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Can someone please translate this inscription on a Japanese Kyoto ware vase? Thanks!

Robert

This is Chinese character.It is means :the flowers are full of blossom.They are red.
The small character is the time that when the vase made.

Are you sure this is Japanese and not Chinese?

Hi Robert,

The cyclical date in the lefthand column indicates the vase was made in the Jiazi year, equating to 1804, 1864, 1924 and 1984 in recent centuries. A look at the form, motif and style of applying the latter might tell whether the piece is Chinese, Japanese or from elsewhere.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Thank you all so much for the information.

The piece is a Japanese kyo yaki slab built, hexagonal vase. It is interesting to me because of the very simple, restrained bird and flower decoration painted in very dark blue-black underglaze iron-gosu (a typically Japanese pigment), contrasted with pale sepia-gray which is then in turn contrasted with a very soft, opaque overglaze green enamel. Usually these Kyo yaki pieces are very gaudy and bright with lots of colors and gold but this piece is restrained. Also it is rare to find Kyo ceramics that combine underglaze pigments and overglaze enamels in the same piece. The style of the painting is basically one of the "Chinese styles" used by Kenzan and Korin, but I am not suggesting it was made by them, just that it was painted in one of the particular styles that they used.

Well, with the pictures of the vase posted, it is totally a different story and I now believe this vase can be that of Japanese because the flower looks like a white Mu Dan (tree peony)and the Chinese will never get caught with any white flowers being painted on a vase together with a sentence that is supposed to celebrate Chinese New Year. Just like you may find white lanterns inside a Japanese restaurant but you will never find one inside an authentic Chinese restaurant.

Also, judging by the look of the vase, I believe the most likely year for it to be made may be 1924.

The Chinese character (or Japanese in this case),
时 Shi (time or hour) may seem to be identical to the current simplified character for Shi used in China, but in essence many simplified Chinese characters were simply invented by using Cao Shu or other Chinese scripts, some of them are actually very ancient. For those who are not fluent in both simplified and traditional Chinese, or who have not studied Cao Shu or seal scripts, they would be easily confused.

Bill

Hi,
One single character tells us that the text was written by a Chinese or in China in the second half of the 20th century (or later).
There is one Simplified Chinese character, a form that is not used either in Traditional Chinese or Japanese, hence the dating. (This concerns the writing, but applies to the item if they were made at the same time.)

The problem with any attempts to translate any characters, whether Chinese or Japanese, without being able to see the pictures of the complete item, is it deprives the translator the opportunity to confirm his/her translation with the style of the item or any paintings or extra clues that might be displayed on such an item. Consequently, it puts the translator in an unfair disadvantage and an awkward position. As a result, the poster will obtain translation that will correlate with such a lack of information.

I am not sure if there any other characters or painting displayed on this vase (such as flower or another sentence) Robert may neglect to post, therefore making it very difficult for me or others to verify the writing with the painting (if any).

First of all, Robert says his item is a "Japanese Kyoto ware vase" but did not display any pictures of the whole item, but ALL the characters on it appear to be typical Chinese characters, therefore it is very strange in how he could have derived such a conclusion about what the item is without even being able to read the characters himself.

The first sentence (from right to left) of seven characters is quite simple:
»¨é_¸»ÙFһƷ¼t

However, to translate it properly is another story.

This sentence is either a Œ¦Â“ Œ¦Â“ du lin (n), a written couplet that is placed horizontally by itself or is placed along either side of a doorway with another couplet.

Since the this couplet is more likely being placed during the Chinese New Year, therefore it is more appropriately being called:

´ºÂ“ ´ºÂ“ ch¨±n lin - Spring Festival couplets; New Year scrolls

For example:

¼ªÏé²ÝľǧŒÓ±Ì,¸»ÙF»¨é_һƷ¼t
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/artroomtw/article?mid=20&l=f&fid=10

or

»¨é_¸»ÙFһƷ¼t Öñˆóƽ°²Ç§Äê¾G
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4d9b1d1a0100gwxz.html

You have to understand a little bit of Chinese customs to understand what is going on, assuming the characters painted on this vase are indeed Chinese.

