Country guide
Japanese china marks
Japanese china marks can combine a factory emblem, Japanese characters and country wording such as NIPPON or MADE IN JAPAN.
Names, emblems and neighbouring codes
九谷 reads Kutani. A Satsuma crest and workshop signature belong to another tradition. Noritake and Morimura export marks can include wreaths or letter devices with origin wording.
What to check next
Read the factory emblem separately from JAPAN. For vertical inscriptions retain column order and orientation; a decorator signature can sit beside a manufacturer mark.
Related marks
112 marks
1911–1921
Morimura Brothers / associated Nippon Toki Kaisha production
Central M within a wreath, not a maple leaf.
Undated
Fukagawa Seiji
English name in decorative brackets above Arita and hand-painted wording. Other pattern numbers with this layout are not additional designs.
Undated
Fitz and Floyd
Script brand beneath a pattern name, with Fine Porcelain and Japan; 181 is not treated as a year.
Undated
Kinkozan
This four-character brush mark dates to the Meiji era and differs from later printed labels.
Undated
Okamoto Ryozan; Yasuda trading company
Yasuda emblem supplies a proposed post-1896 limit; a different Ryozan spelling need not identify Okamoto.
Undated
Seikozan
Four-character square signature without the Yasuda emblem or Shimazu crest; the handwritten number is a collection mark.
Undated
Taizan
An impressed body mark differs from painted Taizan signatures; the kiln closed in 1894.
Undated
Yabu Meizan workshop
Gold square seal with the full Yabu Meizan name; the same seal format appears in a 1904 advertisement.
c. 1891–1911
Morimura Brothers / associated Nippon Toki Kaisha production
Maple leaf rather than wreath or rising sun.
1911–1921
Morimura Brothers / associated Nippon Toki Kaisha production
RC monogram enclosed by circular Noritake/Nippon lettering.
1911–1921
Morimura Brothers / associated Nippon Toki Kaisha production
Sun rays replace the letter-and-wreath centre.
From 1906
Morimura Brothers / associated Nippon Toki Kaisha production
Royal Sometuke wording identifies this format.
Undated
Fukagawa Seiji
Vertically written Fukagawa sei below a small mountain; name characters distinguish it from the wordless emblem.
Undated
Fukagawa Seiji
Simple mountain-only recess on the six-poets chopstick rest; the separate river below the fan-rest mark is absent.
impressed
Undated
Fukagawa Seiji
Uncolored recessed mountain-and-stream device on the fan-shaped chopstick rest; different construction from the blue printed mark.
impressed
Undated
Fukagawa Seiji
Wordless blue emblem with a winding stream under the mountain, unlike the plain impressed mountain.
printed underglaze
Undated
Fitz and Floyd
Full company name with stylized FF and a Roman-numeral copyright statement; the separate FF JAPAN label gives origin.