Hagi

Hagi was the seat of the Mori and was left alone after the Meiji period rather than industrialised, so the street plan of the castle town survives almost intact - the town promotes the fact that an Edo-period map still works as a guide, and it does. Earthen walls topped with tile, whitewashed storehouses, samurai residences and merchant houses stand in the Horiuchi and Jokamachi districts, with summer orange trees behind the walls. The castle itself was dismantled in 1874 and the site is stone walls and a moat. The other Hagi is ceramic: Hagi-yaki, a pale loosely glazed ware with a crazed surface that absorbs tea over years and changes colour with use - the seven changes, as it is described - which is why the pots are valued for what they become rather than what they are. Kilns and shops are spread through the town. Several sites are part of a UNESCO industrial inscription.

History

In the Muromachi period the Yoshimi clan built a small fort at the fishing village that stood here, and through the Edo period Hagi was the centre of the Chōshū Domain, ruled for 250 years by the Mōri clan from Hagi Castle; Chōshū samurai played a major part in the Meiji Restoration (Wikipedia, Hagi, Yamaguchi).

What you'll find

• An intact Edo plan - streets that still match a two-hundred-year-old map.
• Earthen walls and storehouses - samurai and merchant districts with orange trees behind them.
• Hagi-yaki - a crazed pale ware that absorbs tea and changes colour over years of use.
• A dismantled castle - walls and moat only, the keep taken down in 1874.

When to go

March to November. Two days; a bicycle makes the districts manageable.

What to expect

The town is spread out and walking it all is tiring - hire a bicycle. Hagi is remote and takes time to reach from anywhere. The castle is a ruin. Good pottery is expensive and the tourist-grade pieces are not the same thing.

Nearby

Tsuwano is south-east; the Nagato coast is west.