The small city of Seto is located in Aichi Prefecture, just a few train stops toward the northeast from central Nagoya. For at least a millennium, Seto has flourished as an important production center for pottery, porcelain, and ceramics.

This has given Seto a rich history, and exploring it can be informative and fun.

Throughout the city you can find a number of museums, galleries, and other facilities devoted to communicating information about Seto and its famous products. Perhaps the largest and most comprehensive of these is the Seto-Gura Museum, which occupies a portion of the big Seto-Gura complex that's within walking distance of Owari Seto Station on Meitetsu railway's Seto Line. When you exit the station, just cross the bridge over the Seto River and make an immediately left, and the complex is about five minutes along.

The Seto-Gura complex is an expansive and lively destination for shopping and entertainment. The museum is on the center's second floor.

Just inside the museum is a street tram and a full-scale replica of the original Owari Seto train station, which opened in 1905 as Seto Station and was renamed in 1921. It remained in use up until it was dismantled and replaced by the station that's now in operation, which was completed in 2001.

Past the station, the rest of the museum focuses on the pottery and porcelain that made Seto famous. Just to one side of the station is a mock-up of an old-style pottery factory. The displays here show every step of production, from kneading the raw clay, to molding the articles, to firing the finished products in kilns and then allowing them to cool.

English labels for many of the main steps and tools make the processes easy to understand.

At the time I visited the museum, they were holding a special temporary exhibit of teapots shaped like cats, which was surprisingly extensive. Who knew there were so many variations?

The cat teapots will be on exhibit through November 17, 2019.

Venturing further into the museum led me to more displays dedicated to pottery production. At many points there are looping videos explaining different aspects of the industry.

On display as well were actual examples of the kind of sophisticated products that came to be made in Seto.

There was also an area with videos, games, and displays geared to children.

More displays showcased examples of the items made in Seto down the centuries…

...as well as some modern pieces.

In all, there are over 2,000 pieces on show in the glass cases on the museum's two floors.

Even the museum restrooms showcased Seto ceramics!

In one part of the museum was an area where visitors can rest and, for 300 yen, enjoy a cup of matcha tea, with its rich and bitter flavor set off by the mild sweetness of a traditional Japanese confection.

Of course, the teacup and plate were lovely examples of Setoware themselves.

Museum admission is 520 yen for adults, 310 yen for high-school and college students and for seniors, and free for children of younger age.

After exiting the museum, I headed toward Kamagaki no Komichi, a set of undulating paths that run for about 400 meters through a part of town that thrived as a center of pottery production in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and make for an outdoor museum of sorts.

I decided to walk to Kamagaki no Komichi, which is about 15 minutes on foot east from the Seto-Gura Museum and not difficult to find if you can follow a map, but it's also possible to double back to Owari Seto Station and take a bus. You want to board a Meitetsu bus at stop #3 that's bound for Shinano, and get off at Toso Park. From there it's a three-minute walk.

At the west end where the path starts is a stately Buddhist temple called Hosenji.

The signage marking the path is in Japanese, but if you follow the arrows on the brown and white signs, you'll find your way.

Partway along the path is a museum that's worth checking out. It's in an old potter's house that has been restored to much the same state as when it was built some 120 years ago.

Inside are displays of old tools as well as examples of the kinds of tiles and other ceramics that use to be made here and elsewhere in the area.

Be sure to check out the bathing area, which is decorated with a style of tile called Hongyo that enjoyed tremendous popularity a century ago.

Moving on, I continued along the path, then eventually looped around for the stroll through quiet and quaint residential streets back to the train station.

Handy maps and signs strategically placed at intersections and elsewhere ensured I wouldn't lose the way.

Back at the station, at the visitors' center there, I picked up some tasty local treats as souvenirs for myself and the people back home.

And that marked the end of a fun day in Seto!