Japan Marks - Hyochien & Kawara Noritatsu

Japan Marks - Hyochien and Kawara Noritatsu

TRADE MARK

HYOCHIEN & KAWARA NORITATSU

Late Edo to Mid Meiji period

Based on the recent information found at Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History, Hyochien was in business during the late Edo to mid-Meiji period and one of its decorators was Kato Sanpei (加藤三平).

Hyochien was a dealer and decoration shop located in Tokyo during the late 19th century. Hyochien employed local artists to hand paint porcelain wares and earthenwares.

Hyochien was owned by Kawara Noritatsu and located at No. 86 2-chome, Hayashicho, Honjoku, Tokyo, Japan along the Sumida River.

Kawara had an assistant named Kawahara Tokuryu who was the head decorator and supervisor.

Hyochien painting style was greatly admired and became the standard for quality decorations.

In 1877, Hyochien exhibited in the First National Domestic Exposition.

In 1893, Hyochien participated by exhibiting their wares at the 1893 Columbian World's Exposition in Chicago.

Hyochien was contracted by local artist-kilns to hand paint wares for their company to meet the high demand of the foreign trade market. This is why some wares have two signatures: one for Hyochien and the other of the artist-kiln manufacturer-dealer. One of these contractors was Kato Shunko - evident by the two signatures found on his porcelain wares. Another was Soga Tokumaru based on vase at the Australia Powerhouse Museum [Note: I am not sure if this translation by the museum staff is correct and I mention this because the name resembles that of Kawahara Tokuryu, head decorator and supervisor at Hyochien]. There are two vases marked with two signatures: one for Hyochien and the other for Arita Tsuji [Katsuzo] on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Based on resources, Hyochien did not manufacturer porcelain or earthenware but purchased the blanks from local manufacturing factories - although one resource states Kawara was the owner of a large porcelain ware factory and another resource states Hyochien employed potters and painters. It may be that at some point when Hyochien became prosperous, the company became a manufacturer of their own ceramic blank wares and decorated them as well.

Based on resources, one of the manufactures who supplied Hyochien with porcelain and earthen ware blanks was Makuzu Kozan.

Hyochien sold porcelain and earthen wares under their own signatures - some pieces only have their signature - based on their entries in the 1877 First National Domestic Exposition, 1893 Chicago World's Fair, 1896 Spring Exhibition, and porcelain panel in the Tokyo National Museum.

Some of their signatures include the place name Tokyo.

Some of their signatures include their trade mark Hyo (for Hyochien) in a fan. Hyo (Hyou) is a type of gourd.

TRADE MARK OF HYOCHIEN

Late Edo to Mid Meiji period

瓢
HYO
for HYOCHIEN

SIGNATURES OF HYOCHIEN

Late Edo to Mid Meiji period

HYOCHIEN GA SHUNKO* SEI (瓢池園画 - 春光製)
Two signature marks:
Black - Hyochien ga (瓢池園画)
Blue - Shunko sei (春光製)
*Note: This is the signature mark for Kato Shunko.

SHUNKO* SEI HYOCHIEN GA (春光製 - 瓢池園画)
Two signature marks:
Blue - Shunko sei (春光製)
Black - Hyochien ga (瓢池園画)
*Note: This is the signature mark for Kato Shunko.

SHUNKO* SEI HYOCHIEN (春光製 - 瓢池園)
Two signature marks:
Blue - Shunko sei (春光製)
Red - Hyochien (瓢池園)
*Note: This is the signature mark for Kato Shunko.

TOKYO INOUE RYOSAI* HYOCHIEN
Two signature marks:
Impressed - Tokyo Inoue Ryosai (東京井上良齋)
Red - Hyo for Hyochien (瓢)
*Note: This is the signature mark for Inoue Ryosai.

TOKYO HYOCHIEN SEI (東亰瓢池園製)

HYO
(瓢)
MEIJI YEAR 14 (1882) 3rd MONTH (MARCH)
NIHON TOKYO 日本東亰
HYOCHIEN SEI 瓢池園製
SOGA* HOMARU GA 曽我穂丸画
*Note: An artist from the famous Soga artist family of the Meiji era.

References

Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History - Artist names and dating.

http://kouseiin.org/hyouchien.html - information on Hyochien and signatures.

1877 First National Domestic Exposition porcelain exhibit by Hyochien.

1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Group 91, Ceramics and Mosaics, #443, Hyochien, Tokyo, a. Stoneware, b. Porcelain.

