To celebrate our opening, we are currently offering a special discount price. We accept groups of 5 or more people. Up to 40 people For groups, the location will change. In this experience, we will explore the history of Kawara—the traditional roof tiles of Japan. Typically featuring a design with the fearless faces of ogres and gargoyles, these carved tiles found at the ends of the main roof ridge have been protecting the roofs of Japanese buildings from evil, and rainwater, since ancient times. I will teach you how to make a small, simple Onigawara tile with this type of demon face. You can make a simple handmade course. After making Onigawara, I will fire the Onigawara tile in a kiln at the factory. Japan tile production has modernized over the years, but wouldn't you like to make an ogre tile the way they did in the past? Originally, Onigawara is difficult By my own developed procedure Children and people with clumsy hands anyone can make a ONI Experience making an original demon from scratch this is like no other Other things to note This experience uses soil, so please wear clothes that may get dirty. Shipping costs are not included in the experience fee.
Absolutely amazing! So patient and clear with instruction. Studio so perfect. I had no faith I could make one but I did and it came out amazing!!!! Very cool everyone should do it!!!
My daughters raved about this experience. I set them up for this craft because it was the one crafting experience they really wanted to do and it didn’t disappoint. The provider walked them through the construction and made it very enjoyable and easy. Can’t wait to see the little clay guys after they are fired and shipped.
Highly recommend this adorable art class! The instructor had perfected his pedagogy; we had no idea how we would end up with such a detailed sculpture but trust the process! He’s so kind and we had a lot of fun :)
Very fun and not too challenging for beginners. Instructor offers to ship your final creation to you (after 30 days of drying), which you can choose to do (costs 4000 yen for one sculpture or 6000 for two)
Our faces turned out so cool!!! I can’t wait to get them in the mail and hang them on the wall. I did this activity with my husband and teenage son. They weren’t thrilled that I signed us up for it, but they quickly changed their tune once we got started. It was so much fun! And the instructor was fabulous! He walked us through every step and to our surprise all three of our faces look awesome! In case anyone is wondering (as I was before booking), the shipping ended up being around $50 USD. That was for three faves being shipped to Omaha, Nebraska in the States. I’m sure the price fluctuates with circumstances, but that’s what it was for us. And we were thankful that we had Yen on us for paying the shipping fee at the end. Have fun!!!!
With the guidance of our instructor, Mr. Youya, we were able to create a wonderful keepsake. He was patient as well as informative. I would definitely recommend this experience.
We loved our class - it was very informative and so much fun! It included step by step lessons for making the faces, so it wasn’t difficult at all.
Wonderful! So fun and an amazing sensei! Highly recommend if you enjoy working with your hands and with clay!
We absolutely loved this onigawara (traditional ridge-end tile) workshop in Kyoto, it was amazing for all ages and skill levels! From start to finish, the experience was warm, fun, and creatively inspiring. Our teacher/artisan was incredibly kind, patient, and encouraging, taking us through the process step by step so even complete beginners felt confident and excited. The hands-on instruction made every moment enjoyable and accessible. What sets this workshop apart is the unique souvenir you take home your very own piece of art that’s deeply connected to Japanese culture and history. Instead of just buying something generic, you walk away with a personal piece woven into Kyoto’s architectural tradition. Another uncommon and fantastic bonus is that your fired tile is shipped to you after the experience, something you don’t often get with pottery classes! This was one of the most memorable cultural experiences we had in Kyoto, and we highly recommend it to all visitors — families, couples, solo travelers, and art lovers alike.
An amazing experience if you have some extra time in Kyoto a must do. Such fun and a great teacher even if you not artsy at all.
Lovely time, seeing the quite varried results that the family made. They were definatly unique, from looking like a baby dropped on the floor to a stack of tubes and triangles.
What a great way to spend time together as a family. It was a fun, interesting and very different experience away from temples and shrines. The provider was patient, kind and spoke soon English. Plus he will fire them in a kiln and send them back to your home company. A magnificent 2 hours of crafting. Thank you.
Had the best time! The instructor was amazing, clear instructions meant that even though I am creatively challenged I still managed to make a great looking statue. Shipping went smoothly and my statue arrived undamaged. I ended up being the only booking that day and they didn’t cancel the entire class, which I always appreciate. Perfect experience!
The host did an awesome job at making being patient and giving us a step by step instructions. I was def the weak link artistically of the group but the host made sure I was caught up and couldn’t have been nicer. Would highly recommend to anyone visiting Kyoto as it was truly a unique experience.
