Ichikawa
— — the suburb that keeps the old pear orchards.
Not only on a wall.
“A city in Chiba on the east bank of the Edo River, an easy commuter ride from Tokyo. The skyline thins quickly from the station and gives way to temple groves, nashi pear orchards, and quiet residential streets along the canal. Nakayama Hokekyō-ji has held its grounds here for seven hundred years. The river path runs north under the cherry trees.
Ichikawa, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Ichikawa is a city in northwestern Chiba Prefecture on the east bank of the Edo River, immediately across the water from Tokyo's Edogawa Ward. The population is roughly 492,000, making it the fourth-largest city in Chiba. The Sōbu and Keiyō lines, along with the Toei Shinjuku line via Motoyawata, place the city within twenty to thirty minutes of central Tokyo. The terrain rises gently from the river into the Shimōsa plateau, supporting orchards and old temple precincts on the higher ground.
Nakayama Hokekyō-ji is the historic anchor of the city, a Nichiren Buddhist head temple founded in 1260 on land donated to the priest Toki Jōnin. The five-storey pagoda, the Sōmon gate, and the Hokke-dō are designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan. Above the pagoda, the wooded ridge of Mama-yama still preserves the precinct's original character, and the path between Mama and Nakayama follows a pilgrim route attested as far back as the Manyōshū. Several of the buildings count among the oldest in Chiba Prefecture.
Two seasons shape the city's character. In early April the cherry trees along the Edo River and through the Satomi Park ridge open for roughly a week, drawing local crowds rather than tourist coaches. In August the nashi (Japanese pear) harvest begins; Ichikawa is among Japan's major nashi-producing cities, and orchard stands along the Funabashi road sell the season's first fruit by the box. The Funabashi Andersen Park, just over the city line, marks the same calendar with its summer water festival each year.