Makers · 作家 · Tokoname
Shuho
秀峰A Tokoname kiln that works almost entirely in glaze. Its roots run back to 片岡陶園 Kataoka Toen, founded in 1923; since 1973 the studio has worked under the name 義村陶園 Yoshimura Toen. Few kilns cover so much ground — from shohin pots that sit in the palm to vessels beyond ninety centimetres across.
At a glance
The facts below are drawn from a printed Japanese reference and checked against pots we have handled. Where a claim could not be verified, we leave it out.
- Kiln
- Yoshimura Toen 義村陶園
- Region
- Tokoname, Aichi 常滑
- Founded
- 1923, as Kataoka Toen 片岡陶園
- Renamed
- 1973
- Artist
- Susumu Kataoka 片岡晋, b. 1941
- Succeeded
- To the Shuho name in 1974
- Specialism
- Glazed ware
- Range
- Shohin to over 90 cm
- Techniques
- Hand-building, coil-building, press-moulding
01 · 襲名 The name
A workshop, and a name it inherited
In Japan a potter’s working name and the workshop that carries it are two different things, and they are counted separately. Kataoka Toen was founded in 1923. Susumu Kataoka, born in 1941, is its fourth-generation head.
In 1973 he re-established the workshop as Yoshimura Toen. The following year he succeeded to the name 秀峰 — Shuho — which the kiln had carried before him. That distinction matters when you are dating a pot: the workshop generation and the name generation do not run in step.
大正十二年創業。昭和四十九年、秀峰の号を継承。
02 · 見どころ What to look for
Clean line, with something left in it
Shuho forms are resolved and quiet — but they stop short of severity. There is always a little warmth left in the profile, which is why the pots sit so easily under a tree rather than competing with it. The workshop moves between hand-building, coil-building and press-moulding, so the range of shapes is unusually wide for a kiln known mainly for glaze.
The glazes are the reason to seek them out. Recent work shows real clarity in green — Oribe — and the pieces most worth holding onto are those whose kiln effects run toward Canton green: a deeper, more variable colour that shifts across the wall of the pot.
緑釉の発色に冴え。広東緑釉に近い窯変に佳品。
03 · 落款 The seals
Reading the mark beneath the pot
Turn a Japanese pot over and there is usually a mark. It is the single most useful thing on the vessel and the hardest for a collector outside Japan to read. Four marks are associated with this kiln. One is the representative signature; the others are stamped.
| Mark | Reading | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 秀峰造 義村陶園 | Shuho zō — Yoshimura Toen | The representative mark. “Made by Shuho.” |
| 義村造印 | Yoshimura zō in | Stamped. |
| 義村陶園 | Yoshimura Toen | Stamped. The workshop name alone. |
| 義村秀峰之印 | Yoshimura Shuho no in | Stamped. Workshop and name together. |
Photographs of these marks on pots from our own stock will be added here. A mark in the hand rarely looks like a printed plate — clay, glaze pooling and wear all change it.
04 · 代表作 Documented works
Pieces recorded in the literature
These are not for sale — they are the reference pieces published in the standard Japanese survey, useful as a yardstick for form, glaze and scale.
| Work | Size (cm) |
|---|---|
| Green-glazed fukuro-shiki studded oval | 54 × 41 × 11.3 |
| Tofukuji-style studded oval | 45 × 32 × 7 |
| White kochi-glazed fukuro-shiki oval | 24.5 × 21 × 9 |
| Oribe-glazed fukuro-shiki mokko | 39.5 × 34.5 × 10.5 |
| Ruri-glazed round, outer rim | — |
05 · 用語 Glossary
The words on the label
Japanese pot descriptions are compact and rarely translated. These are the terms you will meet on a Shuho piece.
- 袋式 fukuro-shiki
- “Bag form” — a body that swells softly outward before drawing back at the rim.
- 鋲打 byō-uchi
- Studded — raised rivet-like marks run along the rim or shoulder.
- 木瓜式 mokkō-shiki
- A lobed outline, named for the quince flower.
- 東福寺写 Tōfukuji-utsushi
- A homage to Tofukuji, the most revered name in bonsai pottery. Utsushi is tribute, not forgery.
- 織部釉 Oribe-yū
- The classic Japanese green glaze, running from soft moss to deep copper-green.
- 交趾釉 kōchi-yū
- Cochin glaze — clear and vivid, often on a pale body.
- 瑠璃釉 ruri-yū
- Lapis blue, deep and even.
- 広東緑釉 Kanton ryoku-yū
- Canton green — a variable, kiln-shifted green prized on Shuho pieces.
- 落款 rakkan
- The seal or signature beneath the pot.
Available
Shuho pots in the collection
We handle Shuho regularly. Each pot is 一点物 ittenmono — one of one — and ships worldwide from Tokyo.
Sources
盆器大図鑑【上巻】 Bonki Daizukan, Vol. 1, p. 161. Checked against pots handled by YAKUMO JAPAN. Last verified 18 July 2026.
Where the record is unclear we say so rather than guess. The generation number attached to the Shuho name itself is not documented in our sources and is deliberately omitted here.