This is a great creative experience!! The teacher is an artist and gives you the opportunity to create a great Japan ease piece of art with a great meaning and history. It is a very nice and easy way to get creative with natural high temperature ceramic with a process that will not fail and looks amazing ! I do recommend this experience for everyone !
Very enjoyable experience with Japanese business owner. I was even able to mail my onigawara home after the class, keeping my luggage light.
Working with clay to make onigawara, the traditional demon-face tiles found on Kyoto roofs, was a delightful and fun experience! Yuya, our instructor, is a master onigawara artisan who patiently makes every step very easy and enjoyable, even for those who've never worked with clay before. We had a lovely afternoon and will have our finished onigawara delivered to us once they've been fired in the kiln. The process gave us an appreciation for the dedicated labor that goes into making Kyoto's beautiful, traditional artifacts. Highly recommended!
I definitely recommend this! It was a really nice way to spend a morning, very relaxing and peaceful. Yuuya-san is a wonderful teacher (and amazing sculptor!!) who is able to break down a complicated end product into very easy steps. I’d definitely do it again!
Our group had a great time spending the afternoon crafting onigawara. Trust the process. They all turned out fantastic and different
How can you go wrong making a snarling guardian? The teacher scoped the project well to the time allowed; it is a step-by-step build where the pieces are a set list but shaped to your own design.
Amazing experience! This is definitely a hands-on unique activity in an intimate space with a knowledgeable and encouraging guide. It ended up just being us and that was even better for personalized attention! We were given water and a place to store our luggage.
This experience was really good. Creating Onigawara in a traditional Japanese workshop with a great teacher, who was pleasant and patient. It was good to experience taking part in Japanese cultural tradition. Recommended.
Great activity for teenage children who love to be artistic. Kids both had a great time. Instructor was friendly, patient and showed how to complete all the required techniques. Can’t wait to receive the finished product in 2 months.
Our family thoroughly enjoyed this unique experience. Neither of us had worked with clay before. Yuya was a very patient instructor. He explained and demonstrated each step of the way. We didn't think ours would turn out great but, in the end, we were pleasantly surprised. The entire process takes 2.5 to 3 hours so just be mindful of that if you have other things planned for the day. There is also a separate shipping fee at the end which we thought was fair. We were told the drying process takes 1-2 mos. Highly recommend this activity.
A very cool experience, a complicated design was deconstructed into small sections that were very easy to follow even for those that aren’t artistically gifted. Would highly recommend to others.
Very fun to do and a very good souvenir to bring back home! Whilst time was not an issue for us, make sure you have anywhere between 2-4 hours spare as it depends on how detailed you are!
I recommend this experience 100%! The host is the nicest and most patient person I ever met, even if you don’t have any prior experience, his explanations are so clear that you will feel like a true artist by the end of the experience. On top of that, his fun conversation makes the experience even nicer.
Yuya is a talented artist who knows how to instruct complicated finished products by breaking down the process into manageable steps. Each of our tiles came out unique and personal to our style and skill. His conversational style in English was clear and to the point. He was always encouraging and only offered suggestions to help and enhance the clay design. His care for his students was top notch. Looking forward to seeing our tiles home. Definitely not just for tourists. This is a different and unique Japanese experience for all.
Such a unique experience! This was something that you just don't find other places. We had six people in our class with one instructor. All individuals were adults except for my 17yr old daughter. The class was fast paced and still took almost 3hrs. It's a challenge to keep up and create something that comes together at the end. For most of the experience I thought my onigawara was ruined and misshaped. Though by the end it looked amazing! The instructor spoke decent English and made sure all of us understood the steps necessary to create a beautiful complete piece. My only critique is that shipping is paid separately at the end of class (in cash) based upon a random figure. Understand why it's done this way, but who wouldn't want their onigawara shipped home & would appreciate knowing the cost in advance . Since it takes approximately one month for the clay to dry out, you must have everything shipped to see your final product. Small detail when thinking of the overall experience. Believe this is a must for anyone visiting Kyoto who enjoys creating something with their hands.
Wonderful experience!!! We had a great time and all of our Onigawara came out great! The instructor, Yuya, was lovely and very patient. It was fun to hear about his family’s business.
Awesome activity in Kyoto. The instructor did a wonderful job explaining all the steps and was patient when we had to remake a piece of the face. It took us about 2 hours to finish our onigawaras and we are looking forward to seeing them when they arrive at our house as he will ship it after it's been fired. Ours don't look as good as his but it will still be a very personal souvenir and the experience was very fun.
