Undated
Fukagawa / ARITA / HAND PAINTED / MADE IN JAPAN / PATTERN NO. 928
English name in decorative brackets above Arita and hand-painted wording. Other pattern numbers with this layout are not additional designs.
printed
Pottery & porcelain
Fukagawa Porcelain marks
Fukagawa Porcelain marks include printed “Fukagawa / ARITA / HAND PAINTED / MADE IN JAPAN / PATTERN NO. 928” lettering.
- Active years
- From 1894
- Country
- Japan
- City / region
- Arita, Saga Prefecture
- Marks
- 5
Founded 1894; continues in operation. Earlier Fukagawa-family and Koransha production is distinguished from this company.
What to look for
- Look for the mountain with its winding stream. A mountain by itself and the impressed versions are separate devices from the painted mountain above 深川製.
- 深川製 reads Fukagawa sei, meaning made by Fukagawa. The complete characters are more useful than treating every blue Japanese mountain mark as this maker.
- English export tableware can carry Fukagawa in ornate lettering, ARITA, HAND PAINTED, MADE IN JAPAN and a pattern number. The pattern number identifies the decoration, not a year.
- The same mountain-and-stream identity spans old and modern production. Shape, decoration and pattern can help narrow an object’s date.
Dated marks & timeline
5 marks
Undated
Plain impressed mountain with a horizontal base; no winding stream or lettering.
Simple mountain-only recess on the six-poets chopstick rest; the separate river below the fan-rest mark is absent.
impressed
Undated
Impressed mountain and meandering stream below it.
Uncolored recessed mountain-and-stream device on the fan-shaped chopstick rest; different construction from the blue printed mark.
impressed
Undated
深川製
Vertically written Fukagawa sei below a small mountain; name characters distinguish it from the wordless emblem.
painted underglaze
Undated
Blue Mount Fuji above a winding double-line stream; no characters.
Wordless blue emblem with a winding stream under the mountain, unlike the plain impressed mountain.
printed underglaze
About Fukagawa
Fukagawa Seiji was founded in Arita, Saga Prefecture, in 1894 by Fukagawa Chūji. His family had worked in porcelain for generations, and his father, Fukagawa Eizaemon VIII, had helped establish Koransha. Chūji developed a separate business with an emphasis on artistic design and technical refinement. Mount Fuji and flowing water became its identifying trademark.
The company gained international recognition through the large decorated vases shown at the Paris exposition in 1900 and the St. Louis exposition in 1904, where it received gold awards. European sales developed through the Watt firm in Birmingham. Its production included elaborate exhibition pieces, decorative vases and tableware. Translucent white porcelain and carefully graduated underglaze blue became characteristic of its work.
Fukagawa Seiji became a supplier to the Imperial Household in 1910. It also supplied dinner services for naval officers and passenger ships. The company began producing bone china in 1963. Its work continued through later generations of the family, combining daily tableware with ornamental pieces. Older imperial services can require replacement pieces made to match their original dimensions, decoration and weight, preserving demanding workshop techniques alongside newer designs.
Also known as: Fukagawa Seiji · Fukagawa Porcelain · 深川製磁 · Fukagawa Arita · Fukagawa Seiji Co., Ltd.
Look-alikes & how to tell them apart
Koransha
The related Fukagawa-family business uses an orchid device. It is a separate manufacturer from Chūji’s 1894 company, whose principal emblem is Mount Fuji and a stream.
Other Japanese mountain-and-stream export marks
Some similar devices include Nippon or Made in Japan and lack the Fukagawa characters. Match the full inscription and mountain drawing; a landscape emblem alone is insufficient.