Journal · 手記
One pot, one question, each day
Short daily notes on how to look at a bonsai pot — its form, its glaze or bare clay, and the mark on its foot. Each note links to the maker pages that hold the full record.
27 October 2026
Tofukuji II: one name, two hands, and how to tell the marks apart
Tofukuji II took on the name and the marks of the first Tofukuji. What he added to tell his pots apart, and why a missing addition proves nothing.
26 October 2026
How to look at a bonsai pot: shape, glaze and marks
Three starting points for looking at a bonsai pot — the shape, the surface, the mark on the foot — shown on two pots: an unglazed Koho rectangle and an Eimei oval in namako glaze.
25 October 2026
Shuho: the marks on record, and two characters that are not among them
The recorded marks of Shuho of Yoshimura Toen, Tokoname, and a brushed two-character mark on a pot listed as Shuho that matches none of them.
24 October 2026
Eimei: thrown, or pressed and pared
How Eimei of Tokoname made his pots, the two aims recorded for him, and the oval seal on the foot of a namako-glazed oval.
23 October 2026
Turn the light, not the pot: reading a mark with raking light
A shallow seal in low side light. Side light settled the outline of the mark; it did not settle the reading.
22 October 2026
Koho: a pot from the moulded line, and how to read it
An unglazed rectangle marked 光峰 on the foot. What the two characters tell you, what the form shows, and why we list it as the kiln's moulded line.
20 October 2026
One week, four ways to look: form, glaze, painting, marks
A teal rectangle, a green square, a yellow pot with a turtle and a painted oval: four ways to look at a bonsai pot, gathered from one week.
19 October 2026
Plum on one side, bamboo on the other: a painted oval by Echizen Bunzan
A 6.4 cm hand-painted oval by Echizen Bunzan. A painted pot is seen in turns, not all at once.
18 October 2026
A mark you can’t place
A square kiln mark in cobalt, with 文山 brushed below it: why we describe a mark that is not among the recorded forms rather than leave it out.
17 October 2026
Yellow glaze, crackle, and a turtle
A small round pot by Masashi Furumoto: read the silhouette, then the crackle, then the modelled turtle on the rim.
16 October 2026
Green, over blue: reading a glaze on a square by Keiun
A 12 cm square by Keiun. Follow the green glaze down the wall, see where it breaks over blue, then turn the pot over to a mark cut by hand.
14 October 2026
A teal rectangle by Reiho: the surface first, then the foot
A long rectangle in teal glaze by Reiho of Tokoname. How to read the glaze, the waist band, and a mark that is not the one on record.