Hakata doll craftsmen and their apprentices finished packing 1,200 sets of Hojoya Hajiki in wooden boxes on Aug. 20 at Hakozaki Shrine. They will be sold at 8:00 a.m. on Sep. 12 at Hojoya, one of three major festivals in Fukuoka City. The festival runs from Sep. 12 ~ 18. The name hajiki derives from a Japanese verb haji-ku meaning “to flip” or “to repel.” So Hojoya Hajiki is considered as a sort of lucky charm to ward off bad luck. The set includes 27 pieces of hajiki or flat ceramics with different designs. Each piece is created under a given theme that changes every year. They are not for children to play with but for display and are made by bisque-firing the clay, same as those for creating Hakata dolls. It took two months that the craftsmen create all those items. This year’s Hojoya Hajiki set features Hakata’s major events, local specialties, and historic items and people such as the gold seal, Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival, motsunabe (beef offal stew), Kuroda Kanbei (Josui), and the Western Japan Ohori Fireworks Fans of Hojoya Hajiki often queue the day before, and, in many cases, they sell out very quickly. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 8/21
• 9/12 (Fri.), 8:00~
• Hakozaki Shrine
• ¥3,000/set (1,200 sets only, one-per-customer limit)
• 092-641-7431
• 1-22-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka City
• http://www.hakozakigu.or.jp/index.php
