Echizen Seramika shares the techniques for both as part of its cool factory tour.
Factory tours are a fun sightseeing activity in Japan, and a lot of travelers like to pick out places that not only show you how their wares are made, but also give you a chance to sample them for yourself. Usually that means production centers for snack foods or beverages, but today it’s taking us to a place where we won’t be tasting what the company makes, but smashing it with our fists.
Echizen Seramika is located in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture. Though the Seramika part of their name comes from “ceramic,” their specialty isn’t fancy pottery, but traditional Japanese earthenware roof tiles, called kawara in Japanese.
Fukui gets heavy snow in winter and high humidity year-round, so homes in the prefecture need roof tiles that can stand up to both weight and wetness. This has been the case for generations, and at one point there were dozens of companies crafting Echizen kawara, as tiles made with local materials are called. There are now only two manufacturers left, so visiting Echizen Seramika is an opportunity to see the preservation of part of Japan’s regional cultural heritage.
Tours are available by prior reservation and begin with a video presentation introducing the basic production process, after which visitors are led into the facility to see it for themselves.
The first thing we were shown was the factory’s massive clay pile.
Picking up a handful, we gave it a squeeze, and the subtly moist earth clumped into a ball in our palm.
However, raw, unprocessed clay doesn’t make for the sturdiest ceramics. Instead of using it as is, Echizen Seramika combs through the clay to find and remove large rocks or other objects that could prevent the clay from being molded into something with a uniform consistency and compromise the tile’s strength.
Once the clay has been suitably prepared, it’s placed into molds and pressed into shape using this apparatus.
Next, the molded clay is given time to dry before a glaze is applied. Then all that’s left to do is fire it in the kiln. If you’ve ever taken a ceramics class at school or a local store, you might be imagining something that looks like a pretty big oven, but in Echizen Seramika’s case, their tunnel-shaped kiln is 61 meters (200 feet) long!
After spending 24 hours in the kiln being fired at 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,192 degrees Fahrenheit), the tiles are ready to be shipped to customers.
As you can probably guess, getting a kiln that big up to that temperature is no quick or simple task, so instead of doing it every day, Echizen Seramika plans things out so that it does one or two firing batches every month, so you might not be able to see it in action when you visit. What can be guaranteed, though, is that you’ll be able to smash some tiles with your fists.
Now, while there’s ordinarily an undeniable appeal to the idea of channeling your inner karate master and delivering some ceramic-splitting strikes, you might feel a little guilty after having just taken a look at the care and craftsmanship that goes into their production. Worry not, though, because for the tile-smashing part of the tour, Echizen Seramika uses factory seconds, tiles that have been judged not good enough to sell as building materials.
That, in turn, might have you feeling surprised at the supply of seconds the factory has, but this isn’t a result of shoddy workmanship. Instead, it’s Echizen Seramika’s extremely high quality standards that keep them from shipping every tile they produce. In fact, their factory seconds are still so strong that they’re difficult even for trained martial artists to break. Because of that, Echizen Seramika uses a diamond cutter to add an additional partial crack in the center of the factory seconds before visitors take a swing at them.
Unleashing her fists of fury/factory fun on this day was our Japanese-language reporter Natsuno Futon.
As part of her tour reservation, Natsuno had requested a five-tile course. She could have elected to hit them all at once, but after talking things over with the tour guide, she instead opted to start with two tiles and work her way up to three at once for the finale.
Okay, Natsuno, show us your strength!
Oh, wow, Echizen Seramika wasn’t kidding when it said its products were tough. After Natsuno’s first attempt, the tiles remained uncracked. Thankfully, the guide stepped in here with some advice. Rather than punch straight down with her knuckles, he advised her to keep her thumb facing upward and pound down with an overhead swing…
…and that did the trick!
Invigorated and emboldened, Natsuno waited for her remaining three tiles to be put in place…
…and then she put them in their place with her newly acquired tile-smashing skills.
As mentioned above, reservations are required for the factory tour. Technically, the tour itself is free, but there is a fee of 500 yen (US$3.15) per tile you want to smash.
Oh, and if you’d rather make Echizen ceramics than break them, Echizen Seramika also offers miniature tile-making workshops, which also include a factory tour, for 3,000 yen. Reservations for both can be made through travel website Jalan here.
Factory information
Echizen Seramika / 越前セラミカ
Address: Fukui-ken, Echizen-shi, Ikenokamicho 5-12
福井県越前市池ノ上町5-12
Website
Photos ©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]