Japanese Bonsai Pots Blog

Those of you who frequent the IBC forums will remember a fantastic and strange pot I identified for Dan Barton, who had picked it up in Japan and didnt know who made it. It was made by Okatani Zeshin, and I thought it would be nice to show some more examples of his work.
Zeshin is a relatively unknown potter here in the west, but in Japan he is very well known, his pots have been very influential for the current generation of carving potters, and some of his pots fetch very high prices, over $500. His carvings are surreal, strange, trippy, Suessian, and sometimes downright weird. Some of his favorite motifs include “repeating Monks” reliefs, animals(either as a relief, pattern, or the shape of the pot as a whole), especially crabs, frogs, and owl, landscapes, and “freeform wierdness.”  His glazes and techniques are every bit as masterful as his carving and pot technique, featuring unique colors with great depth and interesting application.
He passed away in 1997, and was member of the famous Yokohama Guild(a group of Bonsai potters who make small pots) and influenced several potters of this group.

Here is a selection of Okatani Zeshin pots. Special thanks to fellow collector and Bonsai artist Matt Ouwinga for photos and Gerry Novotny for allowing use of his extensive collection of Zeshin pots, easily the largest in the United States, probably the largest outside of Japan.

Crab pot with green brown glaze.

A little owl with masterful glaze and carving.

Im not sure what this little guy is, but he's cute nonetheless! Armodillo? Anteater?

Crab pot with multiple glazes. Zeshin pots where the body of the pot is a crab are very surreal and strange looking...a little evil.

A cute little fish with very nice detail to the scales.

A fascinating carving pot done in relief. Reminds me of the work of contemporary surrealist painter Andrew Gonzalez.

The "repeating monks" pattern so common to Zeshin pots. These bearded monks pop up all over, in a dizzying array of geometric designs and shapes.

A very surreal pot. Like the works of Hunter S. Thompson associated artist Ralph Steadman.

Very cool double clay construction and bas relief.

A very interesting pot. One of the few Zeshins I see that are feasibly usable with many trees.

Hope you enjoyed the pots of Okatani Zeshin!  I know I do!  Ill feature a few more of his carvings in an upcoming post, along with his many Hanko and Rakkan.

Not all trees are ready for a 1,2, or 300 dollar pot, and many enthusiasts simply don’t have the funds or desire for the more expensive and collectible of Japanese potters. While I maintain that, for the most part, you get what you pay for as it concerns bonsai pottery(especially on the low and extremely high end!), there are many great potters who produce (relatively!) inexpensive pots that are very nice and tasteful, many from the Tokoname region of Japan. Here are a few of my favorites, with some of their work.

Very Special thanks to Mr. Takeyoshi Kojima of the Tokoname Yuyaku Company for permission to use images and information from their site catalogs. All of the pots shown here can be purchased from the Tokoname Yuyaku, visit their gallery listing of pots here:

http://www.tokoname.or.jp/bonsai/gallery/gallery1.htm

All images used in this post are Copyright by the Tokoname Yuyaku Company.
Pots by Yamafusa

Yamafusa brand pots are made by Koie Kazufusa. His pots are almost always glazed, and are made with very classical, clean shapes. His colours are a little milder than many other potters, for this reason his pots fit a wide range of deciduous trees well.

Available Pot Glazes From Yamafusa

Pots By Shibakatsu

Shibakatsu bonsai pots are made Shibata Shoichi. Most of his pots are mold constructed, but a few handmade and slab built pots are made every now and again. His glazes are bright, rich, and deep, and as a result they often need a little aging and patina before they begin to look right with a tree. One of my personal favorite value potters for shohin size pots.

Available Color Glazes from Shibakatsu

Pots By Reiho Shouzan

Not exactly a “Bang for your Buck” potter, as his pots range from 60$-400$ or so, depending on size, but included here because his pots are readily available and a significant value for the money. They can often be found used for very reasonable prices. Pots made under the Reiho brand name are made by Katoaka Katsuishi, son of Seizan potter Katoaka Makoto. His glazes are very clean, rich, and elegant, and his unglazed pots, especially drums, are quite nice as well. For Medium to Large size pots, Reiho is tops among value potters.