A lovely creative, relaxing afternoon in the craziness of a busy holiday. Yuya was a wonderful host, he patiently took us through the steps of making our own onigawara. The all looked different with the same recipe
Instructor is very friendly and patient with inexperienced clay worker he’s very open to answering questions and even asking questions himself he speaks English very well with only little stumbling here and there
We had a wonderful time and enjoyed the lesson and change of pace—not to mention hand-crating our own one-of-a-kind keepsakes to remember our trip. Highly recommend!!
The teacher knows some English, not too much for casual conversation but enough too give good instructions. Note, be prepared to potentially get dirty if you have butterfingers. Very fun, and impressed with how my little oni turned out!
Yuya is a wonderful instructor and delightful company. We had a fantastic time and we are absolutely thrilled with the final product, which we received in the mail a few weeks later. This was a great learning experience and it was especially fun to see the real onigawaras around Kyoto and compare ours!
This was such a unique and great experience! Our host You-san was super kind. The selection of Oni wara as the objective is superb. And while it seems challenging at first, You-san broke it down into traceable pieces and will also provide hands on guidance and help if you ask. And there is no real time limit - he will make sure you finish it even if you are a bit slower. He also makes friendly conversations with us despite not speaking perfect English. Overall a great experience and I would recommend anybody who’s up to make some clay work with their hands. P.S. I am a complete novice with clay work and I was able to finish it reasonably well in about 3 hours.
Yuya was such a great instructor and broke down each step in simple ways. The experience of making these talismans was so fun and very memorable. It felt like Yuya was our friend from Japan who invited us over to his studio and showed us something unique outside of the "tourist-y" things. Would definitely recommend this to all our friends!
Amazing experience and a great break from walking around the city. I was surprised at how well all of the group’s onigawara came out. Our instructor did a fantastic job guiding us through the process. Would definitely recommend for anyone looking to make their own souvenir.
We had a fantastic time making our onigawara’s, Yuya was very patient and made the process very easy to follow, as well as having lots of laughs along the way. We will never be master onigawara makers, but are very proud of the finished product, we look forward to them arriving when baked. Thanks for a great morning.😀
Since it was just my husband and I, we had a private lesson with Yuya-San. We had a great time making our own onigawaras. Looking at a finished example, I never thought that I would be able to complete a decent-looking onigawara. But thanks to Yuya-San’s patience and instructions, I was thrilled with the result. Yuya-San will be firing our works in his kiln in the coming weeks, and then will send it to us. I plan on putting our onigawaras in our garden to protect us and ward off evil. I highly recommend this experience. Arigato gozaimasu, Yuya-San.
Absolute must do if you’re in Kyoto. The instructor is very attentive and very easy to follow even for beginners. The class was so much fun and the small setting allows you to chat with the other potters.
The instructor is very nice and knows how to explain the steps for creating the onigawara so that laymen can understand it well. Also, for non-japanese speakers, the instructor knows English pretty well.
This is such a fun and unique experience and a great way to bring home a truly meaningful souvenir. Neither myself or my wife are skilled at pottery, but it was so much fun watching our creations come to life. Our instructor Yuya, was very kind and a great teacher. This was definitely a highlight of our trip and we cannot wait to see the final product.
My teenage daughter and I booked the class for our visit to Kyoto this year. It was a fun activity for both and we had a great time chatting with Sensei about various topics while our onigawaras took shape under his precise and patient guidance. My daughter was even able to add her own twist for a truly unique piece! Can't wait to have them delivered!
A really fun, unique experience! The instrucion was super easy to follow, and everyone's onigawara in our class came out looking amazing. Our teacher was incredibly tallented and very helpful. My group had both total beginners and experienced sculpters, and we all had a lot of fun. Highly recommend.
Super unique experience, great step by step instruction. We all love our masks and they are all completely different. They will be fired and sent home to us. Best souvenir ever!!
This was an amazing experience!! The artist was patient and helped us create beautiful works to send home. Would absolutely recommend, it was a highlight of our Kyoto experience.
Yuuya-San was a great teacher! He will teach you how to turn a large lump of clay into your own onigawara. I was amazed at how the end product appeared for everyone in my group, as there will be different versions of the same product. We were all beginners with clay. He is very kind and speaks great English. He could explain everything in a way easy to understand. We would highly recommend this experience!
We ventured into this experience looking for something different to do in Kyoto and we were sold when we saw this! The instructor, Yuya, is very flexible and knowledgable of his craft and his instructions were clear all the time. Yuya had a very positive and encouraging attitude. Also, we really enjoyed chatting away with him while we created the Onigawara’s. Happy to say that my sister and I were successful in our artistic endeavour, I cannot wait to receive my Oni in its final form :) Thanks Yuya for such a chill and fun experience! 100% would recommend.
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