Red Clay from the Gold Mines of Sado Island.

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LeoFox
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Fri Mar 26, 2021 1:25 pm

OCTO wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:47 am
LeoFox wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:08 am
Just received Watanabe Tozo Joaka (gold mine) back handle teapot (105-110 mL)
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Looking forward to your findings...... :) :) :)
viewtopic.php?p=34573#p34573

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viewtopic.php?p=34584#p34584

viewtopic.php?p=36180#p36180
Last edited by LeoFox on Thu May 27, 2021 9:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
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klepto
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Fri Mar 26, 2021 2:34 pm

I want a Akitsu Reduction pot and a Joaka pot but supplies are low of course. I am not interested in a houhin because the collar might not be tall enough to keep the heat from my fingers. I like my kyusu far more than I though I would, its very intuitive and functions well.
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Yoroko
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Tue Mar 30, 2021 6:37 pm

LeoFox wrote:
Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:04 am
Vintagetea wrote:
Fri Jan 22, 2021 9:42 pm
LeoFox wrote:
Fri Jan 22, 2021 12:20 pm


This looks very different from the pots tozo makes these days for hojo. How old is yours? I like the look of the spout on yours. The spout in his more recent pots pour very badly.

Here is a link with pics to some of his older pots.

viewtopic.php?p=31981#p31981

Ive attached examples of his more recent pots sold by hojo.
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Do you remember when and where you bought it?
Watanabe Tozo’s signature looks also different now (please see the pic below).

The spout of my A.Mumyoi Kyusu by Watanabe Tozo pours perfect as long as as long as I pay attention to the following: fill up to half of the 27-hole sieve and do not pour it off too quickly at the beginning. Then it even pours faster than my others. If I fill up to 2/3 (or higher) of the sieve and pour fast in the beginning: then Godzoilla grabs me by the collar ;)
BTW: thanks again for the tip some weeks ago concerning small leaves: underfill really works perfectly; 120ml instead of 260ml ist just great for long steamed Senchas.
Attachments
Signature Watanabe Tozo 渡辺陶三.png
Signature Watanabe Tozo 渡辺陶三.png (228.71 KiB) Viewed 4674 times
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OCTO
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Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:56 pm

klepto wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 2:34 pm
I want a Akitsu Reduction pot and a Joaka pot but supplies are low of course. I am not interested in a houhin because the collar might not be tall enough to keep the heat from my fingers. I like my kyusu far more than I though I would, its very intuitive and functions well.
No harm giving Hojo a call to check on available inventory.

Cheers!
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LeoFox
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Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:44 am

Found this on Japanese yahoo auction. Seems to be a watanabe tozo chawan. He is using a different seal.

Note, Tozo = 陶三

However some of Tozo's seals show 国三 or kokuzo (literally means kingdom/country three)

His father is Watanabe kokuzo or 渡辺国三

Note variants of 国 Include:
國 = traditional and seen in @Vintagetea's seal. Is it possible vintagetea's piece is by the dad and not the son?

圀 = japanese variant based on the Tang dynasty empress Wuzetians revision of this character. from wiki:
She was said to have disliked how the traditional form contained 或, which she interpreted as meaning "mislead" (see 惑). In this form, this character consists of 四 (four, also acting as the 囗 enclosure) and 方 (direction).
It seems most of Hojo's tozo ware has this variant.

Interestingly, the seal shown for this chawan looks a little different and may be a variant of his own name 陶, which means pottery. Note the original character looks like this 匋. Script variants include:
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The seal for the chawan looks a bit like the small seal script. Could also be a highly stylized version of the wu ze tian script. Hard to tell.


