A vessel whose face changes the more you use it. Hagi in Yamaguchi is the home of Hagi ware, long loved by tea masters, and during the Golden Week holidays the Hagi Pottery Festival is held. The town's kilns gather to display their work, at prices far more approachable than usual. Hagi ware is plain; there is no flashy painting, only the color of the clay and the cracks in the glaze. But it changes with use: tea and sake seep into the fine crackle called kannyu, and the hue deepens over time, an effect known as the "seven transformations of Hagi." The vessel grows along with its owner. The tradition dates to the late sixteenth century, when potters who came from Korea opened kilns here, four centuries ago. This is not a finished beauty but a beauty you raise. Pick a piece up, feel its weight, and choose. One of Yamaguchi's defining pottery markets.