Return to Seto

This was a second shopping district in Seto,
on the south side of the river.  Each of the
two Seto shopping districts are about
two blocks long and covered.
Neither had shops open in the morning.

Seto, the pottery town was too much to visit in a single day and Jada had several more places to see and clay to touch. 

All the best photos were taken by Jada.

After only one visit to Seto,
we had established a minor tradition.
First stop:  the FamilyMart,
a convenience store by the
train station in Seto.  Jada loves her 
ice coffee, especially once she
figured how to use the fancy machine.

Success!  An Ice Coffee!

On our walk through the almost vacant
south Seto shopping district.

We did find these fun photo ops!

One of many private homes displaying
wonderful collections of clay art pieces.

Sagars, stilts & shelves used as
wall designs in Seto. It was common to see
kiln furniture used everywhere in town.

This kiln was in active use at a shop
we walked past.

Another kiln in the same shop.

One of many displays and exhibits at the
Seto Museum of Craftsmanship and Living
(Seto Folk Crafts Museum).

This small chair is very similar to the
Spanish birthing chair owned by
Murph's parents.  Russell may own it now?

This handmade set of 10 nesting bowls
is amazing.  Not only for the beauty and
colors, but look how well, evenly spaced
and consistently the bowls fit together. 

A ceramic lion was overlooking the museum
from the porch roof.

The row of holes on the left is where
the heat from the lower kiln area
enters the upper kiln area. 
The entire kiln is heated from
fires at the bottom of the kiln.
Each kiln area is accessible from
both sides for loading & unloading.

Each kiln area is large enough for
people to walk in
for loading and unloading.

The heat was such that it would "glass" the brick surface
where the heat rose into the kiln area.

These three fire ovens heated the entire four levels of the kiln.

The four openings into one side of the kiln.

This machine was used to
grind substances into powder.

This fanciful piece is 
reminiscent of Nagoya Castle and
the Tiger Fish on the top roof.

The two tiles were changed each
day to let folks know if the
shop was open or closed.

Our walk back to town after
the Folk Crafts Museum
led us past this small kiln at a private home.

This cemetery was along the way. 

Visiting this temple was a
serendipitous  event as
we didn't know it existed until we
found it along our way to town.

Interesting roof icons.
For more roof icons, Click Here.

No water yet the dragon was still here.

This bell tower had an
interesting painting on
the ceiling above the bell.

Near the south side of the river we found
this museum. It proved to be more of
a souvenir shop with more
Maneki-Neko figures than I could count.
For many of these figures' photos,
Click Here.

This fascinating collection was in a shop in the shopping district.

In a shop nearer the train station we found
this gentleman, the owner and
(we think) a potter.
He sold us a few beautiful
small pieces then learned of Jada being
a well-known clay artist in Tucson.
He immediately gifted us with
two beautiful small porcelain boxes
with gorgeous oribe glaze.

Jada liked this piece for herself.

The fun spoons were bought as
gifts for folks at home.
The two green porcelain boxes
were the gifts from our new friend.

At the train station we noticed that the
bicycle parking area was quite full.
One reason the Japanese people are a
healthy people:  They walk and bicycle
much more than Americans.  Their greater
use of human power keeps them in better shape.

We think the sauce in
the left jar is Soy Sauce,
but not according to 
Google Translate!  😀 

Tempted to buy this "Magic Powder,"
we decided not to, as we couldn't
determine exactly what magic would happen.