There are clay pipes set into the wall of the slope. The Yakimono Sanpomichi in Tokoname is a walking route through the area that thrived as a ceramics district in the early Shōwa years, and it runs past slopes faced with drainage pipes and shōchū bottles, under a succession of brick chimneys. The pipes in the wall are not ornament. They were the ones that came out of the kiln off-specification and could not be sold, so they were used as retaining material and as grip underfoot on a slope that gets slippery in the rain.

Chimneys, kilns and workshop buildings are scattered through the district, and the spaces between them are now occupied by potters and craftspeople who live here, along with a growing number of galleries, cafés and small shops. Central Japan International Airport is close, Nagoya is about forty minutes away, and premises with a kiln attached come onto the market, which is why people who want to keep making pots continue to arrive. The route map is given away free and has gone through many editions; the numbering tells you the path has been redrawn more than once.

The scenery of a producing district is sometimes built out of what it failed to sell. That is literally the case on these slopes: the failed pipes and the surplus bottles were laid into the ground instead of being carted away, and the result is now the face the town presents to visitors. It is worth being plain about the reasoning. Using them was cheaper than disposing of them, and the charm arrived a good deal later, uninvited.