Available Reiho Color Glazes

Pots By Hattori

Pots made by Hattori Tomoyuki feature modern and classical shapes and range in glaze color from muted and understated, to bright rich, and crackled. A significant value class potter, one of my favorites for Chuhin sized pots. Look for the signed ones over the stamped ones, in my experience they have the most unique glazes and higher quality. Contrary to popular opinion, this does not hold true for all potters, some potters stamp their best work, some sign.

Available Colours for Hattori Pots

I hope you enjoyed this first part of my Bang for the Buck Potters series. In the next post Ill be covering pots by relatively unknown master carver and potter Zeshin, the Tim Burton of bonsai pottery, whose carving pots are often surreal, strange, and downright trippy. If you thought Nick Lenz made some weird looking pots….

Here are a few more interesting pots from my collection, to tide you readers over until I finish the first part of the “Bang for the Buck Potters” series, should be up tomorrow.

Syungado 6" x 4" x 1"

A really nice oval from high end Chinese kiln “Syungado.”  I was informed that Syungado has been made making bonsai pots during the entirety of the modern bonsai pottery era, around the turn of the century.  Many Syungado pots have made an appearance at the Kokufu-Ten.  This particular pot is aeround 50 years old, and has a nice patina and fine hairline crackle.  The ornate feet are very well done as well.

Katoaka Toshio, Yamaaki, 3" x 2.5"

Katoaka Toshio and Akitsugu marks. Image courtesy of Tokaname Yuyaki Company

One of the nicest examples I own from current generation Yamaaki potter Katoaka Toshio, also the head potter of the Ittoen kiln.  This pot resembles the work of Toshio’s father, Katoaka Sadamitsu, far more than it resembles Toshio’s current work.  The patina on this pot is fabulous, the wonky informal square shape, rough cracking of the clay, the 3 offset cut feet, and the rare chop(Its the second one in the diagram.  I dont know how rare it is, to tell the truth, but Ive never seen another one in the west) make this a truly unique Yamaaki.

Unsigned Yamaaki pots with the contemporary Katoaka’s stamp(the first in the above image) are NOT necessarily made by Toshio himself, as Yamaaki employs several professional potters who mold make their lower end pots.  Only signed contemporary pots and pots with the thunder border stamp are made by the head of the kiln, and the others are to be regarded as production grade.  Yamaaki cranks out far too many of these production grade pots, and while they are nice, they’re a little like new cars…theyre worth less than you paid for em as soon as you drive em off the lot!

Katoaka Akitsugu, Juuodo Shosen Yamaaki, 5" x 3"

A classical square with nice double cut corners, rounded base, and cut feet by 1st generation Yamaaki founder, Katoaka Akitsugu, whose pots are sometimes referred to as “Juuodo Shousen Yamaaki” as this is the reading of his signature.  A very nice patina on this pot, its starting to “glow” with age.  Patina on unglazed pots is a very strange thing, completely unlike the patina in both scientific cause and appearance of glazed pots.

Heian Tofukuji, 2nd Generation, 4" x 3.2" x 1"

A nice little rectangle from Tofukuji Jr.  This is in a color sometimes but not often used by the father, the thickness of the glaze is notable.  Clean cut lines and good cornering, Kaede Stamped.

Heian Chikuzan, 4.5" x 3" x 1"

A relatively unknown potter here in the West, Chikuzan is best known for his painting pots.  This small glazed pot is a very nice shade of light blue, with excellent clarity and depth.  Virtually unused, so their is little to no patina…a fact I hope to begin remedying soon!

Mame Pots, From Left, Unknown Stamp: 1", Sekishin: 1" x 2", Heian Kouso 2" x 1"

Some Tiny pots!  The foot detailing on the Sekishin is unbelievable!  Enlearge and check it out!  The chicken blood red glazed pot by Heian Kouso is really well made, and starting to develop a nice patina.

While this blog will principally be concerned with Japanese and Chinese Bonsai Pottery, every so often I’ll post a tree or two.  This Nishiki Matsu are looking pretty nice right now, but have some issues, which is why Id like to show It, after decandling, and in 40 or so days it will look even better when the new candles are out!  I have a few more that will be available for sale or trade next month, drop me an email if you’re interested.

