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Hi!
Have this koro in my collection. It´s marked "Hodota zo, 12". I have made some research and found some info about Hodota. My question is first; what is the meaning of "12" in this signature. And what´s the meaning of "zo" ? Any other comments are very much appreciated. Thanks a lot!

Jan

Though I'll gladly yield on this topic to anyone with a claim to more hands-on knowledge of Japanese than I've picked up, it is my observation that numbers with no other apparent purpose like this on both Japanese and Chinese ceramics usually have been applied at the factory for quality control purposes. Most often in the case of censers, a number like this seems to designate the size of the upper rim to accommodate selection of a cover in the correct size. If your cover and rim are about 12 cms in diameter, it might bode well for this assumption being correct.

The 1882 James Lord Bowes book on Japanese marks and seals had one example of a Satsuma marking with a number. This one was an alphanumeric designation of a piece as I-5, with 'I' being the first character in the Japanese (phonetic I presume) alphabet. In this case the character for '5' was followed by the character meaning 'number'. Since this is not the case with your mark, I assume it is does not indicate a numbered piece, per se.

'Zo' means 'Made' or 'Made by' in the context of a mark like this.

Best regards,

Bill H.

The koro is about 12,5 cm from the bottom to the rim. Ad the lid and the total height is about 19,5 cm. Mmmm :) Well this is the charm with japanese antiques, I guess. It´s always something that doesn´t fit the bill. Great with the translation of "zo". Thanks very much Bill, for taking Your time to help me.

Jan

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