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Some help to identify this mark. I can only read the symbol town.
Tanks

This bowl's mark (井元) reads down as "Imoto" (also has a variant pronunciation of "Inomoto"). This possibly is Imoto Tamesaburo (井元 為三郎), a Nagoya potter active from the Taisho (1912-26) to early Showa (1926-89) periods, who is the subject of a Japanese language Kindle book available from Amazon at the link.

The book or additional online research may answer the question of whether Imoto survived World War II or perhaps was absorbed into the Noritake conglomerate in Nagoya.

Best regards,

Bill H.

URL Title :Imoto Tamesaburo

thank you
Your information has been very helpful.
I have been very impressed by the figure of the second image.
The two faces of the characters in green are difficult to see except with a zoom.

Bill,

Is it possible the mark reads as Ino: 井之.
The Google translator translates it as "Wakashi no", but pronounces it as "Ino".
Just asking :-)
Regards,
Martin.

Hi Martin,

As they are written on the bottom of Giuseppi's bowl, I can see no other way to translate the two characters than as Imoto, if we are talking about Tamesaburo Imoto, subject of Amazon's Kindle book by Manibu Moriwaki. On the other hand, the JDIC, which is used by the Unicode Organization, has the following entry that also shows a second transliteration as "Inomoto", which makes me wonder if it is a source of confusion for the Google translator:

井元 【いもと】 (s) Imoto 【いのもと】 (s) Inomoto

Below is a scan of the two characters 之 and 元 as they appear in the Mainland China reference I use when comparing various calligraphic styles of Chinese.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Hallo Bill,

Thanks a lot for your answer and picture of both characters, this will help me more in determing other - Japanese - signatures as well.
Regards,
Martin

Here's a link to the book I use on Amazon in case you're interested in a copy:

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Calligraphy-Dictionary-Chirographies-Chinese/dp/7102027575/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480925901&sr=8-1&keywords=9787102027579

Best regards,

Bill H.

Bill,

Thanks for the tip about the book.
I just got Hirado: Prince of Porcelains from Amazon as you mentioned that in an earlier answer of one of my questions on this forum (about the "Ken" character).
Every help is welcome.
Regards,
Martin.

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