Visiting Fukui can teach travelers how to make, and smash, Japanese kawara tiles [Photos]

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 .