Original subtitles

This episode, we're going to meet Tajimi high school girls who are doing pottery,

Infiltrating a high school pottery club! Interacting with 'IRL Yakumo'

Narration: Honizumi Rina

so Yakumo in real life!

I'm so excited!

MANEKI KECHA [MAWARU SEKAI NI]

A girls' trip to the stage of Let's Make a Mug Too, Tajimi

Infiltrating a high school pottery club! It's "IRL Yakumo"...

It's the school over there.

We're here at Tajimi Technical High School in Tajimi city.

So we'll be meeting real high school students...

Plays Kukuri Mika Plays Naruse Naoko Plays Toyokawa Himenoi Plays Aoki Toko Serizawa Yu Wakai Yuki Tanaka Minami Honizumi Rina

Right!

and cheering them on.

Wow!

Tajimi Technical High School! Here we are!

Gifu Prefecture Tajimi Technical High School

Thanks for having us!

What were you like back in high school?

I was kind of a bad student...

Really?

What do you mean "bad"?

During the summer, I'd wear sunglasses.

No way, seriously?!

In high school?!

Yes. And I'd wear really long pants.

Under your skirt?

Get out my parasol, and then ride my bike.

Wow!

I was a cringy girl.

What about you guys? What were you like?

I feel like you probably followed the rules.

My school's rules were quite relaxed, though.

Oh, really? Cool!

Like you could dye your hair and wear earrings.

What?!

That really is lax!

I'm jealous.

Yeah, I dyed my hair.

You did?!

Everybody around me did too, so...

Oh, so you'd stand out if you didn't!

I see.

I didn't expect that.

That's how it was for me.

So then after I had become a voice actress and met

the other girls from "Wake Up, Girls!"

told me I looked like a gyaru, and I was taken aback.

That happened to me, too!

Really?!

Yeah, I was called a gyaru, too.

Isn't that it over there?

I am starting to get that Yakumo feel.

We're coming in.

Hello. Thank you for having us.

Thank you for having us!

Wow, this is amazing!

This is incredible.

It really is.

Is this really a school?

Look, they're working.

Oh my god!

Tajimi Technical School Pottery Club

These four are the pottery club's female members.

They're the real-life Yakumo!

Was there something that inspired you to join this club?

My friend invited me, so I joined.

Ooyama Noa-san 3rd year student *at the time of filming

Were any of you already doing this?

I had never done it before,

so I joined the pottery club on a trial basis,

Kobayashi Yuzuna-san 3rd year student *at the time of filming

but then it was really fun.

I see!

Before I joined this school, I had a chance to use a pottery wheel

Kuroda Ichiha-san 2nd year student *at the time of filming

and I really enjoyed it.

Since I wanted to do that again, I thought I'd join this club.

Aha.

For me too, I was thinking I'd like to try using a pottery wheel before I joined this school.

Nakayama Ami-san 2nd year student *at the time of filming

So was there something that drew you to this?

That attracted you to this idea?

I was thinking that once I got good, I could make things

exactly the way that I wanted to.

Right, I get that!

You're using the hand-building method. What are you making?

Well, it's a bit crooked right now, but it's lips.

Lips?!

Really?!

It's like, they've evolved way past mugs and plates!

That's amazing!

...so whose lips are those?

They're pretty thin, so they're a Japanese person's lips.

A Japanese person's!

I have more lips over there.

You have more than just those lips!

This will be the third set.

You're a lip specialist.

Amazing!

So you like lips? Like their shape?

I do.

The level of creativity is just crazy.

Yeah.

It's amazing.

So you really can make anything you like with pottery.

There's so much freedom.

This desire to see all of the different things

you've all made is welling up in me.

Me, too!

Is there anything we could look at?

Yes, over there.

Really? Oh wow, thank you!

There's some stuff in progress there, too.

Thank you so much.

Wait, wait, what is this?

No really, this is awesome.

This is amazing!

Can you believe this?

Wait, wait, what is that?

