About Hagiyaki
History of Hagiyaki
Hagiyaki was created about 400 years ago (1600) by the potter brothers Rishakko and Rikei, who were brought back to Korea by order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It began in the early Edo period when Mori Terumoto, the founder of the Choshu domain, opened a government kiln in Hagi.
Hagiyaki soil
The raw materials for Hagi ware are mainly Daido clay excavated from the Daido area of Hofu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, which borders the Seto Inland Sea coast, as well as Mitaketsuchi soil and Mishima, a remote island off the coast of Hagi. We use materials such as "Mishimatsuchi" excavated from Japan.
There are three types of Hagi ware: Matsumoto Hagi ware, Fukagawa Hagi ware, and Yamaguchi Hagi ware.Here at Yamaguchi Hagi ware, we use Daido clay as our base, as well as several types of high-quality clay found in Yamaguchi. In addition, we perform clay refining by hand.
Features
One of its appeals is that Daido clay has a texture that is gentle on people's skin, as it does not harden easily.
The light pink spots that appear on the work are called "Gohonde" or "Gohon", and are also called "Hotaru" or "Hoshi", and are determined by the way the kiln is fired and the position within the kiln. It is characterized by changes in the base material that occur from the base material.
In the case of tea utensils, the tea permeates through the "kanyu" (cracks) pattern of the glaze applied to the surface of the base material, and the color and luster of the entire item changes as it is used.
This aspect is called "Nanabake of Hagi".
Also, since Hagiyaki was an official kiln for the domain, commoners were not allowed to use it.
For this reason, there is something called "kiri-takadai," and it is widely known that by making a cut in the high ground, it was purposely made to look like a ``scratched item'' and was allowed to be used by the common people.
Other versions have them cut into criss-cross shapes, and there is also a theory that they were used to stack vessels so that the ropes would not slip during transportation.
"YamatoShoroku Kiln" Sakutaro Yamato
Yamato Shoroku kiln is a kiln of Hagiyaki, which has a history of 400 years and has a history of 400 years, originating from the official kiln of the Mori clan.
With the Meiji Restoration, Hagiyaki followed the path of privatization, and my great-grandfather, Sakutaro Yamato, who was the foreman of the Hagi clan's official kiln (Tokoji kiln) at the time, named it "Shoroku" after Shoin Yoshida, and moved to the birthplace of Shoin Yoshida. A kiln called "Yamato Shoroku kiln" was built nearby.
In 1890, his skills were recognized by the Bandai family, a wealthy Yamaguchi merchant family that supported the Meiji Restoration, and he was invited to become the foreman of Yamaguchi ware.
Later, high-quality clay was discovered in the neighboring village of Miyano Village, Kishiki District (present-day Miyanogami, Yamaguchi City), and finally, in 1891, the "Miyano Ware Yamato Shoroku Kiln" was opened.
"Yamato Harunobu Shoroku Kiln" On the premises, there are remains of Yamato Sakutaro's climbing kiln, which was built in the Meiji period, and many people from the neighborhood come to see it as part of their school-related field trips.
In addition to storing over 1,000 tons of Hagiyaki clay (pottery clay), you can observe the entire process from clay making to firing, and are involved in many cultural promotion projects within the prefecture.