You guys must get tired of these, but looking to move some equipment and had a few questions you guys might be able to help with. Perhaps others can reuse this thread down the line to post similar questions.

First, opinion on material? These are rather old.






Second, any help identifying these marks, which I presume are the maker / retailer? No idea on age.

The signature on the bottom looks pretty much like this http://www.maekawa-kayagoban.co.jp/SHOP/gh00003.html and this http://www.maekawa-kayagoban.co.jp/SHOP/gh00004.html. My first instinct was that they are keyaki, but it looks a little dark, so I am not sure. Still, maybe Keyaki.

Yeah, nice find. To be clear, there are two sets of bowls pictured - the material on the first two is what I am curious about.

They both look like Keyaki to me, though the top picture shows more grain than I usually see in Keyaki bowls (though that isn't a disqualifier)

I am thinking the first are actually a dark stained Kaya. They smell similar to the Kaya oil I bought - kinda band-aid/vegetabley.

Kaya should smell kind of like cinnamon to me. I have a kaya board and it doesn't smell like a band-aid or vegetables. I think that might be just what the oil smells like, though I never smelled the oil.

This person said it smells to them like 'big red' gum. It should be a spice kind of smell.

Depending what is meant by "These are rather old" the color might not be a good guide. 50 year old wood might still appear as you expect it to, but with many woods, could be lot darker if 150 years old.

Nor would I go by smell, especially if that is smells like a particular oil used on wood. Might be exactly what the smell is.

Hi LifeIn9x9,

The signature of the master craftsperson:
the first (top) character is a bit stylized, I'm not sure ( a few candidates, including 懷 ).
The second (bottom) character is 志 (aspiration).

I think that is the Chinese character for the first one. The Japanese character is like this (second one is the same): 懐志

I am not sure how to read it in Japanese, we think maybe Kaishi. The bowls are handmade using a technique that is like 150 years old or something in Okayama. It isn't a name exactly, more like a title. Each subsequent person who makes the bowls takes the "name," which is now on the 4th generation. He is a world wide famous artisan who works with wood making go bowls, and other things as well. This kind of craft is very traditional wood craft in Japan. It is important as it shows the wood is handcrafted rather than machine made and that it was made using this technique by this famous artisan.

Here is a page about it in Japanese: http://item.rakuten.co.jp/igolabo/c/0000000402/?p=2

Thanks -- the page has this text:4th generation 懐志-san.

These look pretty close to me, which is an (imported?) mulberry.



The first set are 75 years old I would guess. Survey says the smell is oil plus cigarette smoke (heh) which might explain the darker color. I am still thinking Kaya because of the close narrow grain, but really have no idea.