Travel to Japan in May 2019

Visiting Hagi - Arriving

Hagi is a well know town for exceptional pottery and we were sure not to miss it. When we arrived with the local train from Tsuwano a huge rainstorm hit the Hagi. Rain poured down in thick streams and even forced us to call the Ryokan to pick us up by car.

We were rewarded by the most beautiful Ryokan with a beautiful garden and full of local pottery. Our room was spacious room with beautiful tatami mats and a japanese garden in front of the window.

The next day rewarded us with blue skies, a light breeze and pleasant temperature to explore the city by electric bike.

Kaneta Masano Pottery

Our first stop just after the harbour mart was the pottery of Kaneta Masanao. First his wife welcomed us to the galery room full of his amazing work. These sculptural vessels have appear like granit rocks with triangular faces, sharp edges and vertical cleft running what sometimes seems like a mountain. The glaze covers these rock faces in white snow with some sides  parts having a tinge of greyish pink. The ridges are often dark black as if the snow has melted and revealed the black rock underneath. 

The bigger vessels have large surfaces gleaming like fresh snow. 

The tea bowls are carved and some of them have a glaze that has beautifully crawled into pools of white beads.

After getting served matcha tea in his lesser tea bowls Kaneta showed us his workshop and kiln.

His glaze is made from feldspar, rice straw ash and wood ash. He was just experimenting with orange tree ash when we visited.

He explained that most of his work is carved and only little is thrown on the wheel.

The kiln a typical multichambered climbing kiln in his backyard without real chimney was still hot from the two day firing he did the previous two days together with his wife.

Lunch at the Hagi Harbor

After visiting Kaneta Masanao we finished off the morning with a lunch at the very popular restaurant at the harbor.

Delicious sea food and great local beer brewed with summer oranges which are rather like grape fruit.

Hagi Visit and other Potteries

Hagi is a beautiful town with many potteries and galleries to visit. The old town is wonderful with beautiful old japanese houses. A walk along the beach is also great.

We also explored some of the surroundings with the help of our e-bikes.