Nishiki Matsu, 6.5" tall with 3.5" base, 2.5" trunk. 6" Ikkou pot

This Cork Bark Japanese Black pine is well on its way to being a good shohin.  Up until last week, I was thinking that maybe 2-3 years of buliding ramification and outline and it would be ready to go…then I noticed the small branch that compliments the secondary branch, on the right, its the cluster of needles right above the secondary branch, closest to the trunk.  See the color?  Yep, they’re dead.  When I noticed the needles beginning to discolour, closer inspection revealed that the branch was little wobbly, and had been fractured.  Who knows what caused the break?  Branches on Nishikis are fragile once they begin to cork, breathe on em too hard and BANG, dead as Dillinger.  Fortunately, their is a cluster near the base of this branch, so it can be rebuilt in the same position….but there goes a year.

Kaede, Acer Buergeranium, 6" tall, Ikkou pot

A nice little root over rock Kaede shohin, after a partial defoliation.  The goal with this one is ramification and thickening up those roots at the base of the stone.  Its easy to see how this ROR was created if you look closely.  A band of wire was embedded in the stem of a young tree, which self layered and grew the roots over the stone, after which the original roots were removed.  The signs of the girdle are still evident, but will be gone within 2 or 3 seasons with proper care.

The glazed and painted bonsai pots of contemporary Japanese potter Ino Shukuho are some of the best one can find for the money, in the same price bracket as more well known potters Kouyo and Ikkou. His glazed pots are especially magnificient, showing clear influences of Tofukuji and Aiso, while his painted pots are nice as well, showing the influence of traditional Kyoto painted ware.

Born February 13, 1943, in Kyoto, Japan. His pots are completely handmade, and according to Yoshoen, his pottery techniques limit production to a maximum of 3-4 pots daily. The vast majority of his pots are rectangles or squares, ovals are few and far between.

12.8　x　9.8　x　4.2　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

12.8　x　9.8　x　4.2　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

22　x　17.1　x　3.7　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

10.8　x　8.5　x　2.8　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

The above 4 pots are typical of Ino’s style of pot with Oribe and green glazes with various other glaze highlights. The silver overglaze speckling on these is an Ino signature move, as we’ve seen in previous posts, a clear homage to Tofukuji. One of my favorite things about these pots, they’re clearly artistic, with myriad coloration and bright splashes, but they never seem to overwhelm the trees that are in them. One can see numerous examples of a host of different species planted in this glaze style Ino pot in Gafu Ten Exhibition books.

10.6　x　7.5　x　4　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

An atypical white glazed pot with blue glaze highlights.

10.5　x　7.2　x　3.2　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

A marvelous red and green bi-color pot with some very light blue accenting on the red side. A very thick glaze on this pot, if youd told me it was made by Aiso, Imaoka, or Tofukuji, I would believe it!

14.4　x　7　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

Light blue glaze square with fancy feet and excellent patina. The richness and depth in this blue is outstanding!

12.8　x　9.8　x　4.2　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

A very nice indigo glaze with indented corners. Once again, the glaze is rich and deep.

14.8　x　12.5　x　5.9　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

11.2　x　9　x　3.3　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

Two yellow glazed pots, the clarity and brightness of the yellow is eye catching. Although yellows and bright reds dont seem to be popular here in the west, in Japan theyre more common. I dont think anyones collection is complete without a few loud yellows!

11　x　8.4　x　4.9　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

Another one I’d guess was a Tofukuji if I didnt know better. Thick baby blue glaze and a very nice patina.

12.8　x　9.8　x　4.2　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

8.4　x　6.6　x　4　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

6.6　x　4.3　x　2　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

7.3　x　4.7　x　2.6　ｃｍ Copyright Yorozuen

A few of the sometsuke of Ino. As you can see, his painting pots dont rival the greats of his time in detail and quality, but they have their own charms. The plum blossoms in the first pot are very detailed and well presented. I also really like the tree details in the second and third pots, and the horseman in the last pot. One thing that gets me about his sometsuke is that the feet and rims are rarely painted(first pot exception excluded!)two details that I value highly in looking at quality painting pots.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few pots by master potter Ino Shukuho. In the next post Ill take a look at a few more pots, and maybe a tree or two, from my collection, and then on to a feature on “Bang for you buck” potters, at the requests of a few fellow posters and bloggers….You know who you are!