Visual Notes 005

Red roofs of western Japan.

Some time ago, I often traveled between Tokyo and Kyushu for work. I would take the Shinkansen west from Tokyo, past Kyoto, past Osaka, and further west.

Looking out the window, I noticed something after the train passed Okayama Station. Among the gray tile roofs of the old houses in the distance, some were red. The further west I went, the more red roofs I saw. It was a curious sight.

That sight stayed with me. In May 2024, I made time to travel through Okayama Prefecture.

Houses with red tile roofs were everywhere. The red roofs I had seen from a distance through the Shinkansen window turned out, up close, to come in many shades. Muted red, glossy red, vermilion.

I looked into it. The tiles are called Sekishu-gawara. They come from the Iwami region of Shimane Prefecture, and the red comes from kimachi-ishi, a local stone used as a glaze material.

Fired at high temperatures, they are also resistant to cold and snow. What I had thought of as a color turned out to be tied to the local geology and climate.

Against the green of new leaves and rice fields, the red tile roofs remain in the eye. That contrast is part of what makes the landscape of the Chugoku region distinctive.

Visual Notes is a series that will run alongside my regular posts—more photographs, fewer words.