Bonsai Pot Collection Sales Catalog

Click the link below for the catalog.

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For the last 20 years, KJ and I have been collecting excellent bonsai pots from Japan and China.  However, the last 7 years we have been concentrating on building our viewing stone collection.  We therefore we have made the decision to sell the majority of our Japanese and Chinese collector bonsai pots.

Our collection contains Yusen, Tofukuji, Isseki, and Kouzan pots from Japan, several very old Chinese antique pots and others.  Most are show/collector quality pots, with a few exceptions.

If you have interest in any of these pots and would like more information or photos, please contact us at the email address listed on the catalog and we will get back with you as quickly as we can.

Thank you for your consideration.

Our best,

Sam and KJ

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Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉) – In Search of another Answer

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Tsukinowa Yusen, 月之輪湧泉

Frank and I enjoyed the last Yusen search so much that it was exciting to see that he had another Yusen pot that we could research.

Tsukinowa Yusen Pot

Tsukinowa Yusen Pot

Tsukinowa Yusen Pot

Pay particular attention to the scene drawn on this side of the pot.  The figure in the window and the moon in the sky allowed us to confirm the poem that was written on the side of the pot shown next.

Tsukinowa Yusen Pot

It is this writing that we want to translate to see if it gives us insight into the painted scene on the other three sides of the pot.  Once again our friend Mary confers with her resource in China and three clues are given.

The Clues

Mary returns to let us know that they were able to translate three things written on this pot.  1) The poem is written by Li Bai; 2) moonlight; and, 3) frost.  It is with these three clues we begin to search for an answer.

Li Bai

Li Bai (701-762) was one of the greatest poets of the Tang Dynasty; also known as Li Po, Li Bo and Li Pai. The Tang era was a golden age of Chinese poetry, and Li Bai’s works made up a major part of this. A large number of poems from this period still survive today, they have been translated into many languages all over the world. Li Bai is one of the most famous and well respected poets of the era.

Li Bai was given the title of ‘Heavenly Poet’ (shih-xian) by the people and is considered the most influential and famous poet in Chinese history. His poems are romantic in style, using hyperbolic language and imagery without making it seem excessive, and are otherwise passionate and imaginative. His poems cover a wide range of topics, including politics, nature, social issues.  It seems the poem was written between 756-762 AD, as he was exiled in 756.

Now that we know who Li Bai is let’s see if we can determine if any poems he has written contain text or imagery that we see on Frank’s pot.

The Poem – Night Thoughts

It took about a half an hour to find several sites that has both the Chinese and English translations of a number of Li Bai’s poems.  There were three that had similarities but one that was a match and that poem is entitled Night Thoughts. What follows is an English translation of the poem.

Night Thoughts by Li Bai

The moonlight glistens in front of my bed.
I thought it was the frost on the ground.
I lift my gaze to view the shimmering moon,
Then lower my head, and miss my homeland.

Let’s look at the panel that gives us the most insight.

Notice Li Bai in the window with the moon high in the sky.

In this scene we have Li Bai in the window of what we believe to be his bedroom with the moon high in the sky.  Also notice Li Bai’s head position – turned down – as is described in the last line of the poem.

So why would Li Bai have written this poem about missing his homeland. A little research turned up the answer.

More Detail On His Exile

At the end of 756, the An Lushan disorders burst across the land. The Emperor eventually fled to Sichuan; then, later, during the confusion, the Crown Prince opportunely declared himself the head of government. As the An Shi disturbances continued, Li Bai became an adviser to one of Ming Huang’s sons, who was far from the top of the primogeniture list, yet nevertheless apparently made his own bid for the imperial power.

Upon the defeat of the Prince’s forces, Li Bai escaped, but was later captured, imprisoned in Jiujiang, and sentenced to death. The famous and powerful army General Guo Ziyi intervened: this was the same general whom Li Bai had saved from court martial a couple of decades previously. Upon General Guo Ziyi’s offering to exchange his official rank for Li Bai’s life, Li Bai’s death sentence was commuted to exile: he was consigned to Yelang.  Yelang (in Yunnan) was then in the remote extreme of the empire.

Towards the destination of Yelang, Li Bai headed with little sign of hurry, stopping for prolonged social visits, and writing poetry along the way, leaving detailed descriptions of his journey for posterity. Notice of an imperial pardon recalling Li Bai reached him before he even got close to Yelang.

Conclusion

We are convinced the writing on Frank’s Yusen pot is the poem Night Thoughts written by Li Bai between 756 AD and his death in 762.  We know that he was exiled and during this exile he wrote many of his poems.  The parallel between his exile during this period and his description of missing his home/homeland is just too strong of a connection.

Through these two searches it has become clear that Yusen greatly enjoyed Chinese poetry as it became the inspiration for many of his bonsai pots.

We have included a short background study on Li Bai for those that might be interested.  Many thanks to Frank for bringing these high quality pots to America and for giving KJ and I the opportunity to research this for him.  It has been a rewarding time in doing so.

The Chinese Poet Li Bai

Li Bai

The Life

“Li Bai was born in 701, the exact location of his birth is unknown but it is believed to be in Central Asia. Some believe he was born in Suiye which is now Kyrgyzstan. There is a story that his mother had a dream of a falling white star and then fell pregnant with him. This gave rise to a myth that he was a fallen immortal who had come to Earth.

When Li Bai was a young child his family was moved to Sichuan in secret by his father. He remained here until his mid-twenties. His memoirs suggest that he was a gifted swordsman and martial artist. He claimed to have killed several men by the time he was twenty.

Upon reaching his mid-twenties he set sail on Yangzi River and began life as a wanderer. He married the grand-daughter of a former ruler of China, gave away much of his wealth and met famous people. He became a celebrity himself and continued to travel. He joined up with a group of other poets who also enjoyed writing about and drinking wine.

Li Bai was considered a genius and became a friend and adviser to the Emperor. When war broke out and the Emperor was removed a power vacuum was created. Li Bai made an attempt to seize power, he was unsuccessful and sentenced to death. A general who Li Bai had befriended and helped many years earlier intervened on his behalf and he was exiled instead.

He continued his nomadic lifestyle but traveled much shorter distances. He was to be named the Registrar of the Left Commandant’s office by the new Emperor in 762 but he died before news of this reached him. There are differing accounts of his death. It is suggested that it is likely that his nomadic existence and heavy drinking took a toll on his body which caused death by natural causes. A more romantic story suggests that he died whilst trying to embrace the reflection of the moon in a lake. This is used in Chinese culture as a caution against illusions.”

Surviving Work

“The Tang Dynasty spanned nearly 300 years in ancient China. During the period between 618 AD and 907 AD over 50,000 poems where produced by over 2000 different poets. Li Bai is credited as the author of over 1000 of these poems. A lot of his work has been preserved and survives today, although it is not known if it has been edited or otherwise altered to fit in with cultural, political and social norms of subsequent times. If it has been edited it is not known to what extent. Li Bai was viewed as controversial by some, he wrote graphically about drunkenness. He often championed drunkenness and glorified it as a lifestyle. Many of his poems were written about Chinese wine. He also glorified his wandering lifestyle. These topics would have made his poems very controversial at the time and would be considered inappropriate by some, even today.

If his work has been edited since it was first written it should not diminish its importance or prevent us from enjoying his writings. A parallel can be found in modern day film making. Many movies are censored and edited by studios but this does not prevent us enjoying them. Li Bai’s surviving works remain an important part of Chinese culture.”

