Shussai-gama was founded in Shimane by a group of five friends in 1947, inspired by the ideals of William Morris and Japan’s own folk crafts movement of the time. They aimed to work in traditional ways with local clays and glaze ingredients to make items that would bring the decorative arts to a wide audience.

There were ups and downs, but slowly Shussai-gama established an identity in combining techniques from Japanese ceramic culture with new movements in product design.

The fifteen or so potters working today in Shussai-gama's converted rice warehouse, still do so by hand with locally collected materials. Their large wood-fired kiln is lit three or four times a year.  The ethos of Shussai-gama remains to provide unassuming and attractive items for life through the work of the potter.