A day in Hagi: samurai lanes, Hagi ware and the birthplace of modern Japan

Hagi is a small town with a big place in Japanese history. For more than 250 years it was the capital of the Mori lords, and in the 1850s and 1860s it produced many of the young samurai who overthrew the shogunate and set Japan on the road to modernisation. Today it is quiet and charming, with white walls, orange trees and pottery shops.

Getting there and around

Express buses run from Shin-Yamaguchi Station on the shinkansen to Hagi in about an hour. Hagi is flat and its sights are spread out, so rent a bicycle near the bus centre or station, or use the small circular buses around town.

Morning: the castle and the samurai district

• Hagi Castle ruins: start at Shizuki Park, where the stone walls and moat of the Mori castle stand at the foot of Mount Shizuki, right by the sea. The castle buildings were taken down in 1874, but the walls are impressive.
• Horiuchi: walk through the old samurai quarter inside the outer moat, with its long white earthen walls, gates and summer orange trees. Several old residences are open to visitors.
• Kikugahama: a sandy beach beside the castle, with views across the bay.

Lunch

Hagi is on the Sea of Japan, so the fish is excellent. Look for sea bream and squid, and try something made with natsumikan, the tart summer orange that the samurai planted in their gardens when they lost their income in the 1870s.

Afternoon: the old town and Shoka Sonjuku

• Jokamachi: the old merchant quarter, with the Kikuya house, home of a wealthy merchant family, and the birthplaces of Kido Takayoshi and Takasugi Shinsaku, two heroes of the Meiji Restoration.
• Shoka Sonjuku: the tiny wooden school where Yoshida Shoin taught for only a couple of years before he was executed in 1859. His students included Ito Hirobumi, Japan’s first prime minister. It stands in the grounds of Shoin Shrine.
• World Heritage: Shoka Sonjuku, the castle town, the ruins of Hagi Castle, an early reverberatory furnace and a shipyard site are part of the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution, listed by UNESCO in 2015.

Hagi ware

Hagi ware is one of Japan’s most admired styles of pottery for the tea ceremony, with soft glazes in milky white, pink and orange. Because the clay is porous, tea slowly seeps into the glaze, and the colour changes over years of use, which tea lovers call the “seven transformations”. Visit a kiln or gallery in town, and some offer short pottery classes.

Tips

• Stay the night: Hagi is peaceful in the evening, and there are hot spring hotels by the sea.
• Many museums close at about 5 pm.
• The next day, drive west to Motonosumi Shrine, about an hour away, or follow our north coast drive.