Makers · 作家 · Tokoname
Yamaaki
山秋Two generations
Recorded in 2006 as the largest maker of high-grade Tokoname bonsai pots. It ran two quite different things under one name — ware made in numbers, and handmade pots made singly or in short limited runs — and the mark is what tells you which one you are holding.
At a glance
- Name
- Yamaaki Pottery 株式会社山秋製陶所
- Standing
- Recorded in 2006 as the largest maker of high-grade Tokoname bonsai pots
- Two lines
- Ware made in numbers; and handmade pots, single or in short limited runs (2006)
- First generation
- Juōdō Shōsen 十王堂松泉 (片岡秋次, 1902–1995)
- Second generation
- Shōsen 松泉 (片岡貞光, b. 1943)
- Names
- Signed Ko-Shōsen 小松泉 from about 1985; took the name Shōsen after his father died
- Kiln
- One of the largest gas kilns in Tokoname — a bell kiln
- Forming
- Press-moulded, then finished by hand
- Main line
- Unglazed clay pots, medium and large
- Clay
- Tokoname udei 常滑烏泥 — Chinese zisha blended with Tokoname clay
01 · 落款 The mark
Which of the two lines is this?
The record describes two quite different things sold under one name, and telling them apart is the first thing to do with a Yamaaki pot.
The marks separate them. 山秋造, stamped, goes on pots made in some number. The 松泉 marks, nail-carved or stamped, go on the handmade line.
You can call it handmade only when the mark says 松泉.
So a Yamaaki pot can be called handmade only when the mark is one of the 松泉 family. If the mark is 山秋造, it is from the other line — which is not a criticism of it. On the one such pot currently known, the form is well proportioned and the clay falls between udei and shidei, and that it is finished too well to be spent on everyday growing.
02 · 年代 Dating
1985, and 1995
Two dates, and both of them come from the second generation's name rather than from the pot.
He began signing 小松泉, Ko-Shōsen, around 1985, and took the name 松泉 after his father died in 1995. So a handmade pot marked Ko-Shōsen falls between those years; one marked Shōsen came after. Neither tells you the year.
Further back is the first generation's own ground, the pre-war pots carrying 金華造印. His page is here.
03 · 土 The clay
Tokoname udei, and who made it
The clay most associated with the house is 常滑烏泥, Tokoname udei, and it is credited to the second generation: zisha bought in from China, blended with Tokoname clay. It produced a great many followers.
Which is worth knowing when another kiln offers you a Tokoname udei pot — it may be one of them.
The first generation's contribution was a different body: 山秋焼, Tokoname clay mixed with chamotte and sawdust and fired to an open, porous state.
04 · 窯 The kiln
One of the largest gas kilns in Tokoname
It is a bell kiln, and the firing it gives has a name for being steady.
Forming is press-moulding finished by hand. Glazed pots and small pots are made, but the main line is unglazed clay in medium and large sizes.
05 · 落款 The mark
Four documented marks, and a calendar
Read this table as a calendar and a spec sheet at once. The first two place a pot between the name changes. The third tells you it was made in numbers. The fourth belongs to the first generation.
Other kilns use their marks the same way, for different distinctions. Yamafusa marks grade on the older pots and era on the newer; Gyōzan Nakano separates slab- and coil-built work from moulded. Neither of those readings applies to Yamaaki’s marks.
| Mark | Reading | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 松泉焼 / 松泉焼山秋造 | Shōsen — nail-carved and stamped | Handmade pots, after he succeeded to the name in 1995. |
| 小松泉作 / 小松泉造 | Ko-Shōsen — nail-carved and stamped | Handmade pots, before 1995. |
| 山秋造 | Yamaaki-zō — stamped | Pots made in some number. Not made singly. |
| 金華造印 | Kinka-zō-in — wording only | Pre-war, the first generation's. Only the wording is known; there is no impression of it. |
Read the mark before the price
Only the 松泉 marks indicate a handmade pot. 山秋造 is the other line.
06 · 代表作 Recorded works
Recorded works
Not for sale — works recorded for this house. They span it: the first is the first generation’s, the second carries the production stamp, the third is the second generation before he succeeded, the fourth after.
| Work | Size (cm) |
|---|---|
| Shōsen rectangle, outer rim, waist band, decorated feet — the first generation, and in 2006 put at about forty years old. A copy of an old Chinese pot, in soft white clay, with fine age on it. Called his best work without hesitation — and since he was known for large pots, a handmade piece at this size is scarce | 12.1 × 9.2 × 4 |
| Yamaaki shidei rectangle after an old Chinese original, inner rim, straight sides, indented corners — stamped 山秋造, so one of a number. Photographed new, about twenty years earlier | 21.8 × 17.2 × 7.5 |
| Ko-Shōsen round, studded, in Tokoname udei — every stud finished by hand. A small size that is scarce among the old Chinese udei pots it follows | 10.5 × 5 |
| Shōsen rectangle, outer rim — the second generation. Plain and well proportioned; the clay fires between shidei and peach-red | 54.6 × 42.7 × 14.7 |
Available
Yamaaki pots in the collection
Yamaaki is the name to search under. Each pot ships worldwide from Tokyo.
Send us a photograph of the underside and we will tell you what the mark says — and with this house that also tells you which of the two lines the pot came from.