There is only one known piece of work that survives today which was written by Li Bai’s own hand. This surviving poem is named Shangyangtai which means Going Up to the Sun Terrace. This important piece shows us that Li Bai was a gifted calligrapher. This manuscript can be found in Beijing, China at the Palace Museum.

The Style

“As a poet, Li Bai often looked back to the past for inspiration. He very rarely wrote about the future. The celebration of alcoholic beverages and a drunken nomadic lifestyle was not the only reason that his work was considered to be controversial. He often wrote poems from different perspectives and viewpoints, including from the perspectives of women. It was considered to be inappropriate at the time for a man to write with the viewpoint of a woman.

He also broke many established rules of poetry at the time, and this was also seen as controversial by many people. When placed in context we can understand why this was so. Artists often will push the boundaries of what is acceptable, a common occurrence among painters in the last 300 years and musicians and film-makers today. Li Bai pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable at the time. He is remembered as a gifted man who led an extraordinary life and left behind a legacy of over 1000 great works of Chinese literature.”

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉) – In Search of an Answer

Let me forewarn you this is a very long blog post and perhaps one of our longest. I hope you will find it is worth the read.

Our friend Frank Cucchiara who lives back East has been building one of the very best collection of Japanese and Chinese bonsai pots in America.  I would say he makes us jealous – but fortunately we don’t think that way!  We are pleased that some of these incredible works of art are making its way to America.

Recently Frank purchased a Yusen pot from Japan. Let’s take a look at the pot. Click the image for a larger photo.

Yusen Pot (8.9 x 7.4 x 5.9 ｃｍ)

A beautifully painted scene next to a mountain while three people are on the boat on a body of water.   I have seen this pot in the Yusen book but only the front of the pot.  Fortunately we have all sides to view.

Yusen

The question is what is written on this pot as the other three remaining sides are full of writing. The dealer couldn’t elaborate so we decided to see if we could find an answer. Well this is where the fun begins.

The Search for an Answer

Frank and I were talking via Facebook both wondering what the inscriptions meant on this pot.  We told Frank we would reach out to our friend Mary from China to see if she could help us out.

We sent her photographs and she began the process of helping us unravel the story.  We learned this story was about the two people on the boat and it spoke to their having tea or a drink and sharing old times together. It also talked about the sky and water.    Let me add that this writing is a very old style of Chinese characters so translation wasn’t going to be very simple.  While speaking to Mary she mentioned that she had a friend in China that might be able to give us more help on the translation.

A few days later Mary emailed to say that her friend has communicated that the writing was actually a poem written by Su Shi and that the date of July 16th was inscribed.

The Clues

Mary’s friend provided this information. “The poem is pre Chi Bi Fu and is written by Su Shi.  The background is that Su Shi visited Chibi.  The text states that on the 16th of July he was visiting a friend and they were boating at Chibi. The wind is blowing so softly. Su Shi proposed a toast to his friend, and then recited some poems from Shi Jing which described the moon. Later, the moon rising up from the east of the mountain with white fog coming from the surface of the river like it was swimming in the sky.  The poem tends to describe the happiness felt by Su Shi and his friend as they are watching the beautiful view.”

Yusen – back of the pot.

The Answers Unveiled

So now we had several clues. The poem was written by Su Shi.  It was written on the 16th of July as he was visiting Chiba and it was on a boat that he was enjoying the company of his friend. We also notice in the front of pot a mountain scene with trees.

Yusen Pot with writing by Su Shi of China

Now that we have several clues can we determine what is written on the pot?  We first began to explore who is Su Shi.  Using Google, we determined exactly who Su Shi is which lead to even more discoveries.

Su Shi

The poet Su Shi who wrote under the pseudonym of Dongpo Jushi (東坡居士) and he is often referred to as Su Dongpo.  He was born on January 8, 1037 and died on August 24, 1101.  He was a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome and statesman of the Song Dynasty.  Besides his renowned poetry, his other extant writing are of great value in the understanding of the 11^th century Chinese travel literature as well as details of the 11^th century Chinese iron industry.

A portrait of Su Shi.

We also know from the pot that the location was Chibi – so what is significant about this place and where is it?  But one other puzzle is that the person helping us in China referred to it as Chi Bi Fu?

The Red Cliffs of Chibi

As we searched for Chibi we soon discovered that Chibi is located in southeastern Hubei province and it is famous for the Battle of Red Cliffs.  Interesting that on the front of the pot is a mountain cliff and that Yusen elected to paint this pot red rather than blue.  Is this significant? Without question.

The Battle of Red Cliffs, otherwise known as the Battle of Chibi, was a decisive battle at the end of the Han Dynasty, immediately prior to the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. It was fought in the winter of 208/9 AD between the allied forces of the southern warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan and the numerically superior forces of the northern warlord Cao Cao. Liu Bei and Sun Quan successfully frustrated Cao Cao’s effort to conquer the land south of the Yangtze River and reunite the territory of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The allied victory at Red Cliffs ensured the survival of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, gave them control of the Yangtze (de Crespigny 2004:273), and provided a line of defense that was the basis for the later creation of the two southern states of Shu Han and Eastern Wu.

Descriptions of the battle differ widely on details, and the location of the battle is fiercely debated (de Crespigny 2004:256 78n). Although its precise location remains uncertain, the majority of academic conjectures place it on the south bank of the Yangtze River, southwest of present-day Wuhan and northeast of Baqiu (present-day Yueyang, Hunan).

The Red Cliffs of Chibi

So now we know the writing is from Su Shi written some 1,000 years ago in China. This scene is in Chibi were the battle of Red Cliffs was fought in AD 208/209.  A battle some 1800 years ago.  Knowing that Su Shi was a poet can we speculate perhaps he wrote a poem about this trip to Chiba to see his friend?

Pre Chi Bi Fu

Our next clue was from our friend in China that stated it was pre Chi Bi Fu. What did this mean?  So we did a search on Fu to see if there was a connection. This is what we found.

Fu (Chinese: 賦), variously translated as rhapsody or poetic exposition, is a form of Chinese rhymed prose that was the dominant literary form during the Han dynasty. Fu are poetic pieces in which an object, feeling, or subject is described and rhapsodized in exhaustive detail and from as many angles as possible. Classical fu composers attempted to use as wide a vocabulary as they could, and often included great numbers of rare and archaic terms in their compositions. Fu poems employ alternating rhyme and prose, varying line length, close alliteration, onomatopoeia, loose parallelism, and extensive cataloging of their topics.

Unlike the songs of the Classic of Poetry or the Verses of Chu, fu were meant to be recited aloud or chanted, but were not sung. The fu genre came into being around the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC and was regularly used until the Song dynasty. Fu were used as grand praises for the imperial courts, palaces, and cities, but were also used to write “fu on things”, in which any place, object, or feeling was rhapsodized in exhaustive detail.

So now we believe that was is written is surely a poem and our friend indicated it was a part of the Shi Jing.

Shi Jing – The Book of Songs

So what is Shi Jing. Another search located that answer quite quickly.

Shi Jing (诗经), translated variously as the Classic of Poetry, the Book of Songs, the Book of Poetry, or the Book of Odes, is the earliest existing collection of Chinese poems. It comprises 305 poems, some possibly written as early as 1000 BC.

Shi Jing contains some of the oldest pieces of Chinese literature. It is said to have been compiled by Confucius himself, who has chosen out some 300 poems out of 3000. During the Former Han Dynasty, there were still existant four versions of the collection: in the states of Lu 鲁 (by Shen Gong, 申公), Qi 齐 (by Hou Cang 后仓 and Master Sun 孙氏) and Han 韩 (by Han Ying 韩婴), and the private collection of Duke Mao 毛公. Only the last has survived until now, the commentaries to the Han version have survived in the collection Hanshi waizhuan 韩诗外传.

