Hagi ware is characterized by its soft, rough texture with little or no painting. Hagi ware is highly esteemed as a tea ceremony ware, and has been popular among tea masters as "Ichiraku, Ni-hagi, San-karatsu" (one is Raku, the second is Hagi, the third is Karatsu).
Hagi ware is highly absorbent, and as it is used over the years, tea and sake permeate the nuki (penetrations), changing the color of the ware. The appearance of this growing flavor has been called "accustomed to tea" and "Hagi's seven transformations," and is beloved by many.
Hagi has inherited the appearance of the castle town that was formed approximately 400 years ago, and is still a "town where old maps from the Edo period can be used as they are today. Hagi produced a number of revolutionary leaders at the end of the Edo period, including Shoin Yoshida, Takayoshi Kido, Shinsaku Takasugi, and Hirobumi Ito, and there are many birthplaces, former residences, and other historical sites in the area.
Please consider commemorative gifts using“Hagi Ware”.
We accept a variety of requests,
including letterhead sets and Japanese paper accessories,
as well as items such as the souvenir example.
Hagi ware is said to have been founded about 400 years ago by Ri Shikko, a Korean potter, and his younger brother Ri Kei, who was called to Hagi the following year, and at first, tea bowls similar to Koryo tea bowls were mainly fired. Later, when the Mori clan was defeated in the Battle of Sekigahara and moved to the current location of Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1604, the kiln was supported by the Mori clan as their official kiln. Hagi ware produced at the imperial kiln consisted mainly of tea bowls, tea containers, and jugs. From then until the end of the Edo period, a wide variety of Hagi ware was produced, including not only wabi-sukiyaki tea ceremony utensils, but also sencha utensils and craftwork.
However, after the Meiji Restoration, Hagi-yaki was in a difficult situation because it no longer had the backing of the clan. In the late Meiji period, traditional Japanese culture was reevaluated and reappraised, and this trend led to the establishment of the image of Hagiyaki as the tea ceremony.
After World War II, individual artists became more active in pottery making as a form of expression, and Hagiyaki is now considered one of Japan's representative ceramic art cultures. The mainstream glazes used in modern Hagiyaki are the loquat glaze (earthen ash glaze or wood ash glaze), which is attractive because of its smooth, well-melted glaze layer with a transparent base clay color, and the white Hagi glaze (also called "rested snow white"), which has the warmth and thickness of a true cotton cloth. The addition of the Raku ware style and other styles has given Hagiyaki a unique warmth that is familiar to today's Hagiyaki.
Please consider commemorative gifts using“Hagi Ware”.
We accept a variety of requests,
including letterhead sets and Japanese paper accessories,
as well as items such as the souvenir example.