Are those straight up eyeballs?

Amazing!

Wow, this is just really made a huge impact on me.

Who made this?

That's mine.

Amazing!

So you don't just do lips, huh?

I really... I really like the shape of the base, too.

Incredible.

This is art.

Yeah, you must have an artistic brain.

So how long did this take?

Three, four months.

You can make this in just three, four months?

Did you paint it as well?

That's really unbelievable.

And this next to it?

Take a peek inside

I'm curious about this, too.

It grabs your attention.

It looks like an egg.

It's so pretty!

Wait, take a look inside.

Cute!

It's really amazing!

Is that a dinosaur?

That's so cute!

An egg? Is this an egg?

Whose work is this?

Oh, you both made it!

Can I ask what the theme is?

We tried to make something like a children's toy box.

This is really neat!

This is so dreamy.

Wow!

We submitted this piece to last year's nationwide cultural festival.

Wow!

That's amazing.

All the way to the national level, that's so impressive.

So you went to the nationals as first year students?

That's true skill.

So you went there when you were complete newcomers?

Wasn't that basically right after you started then?

Wait, that's crazy!

That's really impressive.

It is.

It's really impressive, isn't it?

I'm begging you to stay in the pottery field.

No, this is really amazing!

Tajimi has such a bright future.

Yeah.

Right.

And talent.

I can totally see us watching TV and then casually seeing one of your pieces.

Totally!

I agree.

But these with the water!

Sunken City

Yeah, is that water?

Oh wow that's amazing!

This is possible, too?!

So how do you even make this?

You put some glass in and you fire it like that.

Oh it's glass!

Cool!

There really are no limits to pottery, huh?

Thank you for showing us all of this!

We learned so much!

Please keep going with your pottery.

We're rooting for you!

Thank you again for everything!

Thank you for letting us visit!

Tajimi Station

Honmachi Oribe Street

After our talk with the high school students,

we're about to learn about Mino ware's 1300 year old history.

Learning about the profound world of Mino ware spanning 1300 years

Showcases Mino wear and its 1300 year old history through permanent and temporary exhibitions.

Mino Ware Museum

We've arrived at the Mino Ware Museum.

Wow, this is so amazing!

There's so much here.

Huh? The 8th century?!

Isn't that crazy?

The 8th century?

Wow, you're right.

Flatware from the 8th century

It's amazing is that it actually survived.

It was really sturdy, huh?

It's so shocking, huh?

Like, this period really existed, you know?

Mino ware has the biggest share of everyday ceramics in use in Japan.

Mino's so strong.

Good job, Tajimi.

It makes me happy.

Go Tajimi.

This makes me happy.

But back then, they had less colors and simpler styles.

Yeah, they were far more plain.

That's true.

Look at all this!

Really.

It's so awesome!

The bowls are fundamentally the same as we use today.

Yeah, the shape hasn't changed much.

The plates, too.

Yeah, we still have the same things.

What you notice changing through the years is the color.

Yeah, the coloring.

That's true.

Bit by bit, more colors get added.

It says "Living National Treasure."

Living National Treasure, what does that mean?

That must be some really—

I means they're a person, but also a national treasure.

amazing person?

A human national treasure.

The greatest a human can be.

Mino ware is amazing.

It really is.

What's going on here?

Yeah I wonder.

This looks like handwriting to me,

you know, this pattern.

I think they put this pattern on by hand.

Katou Hajime "Yuuri-kinsai" food container

Oh yeah.

This zigzag?

It's so pretty.

This is all so amazing.

Seeing how the historical trends changed...

just by spinning around in here,

that was really impressive.

Yeah.

It was like we traveled through time.

From high school students to living national treasures!

We were able to get a glimpse of the rich and varied world of Mino ware.

Next time: Another famous Tajimi hallmark: mosaic tiles

Next episode we'll be having fun with mosaic tiles,

which Tajimi is not just famous for,

but is also the number one producer of nationwide.

Don't miss it!

That's really good!

Amazing!