The four divisions of the Book of Songs are the “Airs of the states” (Guofeng 国风), mostly songs of love and emotions, the Minor Odes (Xiaoya 小雅), partially with social critics, the Major Odes (Daya 大雅), concerning the praise of the Zhou Dynasty, and the Hymns (Song 颂), ritual songs of the house of Zhou 周, the dukes of Lu 鲁 and the descendants of the house of Shang 商. All poems have a small preface (xiaoxu 小序), the first poem has a Great Preface (Daxu 大序). The content of these prefaces is a moral or even political interpretation of songs that surfacially seem to be simple love songs. The characteristic of these songs is that the initial verse creates a certain mood, in most cases using a picture of nature, birds or plants.

Almost all scholars of Han, Tang and Song wrote commentaries to the Book of Songs, because it was an integral part of Confucian teaching and had to be learned by heart by generations and generations of scholars.

In the ancient times, poems are lyrics for accompanying tunes. The Shi Jing is classified into three parts according to contents, namely Feng (ballads), Ya (peoms from intellectuals or aristocrats), and Song (songs for praying). Feng, also called Guofeng, is mostly the collection of folk songs. It is divided into 15 groups and has a total of 160 poems, which mainly express the love between men and women and the dissatisfaction of the people toward the emperor. Ya contains 105 poems, including 31 articles of Daya and 74 articles of Xiaoya, most of which were written by court officials and aristocrats. Song collects 40 poems, which are songs for offering sacrifice and praising emperors by the aristocrats. They are usually accompanied with dance during the performance. Although the Book of Songs is a collection of works of many people, authors of most works are unknown, just a small part of them were researched out by later generations.

The Shi Jing exerted a very profound effect on ancient China in terms of politics, culture, language, and even thinking. During the Spring and Autumn Period, diplomats often expressed words that they didn’t want to say by themselves or that were difficult to say by quoting sentences from the Book of Songs, which is similar to today’s diplomatic language. Confucius, a sage of China and who gave a high praise to the Shi Jing, claimed that people’s cultures, observation abilities and interpersonal skills could be highly improved through the study of the Shi Jing.

So is there a poem about Chiba written by Su Shi in the Shi Jing?  The answer follows.

Ode to the Red Cliff by Su Dong-po

In continuing our research, we then quickly discovered that Su Shi under his pseudonym Su Dong-Po had written a poem on August 18th, 1082 about his visit to the Red Cliffs of Sheba.  Could this be the poem that is on Frank’s pot?

We at first found a Chinese version of the poem but we continued to search until we found an English translation. This is what we started to read:

“My guests and I were taking a boat ride beneath the Red Cliff.
The breeze blew gently.
The water remained calm.
I toasted my guests, recited the poems in the chapter entitled “The Moon Rises”
And then sang the song, “Being Modest and Retiring” ³.
Soon after the moon rose above the eastern mountain
And lingered between the Dipper and the Herdboy ⁴.
The dew-like foam floated across the river.
The reflection of the light blurred into the hues of the sky.
We let our small boat drift freely like a reed
And rode along the expanse of the unknown.
Unaware of where the rushing boat would end up,
We had the thrill of riding the mighty wind.
It seemed as though we were lightly leaving this world of cares,
Had grown wings, ascended, and become immortal.”

This is so much like the translation from the pot that we are convinced that what is written on Frank’s Yusen pot is a shortened version of the entire poem Ode to Red Cliff written by Su Shi. But was it this exact poem?

Our Conclusions

Without question the inscribed text on the Yusen pot is a poem describing Su Shi’s trip to the Red Cliff of Chiba.  The date on the pot is different than the date recorded for the poem Ode to Red Cliff written by Su Shi on August 18th in 1082.

This could mean that he visited on the 16th of July but then wrote the poem on the 18th of August.  This is what we believe has happened. It makes sense to us. Su Shi was born in Meishan, near Mount Emei in what is now Sichuan province and he traveled to Chiba.  Doesn’t it make sense that after his trip and return home he penned this poem. This also helps corroborates why our friend in China indicates that is is pre Chi Bi Fu.  We take that to means that what is written on the pot occurred before the poem (Fu – poetic exposition) was written.

Can we be assured this is correct – of course not; however, we believe the evidence that we have points to this having occurred.

So our conclusion is that Frank’s pot contains the story of the Red Cliff of Chiba visited by Su Shi. It must have been a very memorable visit with his friend as the scene is described as on of great happiness for Shu Si and his friend.

We truly hope you enjoyed this adventure with us.  I know that Frank is very pleased that the story of his pot has been unlocked. For us, the thrill of the discovery was extremely gratifying.  We hope to visit Frank one day and hold this pot in our hands. We think the trip would be worth it. Don’t you?

The Ode to Red Cliff by Su Dong-po (English Translation)

On August 18^th in 1082,
My guests and I were taking a boat ride beneath the Red Cliff.
The breeze blew gently.
The water remained calm.
I toasted my guests, recited the poems in the chapter entitled “The Moon Rises”
And then sang the song, “Being Modest and Retiring” ³.
Soon after the moon rose above the eastern mountain
And lingered between the Dipper and the Herdboy ⁴.
The dew-like foam floated across the river.
The reflection of the light blurred into the hues of the sky.
We let our small boat drift freely like a reed
And rode along the expanse of the unknown.
Unaware of where the rushing boat would end up,
We had the thrill of riding the mighty wind.
It seemed as though we were lightly leaving this world of cares,
Had grown wings, ascended, and become immortal.

Then we drank and celebrated.
We drummed the boat’s side and sang,
“The oars of laurel and orchid strike the reflection of the moon.
The boat goes upstream.
My feelings reach the distance where the flowing water leads.
I am longing for the sages ⁵ at the other side of the sky.”
One guest accompanied the song with a bamboo flute.
The music was sad as if he were weeping, yearning, or lamenting.
The sound was melodious and lingered like an endless silk thread.
A dragon lying hidden in the secluded valley would be inspired to dance to the music
And a widow in a lonely boat might be brought to tears.

I straightened up and earnestly asked why he played such a sad tune.
The guest replied,
“‘The moon is bright and the stars are sparse;
Ravens fly south.’
We recite this from Cao Cao’s poem ⁶, don’t we?
We can see Xia-kou City ⁷ in the east
And then Wu-chang City in the west.
Mountains and rivers intertwine each other.
The trees here are lush and green.
Was this not where Cao Cao was defeated by Yu Zhou ⁸ ?
When Cao Cao seized Jing-zhou City, captured Jiang-ling City ⁹,
And rode along the Yangtze River downstream to the east,
His fleet of warships stretched hundreds of miles;
The flags and banners of his troops filled the sky.
Drinking wine in front of a river,
General Cao improvised poetry while brandishing his lance.
Surely he was the hero of his time, but where is he now?
We fish and fell trees on this small island,
Befriending deer, fish, and lobsters.
Riding a small boat,
We raise gourd cups to toast each other.
We are like a speck of grain in the sea
Or mayflies between heaven and earth.
I lament that our life is short,
And covet the endlessness of the Yangtze River.
I wish I could roam in the sky by grasping a flying fairy
And embrace the moon with which I could live forever.
I am aware that this dream cannot be realized.
Therefore, I entrusted the lingering music to the sad wind.”