This suggests watanabe tozo is sometimes using his father's seals - esp for the hojo peices. There are at least two versions of this seal and it is not clear if both, one, or none were used by the father. Tozo possibly has his own seal or a highly stylized version of the dad's seal that is sometimes used on other things like the chawan.
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More on tozo
More on tozo
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Last edited by LeoFox on Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:24 am, edited 15 times in total.
faj
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Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:03 am

LeoFox wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:44 am
Found this on Japanese yahoo auction. Seems to be a watanabe tozo chawan. He is using a different seal.
When you say "found", do you mean "purchased"?
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LeoFox
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Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:32 am

faj wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:03 am
LeoFox wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:44 am
Found this on Japanese yahoo auction. Seems to be a watanabe tozo chawan. He is using a different seal.
When you say "found", do you mean "purchased"?
Just found hahahaha. Do you want me to pm you the link?
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Yoroko
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Wed Mar 31, 2021 4:29 pm

LeoFox wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:44 am
Found this on Japanese yahoo auction. Seems to be a watanabe tozo chawan. He is using a different seal.

Note, Tozo = 陶三

However some of Tozo's seals show 国三 or Kuzo

His father is Watanabe kokuzo or 渡辺国三
The signature on his ceramics means Kokuzo, 国三, because his studio is called Kokuzo pottery.
You are a great "ceramics detective", because you already mentioned his father is called Kokuzo! Has Kokuzo a special meaning or is it a name?

BTW: This is the box my Kyusu was delivered with. Unfortunately, I am unable to translate the text. I would really like to know what is written on it.
Attachments
W.Tozo Kyusu.png
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W.Tozo Kyusu_zoom detail1.png
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W.Tozo Kyusu_zoomdetail2.png
W.Tozo Kyusu_zoomdetail2.png (110.4 KiB) Viewed 4548 times
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LeoFox
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Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:31 pm

His running calligraphy is hard to decipher and his seals are blurry.
My rough guess based on my own tozo boxes:
Upper right seal says mumyoi yaki
Upper right text says something about the clay and firing
Lower left text says his name
Lower left seal has his kiln/father's name
Last edited by LeoFox on Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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LeoFox
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Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:02 am

In this post I will include some pictures from Instagram courtesy of soiwatter (https://instagram.com/soiwatter?igshid=13406bkh82deb) of works by Watanabe Tozo's daughter. It seems the daughter, Miwako, painted in the past and also liked to use glaze. Very little information is available in English.

I will keep updating this post as I get more pics.
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Last edited by LeoFox on Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Yoroko
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Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:22 am

@LeoFox Wow! I'm impressed! Thanks for the information.

The work of his daughter also looks nice. Nice shibordashi. Did not know, that she is also making so nice ceramics.
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Yoroko
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Thu Apr 01, 2021 12:33 pm

@LeoFox and here is the Kyusu.
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Kyusu Front_Watanabe Tozo 渡辺陶三.png
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Kyusu Back_Watanabe Tozo 渡辺陶三.png
Kyusu Back_Watanabe Tozo 渡辺陶三.png (626.51 KiB) Viewed 4475 times
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LeoFox
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Thu Apr 01, 2021 2:07 pm

Yoroko wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 12:33 pm
LeoFox and here is the Kyusu.
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Are these reduction pots? The color is interesting!
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Yoroko
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Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:41 pm

@LeoFox It's an oxidation pot. Mumyoi clay, but the Akitsu Mumyoi from under the Sado island airport (Watanabe Tozo collected it before the airport was build). The color is - depending on the light - orange to foxredbrown. I post you another shot with more sunshine and so the color seems to be much more orange. I made no adjustments with photoshop at all (to much work anyway ;) ) - and so I'm still confused if I had to tell you the color of my Kyusu.
Attachments
Kyusu and Samashi_W. Tozo.png
Kyusu and Samashi_W. Tozo.png (589.8 KiB) Viewed 4463 times
Last edited by Yoroko on Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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LeoFox
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Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:50 pm

Yoroko wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:41 pm
LeoFox It's an oxidation pot. Mumyoi clay, but the Akitsu Mumyoi from under the Sado island airport (Watanabe Tozo collected it before the airport was build). The color is - depending on the light - orange to foxed. I post you another shot with more sunshine and so the color seems to be much more orange. I made no adjustments with photoshop at all (to much work anyway ;) )
Image
That's a nice pair! I would be tempted to try that pitcher with sake hahaha
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