16x11x4 Inch Yamaaki Rectangle Bonsai Pot #84 – Stamped Rim, Unglazed, Chop & Nail Signed

This is first-generation Yamaaki. Akitsuga Kataoka founded the kiln in 1920 and worked under a series of artist names across his career, first Jyuudo and later Shousen, which is how this pot is recorded. He ran the operation until his death in 1990. First-generation Kataoka Shousen pots are among the most sought-after in the entire Yamaaki lineage, and their age alone puts them in rare-collector territory.

Timing matters here as much as the name does. It was not until the 1970s, under the third generation, that Yamaaki installed a gas kiln and moved to high-volume production, firing as many as 200 pots at once. Before that, first-generation work was fired in a noborigama, the older wood-fired climbing kiln. The rim on this one is stamped, and the body carries mushikui, the hand-carved worm-eaten relief the kiln became known for. That technique was never about imitating damage. It was about imitating age, because a tree is meant to look like it has survived decades and a pot that already looks weathered lets it. Our record describes this piece as thick and heavy in the hand. It carries both a chop and a hand-scratched nail signature.

At 16 by 11 inches and 4 inches deep, this is a large rectangle with real soil volume behind it. Unglazed Tokoname clay is the convention for pines, junipers and trees with bark worth seeing, because the surface recedes instead of competing with the foliage. The Kataokas also mixed sawdust into their clay body to improve breathability and cut the weight, a decision that matters more to the tree than to the person buying it.