I asked my guest,
“Do you truly understand the nature of water and the moon?”
Instead of waiting for his answer,
I expressed my point of view,
“The stream flows away, but never dries up.
The moon may appear full or crescent-shaped,,
But it never changes its size.
From the viewpoint of change,
The world cannot remain the same for longer than a moment.
From the viewpoint of constancy,
Everything including us will last forever.
So why should we envy other things?
In this world, everything has its natural master.
If it does not belong to me,
I dare not take it even if it has little value.
However, there are two exceptions:
The fresh wind on the river becomes a pleasant sound
As long our ears open to it;
The moon ¹⁰ between the mountains becomes beautiful
As long as our eyes are aware of it.
Free and inexhaustible,
The breeze and the moon are the Creator’s endless treasure
Which we may enjoy together.”

My guest emerged from his sorrow and smiled.
Then we washed dishes, ate our meal, and toasted each other.
After we finished eating,
The dishes were scattered about in disorder.
We reclined against each other in the boat,
Unaware of the sun rising in the east.

Footnotes for The Ode to Red Cliff

¹ Four different mountains in Hubei Province all have the same name: the Red Cliff. The first is located northeast of Ja-yu-xian City. This was where Yu Zhou of the Kingdom of Wu defeated Cao Cao. The second is located southeast of Wu-chang-xian City. The third is located in Dun-kou City of Han-yang County and is also known as Wu-lin-feng Mountain, which belongs to the Lin-zhang Mountain Range. The fourth is outside the city Dong-po Su visited, Huang-gang-xian City. Su’s essay said that this was where Yu Zhou defeated Cao Cao because Su wanted to add another dimension to his essay by using this historical event.

² Shi (a bar in the front part of a carriage for passengers to hold onto, not fancy but essential for safety) and Zi-zhan were Dong-po Su’s other first names. He was a descendant of Wei-dao Su (648-705), a prime minister during Empress Ze-tian Wu’s reign. Dong-po Su was a native of Mei-shan City (present day Mei-shan-xian City in Sichuan Province). He, his father, Xun Su, and his younger brother, Che Su, were all famous essayists. Today people call them the “Three Sus”. Their essays are outstanding and especially excel in argumentative writing. There was a Chinese saying, “If one masters the essays of the Three Sus, one eats mutton. Otherwise, one eats the roots of greens.” The saying showed that their argumentative writings were considered model essays for those who tried to prepare for the Advanced Exam. The Three Sus are included among “the Eight Masters of Ancient Chinese Prose”. Dong-po Su was learned and talented. In 1057, he and his younger brother took the Palace Exam at the Board of Rites. Xiu Ou-yang was the examiner. In this exam, Dong-po Su wrote the essay “When Punishing or Awarding People, We Must Be Kind and Sincere” as his paper when taking the Palace Exam. Ou-yang asked him, “In your essay, Gao-tao said three times, ‘Kill him.’ Emperor Yao said three times, ‘Pardon him.’ Where does this story come from?” Su replied, “I thought it must have been so.” Ou-yang praised Dong-po Su highly and said to himself, “I should keep this man out of the limelight.” This statement showed Ou-yang’s caution for nurturing young talent. In the above exam, Su’s score was the highest, but Ou-yang put him in second place and put Gong Zeng in first place. Ou-yang said, “Su is only twenty-two years old. If I put him in first place, he might become proud.” Later, Dong-po Su was appointed as the mayor’s assistant at Feng-xiang-fu City and then an Editor of Historical Records.

In 1069, An-shi Wang became the prime minister. He established new law codes for reform. Dong-po Su opposed Wang’s reforms for the following reasons: Wang emphasized establishing new law codes, while Su emphasized appointing talented government officials. Wang wanted to quickly apply his new laws to the entire nation, while Su promoted slow and steady reforms. Wang put top priority on exploring sources of revenue, while Su considered frugality essential. Su’s proposal was not adopted by the emperor’s court. In 1071, after Su asked to be transferred to Hang-zhou City, he was appointed as the city’s assistant mayor. In 1076, An-shi Wang resigned as the prime minister because his reforms failed due to making poor choices when appointing officials. In 1079, corrupt officials brought false charge against Dong-po Su of harboring malicious intentions because Su frequently criticized the government. They arrested Su and put him in prison for several months. Then Su was demoted to Deputy Commissioner of Militia at Huang-zhou City. In 1086, Guang Si-ma became the prime minister. During the Yuan-you Period Su became a member of the Royal Academy and then an imperial tutor. However, Su disagreed with Si-ma’s policies because the latter only wanted to make nominal changes rather than truly consider the well-being of common people. In 1094, he was demoted to Deputy Commander at Qiong-zhou City. In 1099, he was pardoned and moved north. In 1101, he died at Chang-zhou City. See the biography of Dong-po Su in Chapter 338 of The History of the Song Dynasty.

Wu-guan Lu said, “People claimed that Dong-po Su could not sing, so his folk style poetry was not harmonious with music.” Yi-dao Chao said, “In the beginning of the Shao-sheng Period, Dong-po Su and I parted at a ferry crossing on the upper stream of the Bian River. After drinking wine, Dong-po sang the song, ‘Gu-yang Pass’. It proved that Su can sing. However, his poems are so unrestrained that they may not comply with musical rules. I tried to sing a few of Su’s poems. After finishing, I felt that the wind from the sky and the rain from the sea had been moved by the power of the song.”

Chui-jian-lu (Small Voices) written by Wen-bao Yu (c. 1240) of the Southern Song dynasty says, “One day in his office, Dong-po Su showed his poem, ‘Nostalgia at Bei-gu Pavilion in Jing-kou City’ (to the Tune of ‘Lovely Nian-nu’), to one of his staff who was good at music. After the latter read the poem, Su asked, ‘How does my poem compare with those of Yong Liu’s?’ The staff member replied, ‘Liu’s typical lines, such as ‘I may be in a boat beneath the waning moon/ As the morning breeze brushes the willow trees along the riverside.’, are suitable for singing only by a seventeen-year-old girl who keeps time with wooden clappers. In contrast, it requires a hefty male westerner who plays a bronze lute or beats a gong to sing your line, ‘The mighty river flows eastward.” Dong-po Su roared with laughter.”
In a letter to mayor’s assistant Min-shi Xie, Dong-po Su wrote about the profundity of writing. He said, “Writing is like clouds drifting or water flowing. At first, it does not have any direction. However, it goes where it is supposed to and stops where it should. In other words, the development of an essay should be natural; a good essay is like a graceful woman whose bearing is full of charm.” Dong-po Su commented on his own writing, “My essays stem from tremendous resources. They run like a spring which may emerge anywhere from the ground.”

Su truly understood the profundity of essay writing. He was not only a great essayist, but also a great poet. In addition, Dong-po Su was a man greatly accomplished at practicing calligraphy, playing the game, “Go”, appreciating wine, and studying Buddhism. Su forged Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in one stove with one flame: Confucianism inspired him to save the world; Buddhism and Taoism expanded his vision. It can be said that Dong-po Su was a man of many talents.

³ “Being Modest and Retiring” was the first poem in the chapter entitled “The Moon Rises” in The Poetry of the State of Chen, a volume of The Book of Poetry. The poem says, “When the bright moon rises,/ With a beautiful woman as my companion,/ My sorrow is relieved/ And my harassed mind becomes quiet.”

⁴ “The Dipper” refers to “the Constellation of the Big Dipper”; “the Herdboy” refers to “the Constellation of the Herdboy”.

⁵ Here “the sages” refers to the virtuous officials in the emperor’s court.

