Makers · 作家 · Mino
Koho
光峰A line, not a person. The moulded line the Koho kiln introduced around 1970 — cheap, easy to use and well liked. The same kiln’s hand-made line carried a different name: 市之倉石州.
At a glance
- Documented form
- Koho 光峰
- What it is
- A line of pots, not a maker’s name
- Kiln
- Kōhō kiln, Mizuguchi pottery 光峰窯 水口製陶所
- Region
- Ichinokura, Tajimi — Mino
- Founded
- 1955, by Ichinokura Sekishū — sake and tea wares at first
- Bonsai pots from
- About 1970
- How made
- Moulded, in numbers
- Hand-made line
- 市之倉石州, introduced about 1972
- Recorded in 2024
- Operating as 光峰窯 水口製陶所
01 · 量産 What Koho is
A line of pots, not a person
Here, 光峰 is not an individual potter's name. It is the name of the kiln, and of the line of pots made there with moulds.
The kiln was set up in 1955 by Ichinokura Sekishū, and made sake cups and tea wares. Bonsai pots came about 1970, moulded and made in numbers — cheap, easy to use, and well liked by growers.
From about 1972 he also began making pots by hand, one at a time, and those carry 市之倉石州. Two names, one kiln, two quite different things. Which one is on the pot is the first thing to settle.
They are not exclusive. A boxed pot can carry both: one example has 市之倉窯 石州 written on the cloth and 光峰 on the box lid and on the foot.
02 · 落款 The mark
Two characters cut into the bare clay.
Two characters, cut into the foot
The foot of the pot above. Two characters, cut into the unglazed clay.
A 光峰 mark means the moulded line. It does not mean a pot from Sekishū’s own hand, and it should not be listed as one.
That is not a criticism of the pot. The moulded line is described as cheap, easy to use and well liked by growers; it is simply the other line recorded for this kiln.
03 · 窯 The kiln now
The founder died. The kiln did not
Two facts, and they have to be given together or one of them turns into a lie.
Ichinokura Sekishū died in November 2006, aged 81. Pots from his own hand are finite, and there will be no more of them.
In 2024, the kiln was recorded as operating as 光峰窯 水口製陶所.
The kiln continued after his death.
In that 2024 record, the kiln carried the Mizuguchi name. Whether the line of descent is a family one is not established, so we do not call anyone the second generation.
04 · 混同 Names it gets confused with
Three ways to go wrong
Against Sekishū. A consequential error: a 光峰 pot listed as 市之倉石州. The moulded line and the hand-made line are not the same thing and are not valued the same.
Against 鴻陽. 光峰 is Kōhō, of Mino. 鴻陽 is Kōyō, of Tokoname — a different reading, a different place, a different maker.
Against the other Kōhōs. Two more names are read the same way: 幸峰 of the Kakuzan kiln, and 好峰, Inoue Kōhō.
Check the characters, and what comes with the pot — box, cloth, where it came from. A listing title alone is not decisive.
Available
Koho pots in the collection
Each pot ships worldwide from Tokyo.
These are pots from the moulded line, and we say so. Send us a photograph of the underside and we will tell you what the mark says, and whether it matches a form documented here.