Journal · 手記 · Telling marks apart
Tofukuji II: one name, two hands, and how to tell the marks apart
27 October 2026
Tofukuji II — Kyoto, 1917–1995. He took on the name Heian Tofukuji and kept using its marks. To tell his pots apart he added something beside them. That addition is where collectors need care.
At a glance
- Name
- Tofukuji II 二代 平安東福寺
- Real name
- Mizuno Isamu 水野勇
- Region
- Kyoto
- Dates
- 1917–1995
- Took the name
- After the first Tofukuji died, at fifty-three
- Additions to the mark
- 二代 or 勇, among others
01 · 継承 One name, two hands
A second career
Mizuno Isamu took on the name Heian Tofukuji after the first Tofukuji died. He had worked in haulage rather than in clay, and he was fifty-three. He began with what had been left behind — the body clay and the glazes.
By his own account the early pots fell far short of the first Tofukuji’s, and it took ten hard years to come near that level.
02 · 落款 The marks
What he added
He inherited the marks and kept using them. To tell his pots apart he added 二代 (nidai, “second”) or 勇, his given name, among others. Recorded examples pair 平安東福寺 with 二代, and the maple seal 楓に東福寺 with 二代.
03 · 注意 Where care is needed
No addition is not proof
So a Tofukuji mark with no 二代 or 勇 beside it does not prove the first generation, and the body will not settle it either — he mixed it to the same formula.
An addition such as 二代 or 勇 can identify the second Tofukuji; it does not by itself date the pot.
Read further
- Tofukuji II 二代 平安東福寺 — maker pageHis life, work and marks
- Heian Tofukuji 平安東福寺 — maker pageThe first Tofukuji
- Index of marksDocumented marks by maker
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