⁶ Cao Cao, a.k.a. Meng-de Cao, was the prime minister at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty. He forced Emperor Xian-di to do his bidding. Cao Cao and his two sons, Pei Cao and Zhi Cao, were great poets during the Jian-an Period.

⁷ Xia-kou City is located in Hubei Province.

⁸ In 208 CE, Cao Cao’s navy sailed from Jing-zhou City downstream along the Yangtze River. King Quan Sun of the Kingdom of Wu made his commander Yu Zhou and King Bei Liu of the Kingdom of Shu-han unite their forces to fight against Cao’s navy. They defeated Cao’s navy at the Red Cliff.

⁹ Jing-ling City is located in Hubei Province.

¹⁰ The following video shows Li-jun Deng singing Dong-po Su’s poem, “To the Tune of ‘Prelude to the Water Song'”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae2DlIvJczM&feature=related
The first line of this poem is “How long will the bright moon appear?”. The poem centers around this question which inspired Su’s concern and blessings for his country and his family. His observations of the moon made him understand that nothing is perfect. It also provided support for his life philosophy: Be content with what one has and be optimistic about the future.

Kouzan (平安香山編) & Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉) — Bonsai Pots

Two of our favorite potters are Heian Kouzan and Tsukinowa Yusen. We have published several articles about their pots and wanted to show you a few more today.

Kouzan (平安香山編)

Such an interesting pot and Kouzan made of number of these types of lattice-work designs.  We are going to assume he builds a basic pot structure and then adds the lattice work to the pot itself and then seamlessly blends the clay on the edges.  However it is done it is quite beautiful.

Kouzan (平安香山編)

It is puzzling to us how he keeps the glaze from “bunching up” inside the lattice work. Perhaps that is why he uses the baseball cut out design as this would allow any extra glaze to dribble out and be cleaned up by the potter.

The color is quite nice – a very warm and relaxing color for such a strong pot design.

Kouzan (平安香山編)

A very typical clay color for Kouzan and the classic artist mark that we have seen on his pots.

So let’s look at a few Yusen pots. We hope to acquire one of these pots soon but these are perhaps some of the most expensive Japanese pots in the market today and in many cases out fetching Tofukuji prices; this is likely due to the fewer fake Yusen’s in the market today – it is much more difficult to replicate the marvelous paintings he has done on his pots.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

We absolutely love everything about this pot.  The design, the color, the patina, the painting is first class.  One has to wonder how many years this pot was used to end up with the beautiful patina this pot displays.  Be sure and click this image so you can see the details of his drawing.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

It takes many years of use to turn this white finish into the dark brown markings we see on the bottom of this pot.  A bit harder to see but this is his signature.  You can check out the Table of Contents if you wish to see more of his artist marks.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

A more typical painting to be found on Yusen’s pots.  Notice that these two pots are identical in shape and size with this pot having what looks like a bit less use.

Also the use of ducks or geese in the distant is a recurring theme used by Yusen.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

So let’s take a peak at the third and final Yusen pot for today.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

A well executed design and highly detailed drawings.  Our personal preference in his pots are the red design, much more difficult to execute because it is quite easy for red to turn to black during the firing process, but any of his pots would be a great additional to a personal collection.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

Look at the seamless transition in this scene between the front and the side of this pot.  Wonderfully executed thus allowing this pot to be viewed from any side to see a continuous outdoor scene.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

Here is an excellent example of Yusen artist mark.

We wonder how many of you, if these pots were in your collection, would actually use them?  We certainly don’t mind doing so for a show, but I doubt we would leave the tree in the pot all year long – would you?

We have shown trees in high quality pots, but that is rare as many of these pots we just wouldn’t take a chance of them being in public overnight.  We are reminded of an individual who had a bronze tenpai accompanying his display and somehow that “got up and walked out” of the show.  We are always blown away that someone in this small circle of bonsai and suiseki would steal from each other, but we have seen it over and over again.  Anyway, we hope you have enjoyed the post.

What Makes a Bonsai Pot Beautiful?

As I read Sean Smith’s article on suiseki a few weeks ago, it really prompted me to think seriously about why we were are attracted to certain bonsai pots and others we just look at and walk away.  Let us take a minute to say that this post is our own viewpoint.  We realize that for each of you the categories may be different, the selection criteria, even the sensibility of how much to spend on a pot is unique per buyer.  Nevertheless, we think this is an interesting topic and one that we hope will generate some discussion on our blog.
We began to categorize how we think about the pots that we purchase and those categories are:
•    Color, texture and age
•    Shape and practical use
•    Cost
•    The artist

How is it then that we can virtually glance at a pot and instantly know if we like it or not?  Over time does our viewpoint change in regards to the beauty or even usability of a certain pot? So let’s take a few minutes to explore these characteristics and to discuss what we think about them.

Color, Texture & Patina

Tofukuji

Our first pot for discussion is this very famous Tofukuji pot using a green glaze.  We have seen numerous pots that use a glaze close to this pot.  Here is an example of two pots using green glaze, how do they visually impact you? What feelings, if any, do you have when you look at these two pots?

Pot Comparison

Both pots are high quality.  The one on the left, if it could be purchased, would in our estimation run around ~$10,000 US and the one on the right around $250 US.  We will talk about pricing variables later.

The Tofukuji pot has a wonderful patina created after many years of use.  The glaze is expertly applied, and the shape of the pot is nice but we doubt that it has many practical applications for bonsai?  Perhaps as an accept plant? Perhaps a small deciduous cascade?  We don’t see too many practical applications for this pot, but we would add that we would trade every single pot in our collection for this one pot!

Why might you ask, other than those that assume it would be due to stupidity?  To us this pot symbolizes the essence of artistic beauty in a bonsai pot.  The shape of the pot is pleasing to the eye.  The colors harmonize extremely well.  The glaze application is outstanding.

The second pot is a good pot. Nice shape, good glaze and made from high quality clay. Could we use it? Absolutely.  Does it compare favorably above the Tofukuji? Absolutely not.

One of the reasons we love suiseki, is that we can hold in our hand or view in a display a small stone that represents nature in a significantly larger way – visually.  A small 14cm stone might represent an incredible distant mountain range.  What is required for the mind’s eye to translate this 14cm stone to a visual vista representing this dynamic, large but yet distant mountain range?  Our imagination and memory recall of past visual acuity.

Suiseki – Mountain Range

The thing that separates these two pots above for us first and foremost is that the Tofukuji pot sets our imagination ablaze.  We look at this pot and think of viewing a forest shrouded in fog.  The immediate connection between the forest and the purpose of this pot is clear – it is for vegetation or trees.  The pot is inviting yet somehow distant and mysterious.  How many of you have looked upon a distant mountain range at sunset and this same range of emotions was felt? Distant and mysterious but yet somehow inviting!

We have seen many new pots attempt to evoke the same feeling with most of them attempting to copy the look and feel of a Tofukuji pot.  Why then do so many of them fail?

Perhaps it partially has to do with the lack of patina in new pots.  This is certainly no more evident than looking at the differences between a new pot and an old, very used pot that displays years and years of patina.

Look at these next two photographs and think about how these pots. What do you sense about the first pot versus the second?

To us the bottom pot is a nice shape, decent glaze but evokes almost no emotion whatsoever.  The upper pot provides an almost immediate sense of emotions and feelings: Age, beauty, patina, value are the words that come to mind.  How many times the owner must have set before it watering whatever it contained. The number of months it may have set on a bench enduring the cold of winter and the heat of summer and the care given to the pot to keep it from being broken or damaged.

