The "ceramic wind chimes" are made of strips of Japanese paper that sway in the wind and make a pleasant sound with the ceramic. ［The product became popular when Aika Craft held a hands-on class for making wind chimes at an event in Miyazu, a local town, last summer.
While most wind chimes are made of glass or metal," says Akirika, "we discovered that ceramics could produce such a tone. The warm and welcoming form of the outer part, called the "exterior," is formed freehand. After experimenting with different glazes and firing temperatures to see what kind of tones they would produce, the ring-shaped tongue that hangs inside was fired without glaze to improve its resonance. The paper used for the tanzaku is handmade washi from Ito no Kashi, a small mountain village called Kamiseya, located 400 m above sea level in Miyazu City, where they grow the raw material, kozo (paper mulberry). Indigo from the Yura River is used to make the paper, which has a clear tone and a cool appearance.