Ode to the Kyusu

[LeoFox]

My new bizen hohin bought from Darbotek! I cannot recognize the mark on the pot and unfortunately, the box is not signed. Would be grateful for any help to identify!

Thank you!

Note this pot has gone through a deep cleaning followed by a good soak in dilute jasmine tea. I am devoting it to the jasmine

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With tea (jasmine)

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Interior - very shiny with pockmarked surface like a metallic moon

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Bottom (very metallic and iridescent)

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New home

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[Pan]

Pan - Some clarification on Nanban: it refers to a style of pottery that originated with the Portuguese on the southern island of Japan. As Victoria noted, it has a rough and unfinished look. Nanban is sometimes translated as “southern barbarian”.

thank you much ! I appreciate that.

[Bok]

Pan - Some clarification on Nanban: it refers to a style of pottery that originated with the Portuguese on the southern island of Japan. As Victoria noted, it has a rough and unfinished look. Nanban is sometimes translated as “southern barbarian”.

thank you much ! I appreciate that.

If I am not mistaken Nanban goes further than pottery only and also covers all sorts of Barbarian influenced things, sword guards, Nanban Tsuba, come to mind for example.

[Fuut]

Pan - Some clarification on Nanban: it refers to a style of pottery that originated with the Portuguese on the southern island of Japan. As Victoria noted, it has a rough and unfinished look. Nanban is sometimes translated as “southern barbarian”.

thank you much ! I appreciate that.

If I am not mistaken Nanban goes further than pottery only and also covers all sorts of Barbarian influenced things, sword guards, Nanban Tsuba, come to mind for example.

This. From what I've read the term ranges from any outside influence that was associated with the Dutch and Portuguese and the term southern barbarian also goes to the influence they as buyers had on goods (armor, tsuba, tea ware etc). Namban usually describes the easthetic differences because they were targeting a different market.

[Darbotek]

Trying to love this little So pot, but it does not play nice with sencha.

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[Baisao]

Trying to love this little So pot, but it does not play nice with sencha.

It looks nice. What effect does it have on sencha?

[Darbotek]

Trying to love this little So pot, but it does not play nice with sencha.

It looks nice. What effect does it have on sencha?

Its a physics issue. It a smaller pot,120ml-ish range and it just doesn’t play nice with the soft steamed leaves. I used it for about 3g gyokuro and 50ml water and it performed ok. But I think the size and shape would be better suited for a larger, firmer Chinese style leaves. I have a larger egg shaped So pot that works just fine, but this is just the most temperamental So pot I have ever had.

[Baisao]

Trying to love this little So pot, but it does not play nice with sencha.

It looks nice. What effect does it have on sencha?

Its a physics issue. It a smaller pot,120ml-ish range and it just doesn’t play nice with the soft steamed leaves. I used it for about 3g gyokuro and 50ml water and it performed ok. But I think the size and shape would be better suited for a larger, firmer Chinese style leaves. I have a larger egg shaped So pot that works just fine, but this is just the most temperamental So pot I have ever had.

I have a similarly shaped Emu pot that’s 110ml. It works ok-ish for sencha but it is a nuisance to clean when a session is finished. Like yours, it works well for gyokuro proportions but physics become a problem with sencha proportions even with regularly steamed sencha. 10 or 20 more ml and it would work better.

[teatray]

My new everyday kyusu, for use with a variety of teas. It's a bit heavy; pouring is not stellar, but good enough (no dribble). It's pretty cute though and comes with two even cuter cups, all parts lacking circular symmetry. Weight and handle require adjustment from my previous, lighter tokoname kyusu, which was ergonomically superior, but the dishwasher-safe porcelain seems worth it for now. (sou sou collection of ceramic japan)

[Darbotek]

Received my first Fugetsu kyusu today. I have wanted a piece from him for awhile, but he seems to love ball shaped pots, which I am not a fan of. Found this one on Yahoo. It’s hand signed, so I am guessing it’s one of his one off pieces. Very light and thin walled. It’s 265ml, but feels like a smaller, lighter pot.

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[debunix]

Lovely!

[KansasBrewista]

Hello. I bought this teapot at an antique store in Abilene, KS and I'm wondering if anyone can help me with a) identify the mark and b) translate the poem (which may not actually be Japanese).

Honestly, I'm not even sure if this is a Japanese pot or a Chinese knock-off. It does appear to be thrown rather than slip cast or molded and it pours very nicely. Also, the etchings/carvings are to my eye very nicely done! Thanks

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[pizzapotamus]

Hello. I bought this teapot at an antique store in Abilene, KS and I'm wondering if anyone can help me with a) identify the mark and b) translate the poem (which may not actually be Japanese).

Honestly, I'm not even sure if this is a Japanese pot or a Chinese knock-off. It does appear to be thrown rather than slip cast or molded and it pours very nicely. Also, the etchings/carvings are to my eye very nicely done! Thanks

I'm inclined to believe it's Japanese( tokoname-yaki) I've no hope on the poem, the mark is 光山 which could be pronounced many different ways....Without context google probably renders it "Mitsuyama" but my vote is for "Kouzan" since I can at least find record of that being the artist's name used by Yoshiyuki UMEHARA, 梅原義幸, (1910-1982). His 4th son produced works under the name Munehiro so it seems probable that one of his other children may have continued the Kouzan name but he's my best guess.

[KansasBrewista]

Thank you!

[pizzapotamus]

And now for something completely different. A teapot with a ceramic filter basket by Yusen I. Over on Thes du Japan Florent has written

Throughout his career, Yûsen the First experimented a lot with teapot filters. He even had the idea of a pottery basket in the same style as the stainless-steel ones we now see. His ideas were never implemented in teapots sold to the public, but they were handed down and reworked by the Takasuke workshop and, notably, this led to the current “sasame” style filter.

But I guess a few of them got out there

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Beyond the uniqueness of the filter basket it's a bit of an odd duck being partially glazed. I can see how fully glazing the filter could be a pain with the glaze clogging some holes but at that point why bother with the interior of the pot. The basket itself functions wonderfully, better than the metal basket I used years ago before getting hooked on teapots. However the spout is too shallow and makes pouring tricky, no hope of a clean pour without completely removing the basket.

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The filter appears to have been wheel thrown and then the holes were punched in segments using a tool, as while each of the 8 groups around the outside shows uniformity the angle and spacing between the groups varies a bit.

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