Plates

Set of 3 Antique Takokarakusa Rectangular Plates, Blue and White Octopus Scroll Kozara, Meiji Era Japan

Three small rectangular plates in the pattern Japan calls takokarakusa, octopus scroll. Look at the spirals for a second and you'll see it: curling arms covered in little suckers, repeating until they fill every corner.

Nobody knows who first decided an octopus should become wallpaper, but it stuck, and it's been drawn on Japanese porcelain for over three hundred years.

These three were made in the Meiji era, printed by hand through paper stencils rather than painted stroke by stroke. Run a finger over the surface and the blue sits under a smooth glaze flecked with tiny iron spots. Each plate is slightly different. The stencils shifted, the blue pooled differently, one is a touch deeper in tone than its brothers. That's how you know they weren't made yesterday.

The shape is a kozara, a small plate, in a rectangle that Japanese tables use for a slice of fish, a pickle, a piece of grilled something, or the soy sauce next to sushi. They stack neatly and take up no room.

Anecdotes

Takokarakusa was born in Arita in the 1600s and became such a workhorse pattern that by the Edo period it covered everything from soba cups to giant platters. There's an old dealers' saying that you can date a Japanese kitchen by its octopus scroll.

Stencil printing (katagami-zuri) was Meiji Japan's answer to demand. One skilled worker could decorate in a day what a painter did in a week. The funny thing is that the stencil pieces, once the cheap option, are now the ones with character. The little misalignments read as handwriting.
Fine for everyday food use. Hand wash recommended.

Measurements & materials

Clay & glaze

Grey-white porcelain body, clear glaze with scattered iron specks

Kiln

Seto or Mino (unmarked)

Era

Meiji to Taisho, c. 1880 to 1920

Dimensions

13 x 8 cm each, 2.5 cm tall

Weight

151 g (5.3 oz)

Condition

Very good. No chips or cracks. Kiln specks and light wear consistent with age Provenance: Antique shop find, central Japan

Ready to ship. Packed and sent from Japan.

• Found in Japan, and the only one of it we have
• Condition described honestly, flaws photographed
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