Frankly the bottom pot from a shape point of view is likely more usable for bonsai but which would you put into your collection? Easy decision for us – the first one!

Shape and Practical Use

How many of you are disciplined enough to only purchase pots to match trees in your collection? For those of you that said “yes” congratulations we believe you are in the minority.  Many of us are attracted to pots and then hope we can find a tree to match it.  Is this the most efficient use of capital?  Of course not.  So why then do so many of us have a pot-to-tree ratio that is 2:1 or 3:1? Are we that foolish with our money? Have sufficient amounts of money that it doesn’t matter anyway?  Frankly the answer is no.  What we do know is that most of us like to collect pots that catch our attention.  Maybe it is just the nature of humans to collect things we like.

Bonsai pots come in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colors.  So what is it about these three things that make us want to shell out some hard cash and take it home.  Certainly, some of us collect pots to create a collection.  Others purchase pots in the hope they will be used.  Some just buy them to buy them.  All of these reasons are valid but perhaps there is something about this endless, or needless, collecting.

When we first got into bonsai we purchased a lot of trees. I mean a lot of trees.  How many of them do you think we have now?  I can tell you – one.  Our first one.  All the others are long gone. I think most of you know why.  They were inexpensive, met our need at the time, and as we gained experience the realization came to us that almost none of them could be turned into good bonsai. So we did like most people, we sold them at auction or the club show to people who were at the stage we were years ago – new to bonsai and wanting to collect trees without spending too much money driven by the fear that they would just kill them!

So how do pots fit into this category of thinking?  Much in the same way as our first “comma” tree; a tree that cost over $1,000.  I think many of us have purchased way too many pots to collect them but frankly many of these pots are of low quality and a price point to match.  Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with this strategy.  What we begin to ask though is it better to purchase say five pots at $50 or one really good pot for $250.  We side on the later.  But we digress – we will come back to this issue of money shortly.

With pots coming in all shapes, sizes, and colors, how does one decide what to collect or purchase?  Does our taste improve over time?  We believe so.  We have been involved in studying pots now for almost ten years.  When I mean studying pots I mean studying pots. From researching on the web to buying almost any bonsai pot books we could get our hands upon.  Matching a tree to a pot in our opinion is both science and an art.  Most people understand the science (size, shape) but frankly very few people understand the art.  How does the color match the tree? Does it assist or overwhelm?  Do the colors, shape and size harmonize with the tree?

When we visit bonsai shows the thing that we see most often is that the pot is not correctly sized to the tree or vice-versa.  It is critical to match not just the color (glaze or unglazed), and the width/depth/height but is it an old tree – that requires an old pot – or a newer tree – which can take a newer pot.  Is this too legalistic – not if you view what is shown in Japan.  Again, there is nothing wrong with putting the best pot we can afford on the best tree we can afford. For many of us this means a new pot with a not so old tree.

To place this idea of old pot-old tree into perspective.  How would a 250 year old Redwood look in a Wal-mart parking lot?  Perhaps a tad out of place.  Therefore why would anyone put a 75 year old black pine in a 1 year old pot with zero patina?  Well certainly the lack of money to purchase an older pot is a good reason, but if you walk into your garden, greenhouse or backyard I challenge you to count the number of pots that you either don’t need or are not as good as you might hope and then count the cost of those pots.  My guess is that most of us had we saved our money could in fact afford a nice old pot for that 75 year old black pine.

So our point is this: I would rather only have five good/great trees in my collection with five great pots than have 40-50 or more trees and 100 just so-so pots.

Let’s take a look at one of our antique pots and what was one of our bonsai until it sold last year and talk about shape.

Bay Island Bonsai 2008 – Shimpaku Juniper in a antique Chinese pot

We believe this pot harmonizes with this tree. This Shimpaku is 35-40 years old and the pot is estimated at around 150 years old. It is an antique Chinese pot; the front-side of the pot has handwriting on it but for this show we elected to reverse the pot when placing the tree in it.

The color is excellent and so is the patina.  The size matches the size of the tree.  Not too small and not too large – just about right.  This color of the pot really goes well with the live vein of the tree. This pot doesn’t compete with this tree – at least in our opinion – but it does add greatly to the overall “look and feel” to this setup.

There are many pots this tree can go into and they can be a good match but the question we always force ourselves to ask is it the best? Believe me we tried many combinations of pots before making this decision.  Is it the right shape? Is it the right color? Does it have the right patina? Well you decide.  All of this is a very personal decision.  BTW, a few people who saw this setup didn’t like it.  That is OK with us too.

It is critically important in selecting a pot that you match the size to the tree.  That the pot’s color and shape also harmonize with the tree.  We could have used a rectangular pot for this tree – and it would have looked just fine.  However, we had something particular in mind. We wanted this tree to look as if it was high on a hill or a rocky mountain point.  It gives us the same feeling of seeing a tree in the Sierras – Proud, sturdy, strong and yet still graceful with a touch of nature’s softness.

The Price of an Excellent Pot

Another firestorm might be created here as well. Well can we define excellent?  I will let you do that with your own criteria.  We define excellent as something we truly love regardless of the price.  We have several Bunzan pots that we consider quite beautiful.

Bunzan

This glaze is excellent.  We love drum pots and the size works well for small trees or accents.  Is it expensive? No.  This pot retailed for 3,300 Yen or back then about $33 plus shipping.  So does it’s cost disqualify it from being an excellent pot? Absolutely not!

We would like to think that at some distant point in the future Buzan’s pots will begin to demand significantly higher prices than they do today.  About five years ago we discovered shohin pots by Ryuen Kamiya.  We really loved the size and shape of his pots so over the next two years we purchased seven of them.  They weren’t inexpensive at $200-300 per pot; which seemed to us a lot of money for small shohin pots.  We always believed though that these pots would increase in value over time. Just a few years ago he retired and guess what – some of those pots now command $900-1500.

It often reminds us of what it must have been like around Tofukuji’s kiln say 70 years or more ago.  How many times he might have thought – why aren’t the prices of my beautiful pots demanding more money?  Oh how he would smile today to see how many of them are stored away in that secret place in the home or in the heart of those that only wish they could purchase one or two.  We readily admit there are a few that we would love to own.  However, spending $3-7,000 for a small pot is still out of our reach.

Well then how about this Kouzan pot?

Kouzan

This is a wonderful pot, strong but yet somehow evoking a soft feeling.  We believe this is principally because of the feet and the soft turn at the top of the pot.   Both pots have good form.  Excellent glazes and are high in usability.  We would classify both as excellent.  However, with the price difference between these pots (Bunzan and Kouzan) about $2,000, does this $2,000 price differential mean we value the Bunzan any less – no.

Next what about excellent non-glazed pots – so here are a couple of them.

Tofukuji

Tokoname Pot

Nice form for both pots.  Radically different uses for these pots due to the size but both with nice clay, feet, and color. Cost of the top pot is $900 the bottom pot $185.  Our point is this – price does play a part in obtaining an excellent pot but it isn’t the driving factor.

So what then does drive the cost of some if not all bonsai pots?

The Artist

Many factors can go into why pots are expensive: difficult shapes, large sizes, very small sizes, hand painted scenes, rarity, age, patina, desirability and lastly and most importantly the artist.

We admit that age is a significant factor in the cost of a pot.  You are simply not going to purchase an antique pot for the same price you might purchase an equivalent Tokoname pot even if there is no artist mark on the bottom of the antique pot.

We believe a significant factor in cost is who made the pot.

