Satsuma earthenware

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I bought these at a local auction, I have tried to find the mark and I could not find it, I think they might be early 20th century or older, can you read the marks, That will give be a better chance to finding the true age,thanks you so much, Stan.

[peterp]

Stan, it looks as if it could be 本谷 Motoya, not a very common family name (could also be a place name).

[Stan]

Thank you Peter, I have 15 pieces with this mark, here is a larger image, they all look the same, im not sure about the last Character, thanks so much, I will look up the name and see if there are any comparable in decoration and Characters, I will let you know what I find out, thanks again, Stan.

[peterp]

The last character looks like 谷. It reads 'tani' or 'ya' (meaning 'valley'), the same as 'tani' as in Kutani (kiln). I got the reading of 'ya' in this case by searching for the name on the Japanese internet. The name is relatively rare, but that is one way that it is pronounced. It appears that the name also may be read Hontani, but in each case I found only one example.

(In Japan they have to write 'furigana' --kana char. for writing the spelling-- on forms, to let people know how the specific person's name is read. Place names written with the same characters are slso sometimes read differently.)

[Stan]

Great information, Thanks so much, I have not received the items yet, I will pick them up tomorrow, I hope I can get better pictures, there are some pieces with different marks altogether.