Maruso | Sekishu Tile

Brand

Cold-resistant tiles made from carefully selected soil

Maruso

• 1942
• Sekishu Tile
• Kazushi Shizuma

History

The Iwami region is rich in nature.

For more than 70 years, we have been creating Sekishu tiles with unique beauty and high durability.

Sekishu is another name for the Iwami region in western Shimane Prefecture.

This region is blessed with a rich natural environment, including minerals represented by the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, abundant pine forests suitable for fuel, and abundant rivers.

This has given rise to a variety of crafts since ancient times.

The resistance of Sekishu tiles to cold and salt damage is much higher than that of other regions.

The secret lies in the soil and the flame.

We mine our own highly refractory clay (a sedimentary layer formed 2 million years ago) and fire it at extremely high temperatures of 1,200 to 1,250℃. (Awaji tiles are fired at 970 to 1,100℃, Sanshu tiles at 1,100 to 1,150℃)

The higher the temperature, the stronger the sintering of the ceramic structure and the more solid the tiles become.

Characteristic

High-temperature firing that produces beauty and strength

Sekishu tiles, one of the three major roof tiles in Japan, were originally created by craftsmen who made large water jars.

Both water jars and Sekishu tiles, fired in the same climbing kiln, were transported on Kitamae-bune boats to the Sea of Japan side from Hokkaido to Kyushu.

The secret lies in the fact that the tiles are baked at a high temperature of over 1,200 degrees Celsius, and it has been said by tile makers that "Sekishu tiles are resistant to freezing and are hard and unbreakable.

For Customers

Learning from the past and returning to the basics

After a time when tiles with uniform and exactly the same color were demanded in large quantities, today more and more customers are looking for the subtle variations in color of tiles fired in traditional climbing kilns.

With such handmade characteristics and flavors, we aim to develop new applications and products for tiles other than roofing.

We would be happy to show you new possibilities of roof tiles, such as lampshades and tableware that utilize the skills of onigawara craftsmen.