Yusen

This pot by Yusen would retail for ~5,500 US or with the current exchange rate perhaps a tad higher.  Why? Well first it is a Yusen pot – one of the most collectible of all shohin bonsai pots.  His artistry is almost unparalleled.  Just look at this scene above.  Really look at it.  We see several things in this scene.

The person on the bow is silently gazing at the sun over the distant mountain tops.  Perhaps his is resting after having rowed the other occupants of this craft across the river on this steamy August day.  There is a  couple sitting and chatting in the cool breeze and shade of this rocky outcrop with trees.  This scene imparts serenity, nature, and peacefulness.

Why do we need this elegant of a pot a pot just to hold a tree?  Good question.  If one can harmonize the tree with this pot, how spectacular is that going to be?  Also, think about it.  If you have a pot in this price range, or for most of us say in the price range of $250-300.  We likely don’t want our tree in it all year. We might want it just for our yearly bonsai show.  So for the rest of the year where does it go then – in a closet? Back into a kiri-bako?  No way, on a display shelf in our home where we can see it and appreciate it every day, or to be brought out once a year to be displayed for that special occasion.

The Kouzan pot above (blue one) has never been used for a tree.  We bring it out once per year where it is on display for one month.  January of every year it takes a place of honor in our home.  That is our personal pattern with this pot.  It is how we gain the most appreciation for it.  Like a distant friend we look forward to seeing it and then it goes away until the next visit.

Great and important pots, in our opinion, have many things.  The right form, color, and feel!  While at the same time holding or owning a pot by one of the greatest bonsai pots makers adds considerably to its value for us.  Does it necessarily make it an excellent pot? We don’t think so. I have seen some Tofukuji pots that made me remark “perhaps too much saki the night before?”  No disrespect intended to him but not all pots made by Tofukuji were beautiful or excellent.

Certainly as in most art forms, the artist can sometimes demand significantly higher prices than his counterparts simply because she/he is well known or has a great reputation.  Often it is because these pots are highly sought after because they are of such high quality.

Tofukuji and Yusen’s pots are immediately recognizable.  To us instantly recognizable.  How many Tokoname pots that you see or even own that you can immediately recognize who made this pot?  I would wager very few unless you turn them over and see the artist mark and then many still wouldn’t know.

So why can we recognize potters like Kouzan, Tofukuji and Yusen?  It is because their style is so identifiable.  With Kouzan it is his ability to have strong pots but that impart softness.  With Tofukuji it is his mastery of glazes.  With Yusen it is his incredible talent to paint beautiful scenes.

Now couple the beauty of these pots, add years of patina and age, and lastly find not a crack or chip and what do you have?  You have a very valuable pot, wanted by many, owned by few and appreciated by most.

In Closing

We realize this post is a bit wordy but we hope it conveys several things to you. First and foremost we love bonsai pots. Secondly, and more importantly, please evaluate the need to purchase good but not great bonsai pots.  Attempt to save your money and then enjoy the moment when you find that excellent pot to purchase.  Find the joy in bringing it home and setting it in a place of honor in your home.  And then use it with your trees at that next show or private showing in your garden.

I look back at the hundreds of pots we have purchased over the years, many given away to friends or those in need of a pot, and we have thought – hmm! Had we not purchased those ten pots at $30 each we could have purchased one more Ryuen pot for our collection.

We don’t have regrets but we have learned our lesson.  We are very particular about pots we purchase.  It has to meet one of two specific needs: It is worthy to be in our collection and/or is it perfect for a tree we own.

Well it is up to you and what you enjoy.  We can say however that we love the high quality and excellent pots in our collection.  We have a display case full of them and every time we walk past them there is pleasure derived from seeing them.

We hope this post was enjoyable – even though a bit long.  Sam and KJ

Bonsai Pots—Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉) was born on January 2, 1908.  He dreamed of being a painter and went alone to Kyoto to study working in the Kiyomizu ware studio. He intensely studied both pottery painting and ceramics at large.  During World War II he was forced into hard work and struggled for many years being quite ill.  Beginning around 1961 in order to plant some of his bonsai, he began making pots to occupy his time.  We are so glad he did as he has created some of the greatest bonsai pots ever made.  His skills were so excellent in painting pots that his pots became very sought after as can be seen even today with his small pots demanding $5,000 and up.  Two of his masterpieces are Hiroshige Ando’s “Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido” and “Choju-Giga.”

The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō (東海道五十三次, Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi^?) is a series of ukiyo-e woodcut prints created by Utagawa Hiroshige after his first travel along the Tōkaidō in 1832. This road, linking the shōgun’s capital, Edo, to the imperial one, Kyōto, is the main artery of old Japan.

The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō - 13th Station Hara

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重^?, 1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤広重) (an irregular combination of family name and art name) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重).

Many of Yusen’s pots have elaborate painting of village scenes.  When you purchase his pots you are not only buying a bonsai pot but often you are buying four paintings as well.

Yusen is also very famous for his Choju-Giga painting which often appeared on his pots. Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga (鳥獣人物戯画, lit. “Animal-person Caricatures”), commonly shortened to Chōjū-giga (鳥獣戯画^?, lit. “Animal Caricatures”) is a famous set of four picture scrolls, or emakimono, belonging to Kōzan-ji temple in Kyoto, Japan. The Chōjū-giga scrolls are also referred to as Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans in English. Some think that Toba Sōjō created the scrolls, however it is hard to verify this. The reading direction of Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga can still be seen in modern manga and novels in Japan. Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga is also credited as the oldest work of manga. The scrolls are now entrusted to the Kyoto National Museum and Tokyo National Museum.

Choju-Giga - scrolls of frolicking animals

So let’s explore five on Yusen’s pots in today’s post.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

As with most of Yusen pot’s it comes with a kiro-bako to store the pot and to keep it safe.  If you visit our prior post on the Ueno Park Green Club you will see several of his pots displayed behind a glass case and retailing for $5-8,000 U.S.    This pot shows his use of color in his painting of a dragon. Let’s take a closer look.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

This isn’t the most complex painting that I have seen on his pots, but just observe the detail that has been painted even on the feet and how it harmonizes with the overall pot design.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

We love interesting designs in pots and this qualifies in that it is six sided.  In this design Yusen is using both paintings and patterns to tell a story.  I think this bears repeating.  Yusen, as a painter first and then a bonsai potter, seems to most often be telling a story with his pots.  This is one of the reasons we believe his pots are so treasured.  Not only are they artistically crafted in clay then he paints his story using the pot as his medium much like other painters use canvas.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

In the first photo, we see a small water craft wherein the next painting we two huts up on the hillside.  We should mention that many of Yusen’s pots are red paintings.  This is very difficult as many red painted pots in the kiln turned into black painted pots.  Red is one of the dyes on ceramics that if not properly heated and let to cool will turn from vibrant red into black and therefore ruining the value of the pot.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

We look at this design and think – what would be placed in this pot?  A tree? Maybe, but how about a few lovely tall orchids that look like egrets with the base in a vivid green moss.  Here is an example of that orchid.

Habenaria radiata or the Egret Orchid

We have a number of these in our greenhouse and they are quite beautiful  (12-15inches) with the vibrant white figure of what appears to be a flying white egret.  We think this would go nicely with this Yusen pot.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

Here is a very good example of a Yusen pot with four different paintings.  Imagine how long it must have taken to hand draw each scene and just using the white of the pot to balance against a complex scene where the painter is only using light-to-dark shades of this red to paint his story.  We will just let his brush tell the rest of the story on this pot.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

Well like us, you are likely thinking that this is as close as I will ever come to owning or seeing one of Yusen’s pots.  We agree as the cost of Yusen’s pots are past the budget of most collectors.  It is however, why we encourage each of you to head to Kokufu-ten and to visit the Green Club in Ueno Park so that you can see these pots in person and if you dare – hold one in your hand and marvel at their beauty.

