Posted 1 year ago
kwqd
(1122 items)
This little sake cup is 1" high x 2" diameter. It is stamped "MADE IN JAPAN" on the bottom and also has an indistinct kiln or potter's mark in the center. There is a tiny temple themed design on one side, a temple with two trees to one side of it. There is a bit more to the scene but these features are the easiest to pick out. The kiln mark only gains some features when it is wet which I noticed when washing it.
I christened it some Gekkikan sake and concentrated to avoid swallowing it while using it. :) It is a very small cup (with a lot going on), which is what made it interesting to me.
I bought a set of five sake cups for $5 just to get this cup. The other four cups are also nice, but I think this one is the most interesting. Of the others one is a stoneware cup, reminiscent of Mashiko ware and the others are very fine translucent porcelain, two being identical, one of those with a "MADE IN JAPAN" label and the other signed inside the cup in gold paint. I may do a post of the stoneware cup and a combined post of the porcelain cups. A nice haul for $5.
You seem to find a lot of great Japanese wares around you Kevin.
Is there a large Japanese community nearby, or maybe returned service people who may have been stationed there?
Whatever, this is a cool cup.
I suspect that there were some WWII GIs with Japanese war brides and that the last of them are passing and their estates ending up in thrift shops. Not many of them left. The last in my family was my uncle who passed at age 98 in 2015. We served in the same infantry division about 25 years apart.
There could have also been some GIs who served later. There was a large U.S. presence in Japan into the 1950s and bases tbere into at least the 1970s
Thanks Vynil33rpm!
Google says there are still seven US bases in Japan!
Wow, that's still quite a few living there!