Hagi is very porous and over time the glaze changes its color.
For this reason Hagi is said to have seven lives.

Chawan

Guinomi

Tokkuri

Bizen

Hagi

Oribe

Shino

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Acoma

Figure 1: Hagi chawan

Figure 2: Hagi chawan

Figure 3: Hagi guinomi by Nagahisa Shosai

Figure 4: Hagi guinomi by Hatano Zenzo (father)

Figure 5: Hagi guinomi by Hatano Hideo (son)

Figure 6: Hagi yuinomi

Figure 7: I believe this is a Hagi guinomi made by Tamamura Toyo. I think this color is very unusual for Hagi. I was given this guinomi by my father who lived in Japan for fourteen years. The box has this persons name and says it is Hagi. He could have mixed the box up and I need to continue to check on it. If anyone recognizes this style please contact me.

Hagi pottery comes from a castle town buit by the Mori family in the late Edo Period. The pieces I own are perhaps not as beautiful as the ones you can see in books. However I like Hagi and I especially enjoy drinking from with the guinomi as wll as the chawan.

Hagi is very porous, and the first time I purchased one new and used it I noticed that it leaked.

Toyotom Hideyoshi invaded Korea and ordered the brothers Yi Sukkwang and Yi Kyung, potters in Korea, to come to Japan and they were the founders of Hagi pottery. Hideyoshi’s second invasion of Korea has been called the “Pottery War” becasue manly of the war lords who participated were interested in the Koreaon Ido style tea bowls and they brought back many Korean potters to Japan.

Many Hagi chawan are very close to the tradition of early Korean tea bowls in the Ido style.

Hagi chawan are highly valued. There is a saying as regarding tea bowls that , “Raku stands first, Hagi second and Karatsu third.” I do not have any examples of Raku style. My future hope is to be able to obtain some Hagi chawan.