General view of commerce & industry in the empire of Japan, Nōshōmushō. Shōkōkyoku, 1893
Nagasaki Ken – Business Name: Hyochien, Name of Principal Person or Owner: Kawara Noritatsu, Business Address: No. 86, 2 chome, Hayashicho, Honjoku, Tokyo, Dealing Articles: Porcelain and Earthen wares.

日本美術畫報初篇卷1-12, 二編卷1-12, 三編卷1-12, 畫報社 – Exhibited by Hyochien. Mr. Kawara, the owner of a large porcelain-ware factory on the other side of the Sumida River, has been long engaged in a very extensive export trade. As a rule his wares are apt to be rather more profusely ornamented with birds, flowers etc., than perhaps it is warranted by good taste, to meet the popular demand of the…

Japanese culture in the Meiji era, Volume 7, Kaikoku Hyakunen Kinen Bunka Jigyōkai (Japan) - 1969 - Kawahara Tokuryu continued the detailed work in ceramic painting that distinguished that kiln. He called his own kiln the Hyochien, which gave the name to a careful style of ceramic painting that was to remain in popularity throughout the Meiji Period.

The Spring Exhibition (1896) of the Japan Art Association, #2, Porcelain tablet ornamented with carps, exhibited by Hyochien.

Society for Japanese Arts and Crafts, Bulletin, 1989 - Hyochien was located in Tokyo, Fukagawa, at 14, Motomachi. It basically consisted of 42 potters and painters under the direction of Kawahara Noritatsu. In October 1872, the Assistant Director of the Committee for the Preparation of the Austrian World Exhibition, Sano Jomin, established this pottery atelier for the improvement of decoration on ceramics, resorting under said committee. Kawahara Tokutatsu was officially ...

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=175394
Powerhouse Museum Collection, Australia.
Production notes - Made by Hyochien, painted by Soga Tokumaru.
Date inscription in characters translated as "Meiji juichinen junigatsu" = 12th month Meiji (1878). History notes - Probably exhibited at the Sydney International Exhibition, 1879.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O171039/vase/?print=1
Victoria & Albert Museum, Two porcelain vase blanks made in Arita Tsuji, hand painted decoration in Hyochien workshop, dating – 1875.

Porcelain panel "Landscape" Hyochien First half of Meiji era (19th century) Tokyo National Museum.

Brinkley, Japn - Its History, Art and Literature, 1904 - Tokyo Decorators (E-Tsuke)

Although not remarkable as a centre of keramic production, Tokyo possesses a school of artist-artisans second to none in Japan. Every year large quantities of porcelain and faience are sent from the provinces to the capital to receive surface decoration, and in wealth of design as well as excellence of execution the results are everything that can be desired. But of the pigments and enamels employed nothing very laudatory could be said until very recent times. They were generally crude, of impure tone, and without depth or brilliancy. Now, however, they have lost these defects and entered a period of considerable excellence. As for the nature of the designs, it may fairly be said that figure-subjects constitute their chief feature. A majority of the artists are content to copy old pictures of Buddha's Sixteen Disciples, the seven Gods of Happiness, and other similar assemblages of mythical or historical personages, not only because such work offers large opportunity for the use of striking colours and the production of meretricious effects, dear to the eye of the average Western householder and globe-trotter, but also because a complicated design, as compared with a simple one, has the advantage of hiding the technical imperfections of the ware. Of late there have happily appeared some decorators who prefer to choose their subjects from the natural field in which their great predecessors of former times excelled, and there is reason to hope that this more congenial and pleasing style will supplant its modern usurper.

The best known factory in Tokyo for decorative purposes is the Hyochi-en. It was established in the Fukagawa suburb in 1876, with the immediate object of preparing specimens for the first Tokyo Exhibition held at that time. Its founders obtained a measure of official aid, and were able to secure the services of some good artists, among whom may be mentioned Obanawa and Shimauchi. The porcelains of Owari and Arita naturally received most attention at the hands of the Hyochi-en decorators, but there was scarcely one of the principal wares of Japan upon which they did not try their skill, and if a piece of monochromatic Minton or Sevres came in their way, they undertook to improve it by the addition of designs copied from old masters or suggested by modern taste. To all such pieces the cachet of the Fukagawa atelier was indiscriminately applied, and has probably proved a source of considerable confusion to collectors. Many other factories for decoration were established from time to time in Tokyo. Of these some still exist; others, ceasing to be profitable, have been abandoned.

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