A few weeks before each Chinese New Year, there will be "flower markets" all over China where farmers (or florists) will sell "New Year Flowers" or New Year plants to customer who would place them inside their houses during Chinese NY for luck. I remember vividly my father would take me with him every year (since I am the oldest son)to the New Year flower markets and we would spend half of the each night in the market looking for the best looking and best priced pots of flower or plants and took them home so that they would bring the whole family luck.

¸»ÙF Fu Gui (third and forth characters) here means riches or prospertity.

¸»ÙF»¨ Fu Gui Hua - the flower of prosperity/riches usually means ĵµ¤ Mu Dan£¨ŒWÃû£ºPaeonia suffruticosa, or tree peony (a type of flower). There are different colors of tree peony (purple, pink, red, etc.) but since the word Dan µ¤ means red; pellet; powder; cinnabar, therefore many Mu Dan paintings will show only RED tree peony.

(see first two pictures of TREE PEONY posted here)

However, һƷ¼t Yi Pin Hong (5th, 6th and 7th character) is also the name of poinsettia or the red Chirstmas Flower or Christmas RED (in Taiwan) £¨ŒWÃû£ºEuphorbia pulcherrima£©£¬ÓÖÃûžéÂ}ÕQ»¨£¨Å_ž³·QžéÂ}ÕQ¼t). It is really not a flower because the flower petals are really leaves, I believe. It took a special process by keeping the plant in "total darkness" for 12 hours and then expose it to sunlight every day before they would be put on sale around Christmas to create the RED color of its leaves. I know because I had once kept a poinseittia alive for a year after Christamas and its leaves completely turning from RED to green.

(saw third picture posted here)

I could not recall ever seeing poinseitta being sold in the Hong Kong flower markets during Chinese New Year in Hong Kong during the 70s. However, I googled it on the Internet and found that because of its RED color (Chinese like RED which is for luck and happy occasions) and its approximity to the Chinese New year, therefore it seems recently in many flower markets in China, poinseitta were being sold as "New Year Flower".

http://www.zhonglin.com.cn/scdt/content.asp?id=593

Therefore, if there is a picture of any flowers shown on this vase and it is indeed that of poinseitta, then this vase can be quite modern.

I am not too thrilled with the penmanship of these Chinese characters painted on this vase and think they are subpar and therefore believe it might probably be made in 1984 based on Bill H's tranlation (which is correct). However, without seeing pictures of the whole vase, I cannot know for sure.

B

It occurs to me that the 'vase' is made in the form of a hat stand with apertures, which would rule it out for anything needing water. Also I believe the bird in the decoration is a magpie, which I recall as being found more often in Chinese than Japanese art.
Best regards,
Bil H.

Hi to all,

JAPANESE TRANSTRATION OF THE WRITING
Kakai fuki ippinkou saizai koshi-nen

Wishing a good fortune for a new year
Written in the year of koshi

Fuki is a peony and ippinko is a poinsettia.
Peony is a symbol of prosperity and success.
A poinsettia to welcome a new year or a new era.
The last five characters, “sanzai koshi-nen” ,
a part of a famous slogan of the Yellow Turbans in China, 184 AD,
believed to be a year of a great change, beginning of a new power to rise.
Looking at the picture of the vase,setting aside Chinese or Japanese, I would date this year of 1804.
If it was Japanese, either Kyo-yaki or shiro Satsuma, suggesting a coming revolution
Kakai fuki suggests something big to open.

It makes me always wonder what a great way to communicate in secret codes using pottery making .
This is just my wild guess, of course.
Honestly, I don’t know, it is Chinese or Japanese.
Best Regards,
Emiko

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