As is well-recognized by archaeologists of the Chûsei, or Japanese medieval period, ceramic wares (hereafter referred to as Kyoto-style haji wares) imitating haji wares created in the Kyoto area and used in Kyoto (hereafter referred to as Kyoto-produced haji ware), appeared in various regions of Japan in the 12th through 13th centuries and the 15th to 16th centuries. Haji wares are an unglazed bisque fired ware produced as a utilitarian ware for everyday dishes, lamps and ceremonial utensils. Given that Kyoto-style haji wares were made in imitation of Kyoto-produced haji wares, they stand as material for a consideration of the value formation that surrounds an object. This report will use the Kyoto-style haji wares as a tool in its sketch of the dynamics that occur in the formation of values related to objects.
     To the degree known from fragmentary historical documents, the haji ware producers were granted their land by their feudal lord, and presented haji wares to him as payment for that land. Judging from the narrow range of distribution of these products, undoubtedly these producers lived an existence tied to their lands. Further, a close examination of the shapes and forms of the Kyoto-style haji wares of each region reveals that a marked gap can be confirmed between attributes of the Kyoto-style haji wares and those of the Kyoto-produced haji wares. This indicates that we cannot consider a scenario whereby Kyoto producers simply moved to other areas in Japan and continued production there. Kyoto-style haji wares were produced by local producers who received information about the shapes and techniques used in the production of Kyoto-produced haji wares. In other words, the people and the objects themselves did not move, rather only the information about the objects moved. Given the strongly local character of the regional producers, we should consider that the information on these objects came at the behest of the recipients and consumers of the wares (thought to be feudal lords and local landed gentry). Further, when we consider the differences between the Kyoto-produced haji wares and the Kyoto-style haji wares made as copies, we can see that the transfer of object information itself was imperfect, as if the transfer consisted solely of a "visual image" of the emulated Kyoto-produced haji wares rather than the specific structural techniques or knowledge needed for their manufacture.
      If that is the case, then we can gain a tool for our understanding of the actual valuation given to Kyoto-style haji wares by examining how these wares were used and the locations of their use. Judging from the state of distribution within a region and the amounts of such wares excavated, we can see that they were used in a variety of ways. For example, in some regions a limited number of objects were excavated, indicating that the traditional local types of haji ware had apparently been driven out by Kyoto-style haji wares. In some areas, propensity for usage depended on the nature of the site (castle site, etc.), while, on the other hand, these wares were broadly excavated in other areas, regardless of the nature of the specific historic sites. The valuation of the wares was complicated—each region had its own uses for the wares and its own difference in value between the Kyoto-style haji wares and the regional wares—and yet all shared the fact that the valuation of Kyoto-style haji wares was predicated on the existence of a local form of haji ware. In other words, these Kyoto-style haji wares existed within and were consumed within a local "context," and it was this consumption and context which led to the formation of their values.
     In most regions, production of Kyoto-style haji wares continued for some 50 to 100 years. These locally produced copies did not follow the transformation process seen in Kyoto-produced haji wares over the course of the same time frame. Gradually more striking differences between the regionally produced copies and the Kyoto-produced haji wares developed. This suggests that object information was only introduced to the local region one time, at the beginning of production of the regional copy. In other words, neither the producer nor the consumer placed value on the fineness of the copy work. Kyoto-style haji wares were not true copies, but rather appeared as products which were the physical manifestation of their image of a "Kyoto style" of haji ware, and were thus appropriated within the context of the daily life and culture of each region. The essential value intrinsic in the act of copying is the search for a degree of likeness to the original. And yet, this value does not seem to be present in this Kyoto-style haji production process. Rather, here it seems that the impetus for copying lay in the regional consumer's longing for Kyoto's culture, and as such, these Kyoto-style haji wares were divorced from the cultural valuation of the original, and were assigned new value by their consumers.