Japanese Pottery Marks: How to Identify the Maker on the Base

When people buy pottery, most of them look at the front. The shape, the colour, the painting. But in an antique shop, or at a potter's solo exhibition, anyone who knows the field turns the piece over at least once.

On the underside there may be a record of whose hands it came from: a single carved character, a seal pressed in red, or ink written on the lid of its box. These are known together as mei, the mark, or tou-in, the potter's seal.

This article covers where to look for a mark, how to read it, and what it tells you. It also covers how to look at a piece that carries no mark at all, because Japanese pottery has a tradition of choosing not to sign.

What a mark is

A mark is the maker's signature on a piece. In Japanese pottery, though, that signature comes in three layers.

• The artist's mark　An individual potter's own name, or the art name they work under, put on the piece. On a one-off piece this is the most important information there is.
• The kiln mark　The mark of a kiln or a workshop. Where several craftspeople work at one kiln, what goes on the piece is the name of the kiln rather than a person.
• The regional or guild mark　Pressed by a regional association as a guarantee of quality. You see it in places that carry a reputation as a region, such as Arita and Kutani.

The three are not exclusive. A kiln mark and an artist's mark can both appear, and sometimes there is only a regional mark. A mark does not automatically mean studio work, and that is the first place people trip up.

Where the mark is

There are only so many places to look.

The kodai is the ring the piece stands on when you turn it over. You can judge the care of the trimming here at the same time, so looking for the mark also shows you the quality of the making.

Three ways a mark is made

Kakimei, the carved mark

Cut straight into the clay with a bamboo blade or a nail while it is still soft. The line keeps a curl of raised clay, so you can feel it with a fingertip. Because it is cut by hand one piece at a time, the characters differ from piece to piece even from the same potter. It is the plainest evidence there is that a piece is studio work.

Inban, the stamped mark

Pressed with a seal, either into the soft clay so that it sits recessed, or in red after the firing. The same shape repeats, so it is used mostly by kilns that make in quantity. In Kutani and Kyo ware you often see a square seal pressed in vermilion.

Sometsuke-mei, the painted mark

Written with a brush. Painted under the glaze in gosu, cobalt, it comes out blue; in iron pigment, brown; in overglaze enamel, red or gold. On sometsuke pieces, the same brushwork that decorates the front appears on the back.

The tomobako, a second signature

There is a corner of Japanese ceramics where the box matters as much as what is inside it. A tomobako is a paulownia box signed and sealed by the maker.

The title of the work on the outside of the lid, the maker's signature and seal on the inside. For tea ceremony pieces, whether that inscription exists changes the valuation enormously. This is a world in which a genuine piece loses value if it loses its box.

How to read a piece with no mark

This is where Japanese pottery gets interesting. The absence of a mark is sometimes the philosophy of the region itself.

Onta ware in Oita is made by the families of the village working together, and carries no individual name. The same is true of Okinawan yachimun, and of some Mashiko ware. The mingei philosophy found beauty in anonymous handwork.

Read an unmarked piece in this order.

• The colour and grain of the clay　The trimmed foot carries no glaze, so the bare clay shows. Reddish brown means a clay high in iron; white means something close to porcelain stone. The difference between clay and porcelain clay shows up here.
• How the foot is trimmed　Thin, sharp trimming tends to come from porcelain regions, and a thicker foot left heavy from yakishime regions.
• The look of the glaze　Ash fall, straw ash or iron glaze. The type of glaze narrows the region down a long way.
• The traces of forming　Whether wheel marks remain, whether a mould was used, whether it was pinched by hand. The forming method changes what is left behind.

The differences in style from one region to the next are gathered in a comparison of ten kiln regions.

Dating a piece from Nippon and Made in Japan

Every potter today presses a seal of their own, but Japanese pottery that was exported in the past carries an English mark, and that mark is a clue to its date.

It began with the McKinley Tariff Act of 1891, which required goods imported into the United States to state a country of origin. So the presence of English on the base is itself a sign that the piece was made for export. Pieces made for the home market almost never carry it.

What to check when you buy

• 1. Turn it over and see whether there is a mark　Establish that first. Its absence is not a fault.
• 2. Ask whether the mark is an artist's name or a kiln's　Anyone in the shop can answer. This is the dividing line.
• 3. Check for a tomobako and a shiori note　Neither can be added later, so check on the spot.
• 4. Look at the trimming and the glaze　Before the mark, look at the work in the piece itself.
• 5. Check that you can trace who made it　A piece whose maker you know brings its background back every time you use it.

Related reading

Looking at pottery more closely

• Kodai (Foot Ring): The Part Collectors Check First
• Keshiki: How to Read the 'Landscape' on a Pot
• Clay vs. Porcelain Clay | How Differences in Clay Determine a Piece's Character
• Japanese Pottery Glazes: The Main Types Explained

Regions and makers

• Kiln Regions of Japan: 10 Pottery Styles Compared
• Mingei: The Folk Craft Movement That Changed Pottery
• Living National Treasures: Japan's Greatest Potters
• Japanese Potters and Ceramic Artisans

Before you buy

• Buying Japanese Pottery Online: What to Check First
• Kyoto Pottery: Where to Buy Ceramics in Kyoto
• How to Visit a Japanese Pottery Fair: 9 Regions Compared