows a straight line to Tachibanabashi Bridge, but if you continue along the Ujibashi Shopping Arcade to the "Ujibashi Nishizume" (west end of Ujibashi Bridge), you will come to the large torii gate of "Byodoin Omotesando" (front approach to Byodoin Temple) and then turn there. You can also enjoy the shops along the way, such as a tenugui shop, a pizza shop, and a chai shop.)

It takes 12 minutes to reach Tachibanabashi Bridge. As you enter from here, the first thing you'll see is a row of food stalls.

Just four minutes away is Tower Island, where the Sumiyama Pottery Festival is held.

You can also drive to the car park near the entrance to Tower Island.

To get as close as possible to Tower Island (the venue where the Sumiyama Pottery Festival is held) by car, park in the large car park at the back early in the morning and it's only a three-minute walk.

●Last year's real parking information

Last year, on Saturday, April 6, 2024, I arrived near the Uji River at around 10:30 in the morning.

All the small parking lots were full, including the Byodoin Temple Uji Parking Lot (approximately 28 spaces), which is close to the Pottery Festival venue, Tower Island, and the Tourist Development Uji Parking Lot (75 spaces or more) opposite.

In the end, I went to park my car behind Uji Station. It was crowded when I walked from Uji Station, and it took about 20 minutes to get to the pottery festival venue. There was a shop on the way, so it was just the right distance to eat ice cream and talk, and it was fun, but

For elderly people with foot pain, etc. who come by car,

1. Go early in the morning when the parking lot is empty

② Enter from the side closest to the Tower Island (Byodoin Temple parking lot side)

This will make it a 3-minute walk, so it will be less of a hassle.

If you can walk, we recommend exploring Uji by train.

・Byodoin Temple Uji Parking Lot (approximately 28 spaces)

・Uji Tourist Development Uji Parking Lot (Standard passenger cars: 75-200 spaces / Buses: 15-45 spaces)

●Information on participating workshops at the Sumiyama Pottery Festival

The Uji River Sakura Festival is an annual event in Uji City where visitors can enjoy the food and pottery stalls while admiring the cherry blossoms in the gentle spring breeze.

The Sumiyama Pottery Festival, being held at the same time, will see many pottery kilns (17 kilns) from the Sumiyama area participate and exhibit.

(Last year's 2024 exhibitors: Araki Pottery Studio, Ando-san, Inuzuka-san, Okumura Pottery Studio, Ogura-san, Akatsuki Studio's Sasatani-san, Kawashima-san, Gyounkama's Yamamoto-san, Hayashi-san, Takada-san, Ito-san, Kato-san, Hara Kiyokazu Pottery Studio's Hara-san, Okada-san, Funahara-san, Tachibana-san, Kasen Kiln's Nishikawa-san) (Thank you to the Sumiyama potters who kindly allowed us to take photos.) (Kyoto Sumiyama Asakura Woodworks is not exhibiting at the Sakura Festival.)

There were many items ranging from tableware for daily use to matcha tea bowls. There were also incense burners, water pitchers, and flower vases. Most of the items were priced at 500, 1000, 2000, or 3000 yen, which was too cheap, but there were also items from each kiln that were priced at 10,000 to 100,000 yen, which is not cheap for an outdoor exhibition, but is still cheap in terms of value. Also, the "prototypes" that you can see at such times are proof of the "challenge" in manufacturing, so I personally enjoyed seeing such things. I planned to go for a quick morning visit, but from 11:00, my child and I ate thick tea soft serve ice cream and talked with the people at the sumiyama, and enjoyed more than half a day.

There are currently about 40 kilns in Sumiyama, and this is an opportunity to see works from 17 of them at once. (Before COVID-19, the Sumiyama Pottery Festival was held every October.)

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●Rhinoceros beetle larvae raised by students at Uji Municipal Kasatori Second Elementary School in Sumiyama were also given away for free. There were only a few left.

Tachibana

Kiyomizu ware used in restaurants

The Kyoto Sumiyama Asakura Mokko showroom has a corner that introduces the works of Sumiyama potters. (It is not for sale.)

For those who can't make it to the Pottery Festival this year, I hope this will be an opportunity for them to learn about Sumiyama, the home of Kyoto ware and Kiyomizu ware.

(Reina Asakura, Kyoto Sumiyama Asakura Woodworks)