0:04:56 > 0:04:59The black smoke behind this house is coming from
0:04:59 > 0:05:04a kiln - a pottery kiln in the village of Mashiko in Japan.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08And the village children, in the morning, are on their way to school.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14The house they are passing belongs to Hamada - the leading
0:05:14 > 0:05:15potter in the village.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20Hamada is also one of the leading artists of Japan and one of
0:05:20 > 0:05:22the most famous potters in the world.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23Hamada is talking with Mr Yanagi - a famous member of the group
0:06:23 > 0:06:28that includes Hamada, Tomimoto, Kawai and Bernard Leach,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32perhaps the most celebrated modern potters in the world.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Mashiko originally became a pottery village for the good reason
0:10:32 > 0:10:36that there is suitable clay in the hills nearby.
0:10:36 > 0:10:37These bleak and barren hills
0:10:37 > 0:10:41with only poor scrub growing out of a poor soil.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44It'd be hard to imagine more unpromising earth.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38The lifeless clay lies in seams in the side of the hills
0:11:38 > 0:11:40and has to be hacked out by hand.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26FIRE CRACKLES
0:23:40 > 0:23:43It's an anxious moment first peering into the kiln.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47Is everything all right? Have the pots collapsed?
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Have the glazes fired correctly?
0:23:55 > 0:23:57It's all right. It's a wonderful sight.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02Like Aladdin's cave, all the pots, which looked drab and dull
0:24:02 > 0:24:06before going into the kiln, are now glowing.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Dark green, deep brown,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12black and pure white as though they'd been burnished.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15This is one of the best moments in the life of a potter.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22CHATTER AND LAUGHTER