A pair of Tsukinowa Yusen pots (月之輪湧泉)

Well if one is good then two must be twice as good to own.  Here is a pair of pots matched only in beauty and size as each pot tells a different story – perhaps they continue to tell the same story – one painted in red and the other in blue.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

Perhaps one of our readers from Japan could be so kind and translate for us what is being said on each of these pots.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉)

We hope this brief retrospective on Yusen’s pots give you an appreciation for the absolute talent he had as a painter.  How lucky we are that he decided to take up bonsai and make pots not only for himself but for others to share as well.  We really encourage you to pick up the book on his pots as well as Kouzan’s.  You can find more about this book on this blog post – just click away.

Yusen Artist Mark

There are different marks by Yusen but one that is so prevalent that this is the one we are going to show found on three different pots; one of which the pot wasn’t shown on this post to keep the length of the article from growing too long.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉) Artist Mark

This is an excellent example of his artist mark.  There is one other potter whose mark is quite similar but the difference is that Yusen’s always is drawn in two columns as shown in the above photograph.

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉) Artist Mark

Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉) Artist Mark

We hope you are enjoying this series on famous bonsai pot makers from Japan. We realize how difficult it is to find good information on many of these potters and when you do often the cost of the books are steep – we have a rare antique Chinese and Japanese pot book that retails for over $700 U.S. – therefore we hope that our blog will introduce you to many of these potters and will ignite your passion in using high quality pots with your trees and accents pots.

Let us end with we realize that most of us will never own pots of this quality as they are simply out of the reach of our budgets; however, that should not stop each of us from buying the very best pot we can afford to accompany our trees and accents.  We learned a very early lesson in collecting pots – we would prefer to buy one good pot rather than 10 inexpensive ones.  Wouldn’t you prefer to own one outstanding $500 pot rather than 10 just-so-good ones?  Frankly, our trees and accent plants grow just fine in clay pots and sometimes even in wooden ones. We tend to save our money and stretch a bit in order to buy an excellent pot that we can appreciate in our home and then once a year in our club bonsai exhibit.  We hope you will start this practice as well and experience the joy we have in owning high quality works of art.

P.S. Just last month we put this into practice by selling 20 of our Bunzan pots (lovely ones at that) in order to purchase a Tofukjui pot.  We loved the Bunzan’s but we treasure the Tofukuji.  🙂

Small Stands, Pots, Dobans – Part 1

If you have spent anytime with us you know that we love small things with the exception of our three Labrador retrievers. We have collected many small pots some of very high quality and some – well not so good.  I spend about 30-60 minutes per day scouring the many Japanese web sites where we purchase pots and things and anytime there is a high quality or attractive item we contemplate acquiring it for our collection.

We have collected small pots, stands, dobans, suibans and small bronze objects that can accompany bonsai or suiseki displays.  Partly as a way to document it for ourselves (insurance purposes) and partly to share with you our readers, we thought it might be fun to post 4-5 articles on these objects.  So here we go.

Diminutive Bonsai Pots

The above bonsai pots are all made by Bunzan with the largest barely 5cm.  One might ask why purchase these pots at all – well the answer is that we think they are beautifully made.  Will we use them? Maybe, but maybe not.

We find that making small things is very difficult.  One must have the right balance and when photographed and viewed without a frame of reference it is nearly impossible to determine its actual size.  Sounds wonderfully characteristic of great bonsai doesn’t it?

We also love small bronze or copper works.

Small Bronze and Copper Works

Frankly there is a lot of small bronze and copper objects that frankly aren’t worth the asking price.  Then there are some that become almost priceless works of art.  One of the most well known and collectible artists is Wakahara Eisho (1890-1971) in this category of miniature accessories; more on Eisho in the post about these accessories.

Others like Eisho, including Harada Houn (bronze dobans) before World War II tended to make larger objects; however, after the war due to the economy they turned to making small bronze castings to sell locally at a price that people could afford.

For today let us start with a few stands.  There are upright stands, root stands, jiitas, etc.

Small stand made from Ebony (11cm)

One might ask what you do with a 11cm (~4 inches) stand?  Well how about using it for a 8cm suiseki?

Small stand with suiseki (toyama-ishi or distant mountain) 8cm.

We love this small suiseki.  For those of you who collect, you know how very difficult it is to find small suiseki much less find excellent small suiseki.  We view this stone as falling into the later category – excellent!  Some might complain the mountain peak is a bit too far left but frankly we don’t object to its placement as this stone simply resembles a mountainous area with many craggy peaks.  This stone sets the imagination on fire and allows us to gaze at it just thinking what it would be to climb this mountain just to see the view.

Many bonsai in Japan are displayed on root stands.  There are a few natural root stands with prices as high as a mountain top and then many are carved by master wood carvers.  We have eight root stands in our collection and these are the two smallest.

Root stands both 8cm tall.

These root stands even though the same in height seem quite different due to their width.  We use them in the house to display small bonsai pots.

Root Stand and Small Bonsai Pot

The small mame bonsai pot perched atop this root stand was purchased at Kokufu in 2008.  A beautifully hand drawn scene reminiscent of those drawn by Tsukinowa Yusen (月之輪湧泉).

The difficulty in many of the carved root stands is that the top is relatively small and therefore what can be displayed narrows into a very small category of objects.

Jiitas in Japanese Quince.

The Jiita, or what I would describe as a wooden slab, come in many shapes, sizes and colors.  We like to use these for displaying pots, bronzes and other items.

Jiita in Japanese Quince with superb burl.

The workman ship is excellent and we think the addition of the edge treatment exemplifies the artist ability to work in wood.  With jiitas of this quality they are often signed by the artist. This one is no exception.

Signed Jiita (~16cm)

Jiita in Japanese Quince almost orange in color (26cm)

This jiita almost doesn’t qualify for small at 26cm but is included as we use it to display both pots or as pictured above a bronze tiger. We have seen very few of this color but we do enjoy its beauty.

Small round jiitas in Japanese Quince (15, 12, 10 cm)

We often see these in rosewood but rarely have we seen them in Japanese Quince with burl.  We found these while doing a Google search a few weeks ago at the Kitakanto Bonsai Association web site and Yoshi was kind enough to acquire them for us.

Japanese Quince round jiita.

Very nice color and burl texture.  We use these for pots and small bronzes.

Japanese Quince Jiita with Tofukuji (平安東福寺) unglazed pot.

We think this jiita accompanied by the Tofukuji pot makes a perfect marriage for display.

Chinese stand in Chinese Quince

This stand was a gift from Jeffrey our friend who travels often to China.  This is an old stand with a small crack but we believe it adds to the character of the stand.

Chinese stand with a Daisuke pot.

We love this combination of stand and pot. Both elegant and useful.

Well our last stand today is also the smallest.

A tiny stand (3cm) with a Jim Barrett pot.

We purchased this Jim Barrett pot at a local bonsai show and then it took another two years to find a stand that it would fit on!  Could one possibly put something in this pot – perhaps but it would need to be very small.

We have many more small stands in our collection but these are a good representative sample.  We sincerely appreciate craftsmen that take the time to create such small but beautiful works of art. Don’t you?

Our next post will concentrate on small bronze dobans and accessories.  Till then we hope all of you have a Merry Christmas!