Taisho Era Tokoname - 100yrs+ Unglazed Rectangle - 8⅝ in (22cm)

An excellent example of early Tokoname bonsai pottery from the Taisho era. Over 100 years old and without a seal, carrying it's age in an understated way. Probably mould made, it has excellent thin-ness and despite some clear marks from making, the clay surface is particularly attractive, like a Nakawatari peach mud pot, it has a very timeless elegance.

Practically, great depth for trees that need that. I believe it should be frost-proof, but also, I don't think a pot this old should endure freezing temperatures, so it should over-winter with some protection.

A little history for the interested:

Chinese pots had long been favoured by the elite, the Nakawatari period spanned 1800-1911. In Japan, The Meiji era spanned 1868-1912, and was a period of huge modernisation and upheaval, seeing the end of a feudal society (including Samurai) and the beginning of a parliamentary monarchy (similar to the UK) with a constitution.

Tokoname was a well established pottery centre, one of Japans "Ancient Kilns" (which in truth were collections of kilns). With the iron rich clay that fired to maturity at a low temperature that had been used to make architectural and tea wares already for hundreds of years, Tokoname was about to become a centre for bonsai pots.

That's when this pot was made. Sometime between late Meiji and early Taisho (1912-26), about a hundred years ago. Such pots are generalised as Taisho-Toko, and would have been fired in a traditional wood-fired "Anagama" kiln.