Collection 2. Takahara Komajiro

Takahara Komajiro 高原駒次郎 is described by Schneider as ‘the most well known and consistent maker of Kyoto-jippo wares’.  There are two items in this collection that have the Takahara Komajiro mark, see below. There are also several that strongly resemble the marked items but cannot be placed as being from this workshop with any certainty.

Schneider says he opened his studio in 1894. This first item (ref 78) has the Takahara Komajiro mark 高原 (Schneider mark 194) – probably late 19th century Kyoto. For interest, a meaning of ‘hara’, 原, is ‘prairie’ or ‘moor’, with taka, 高 meaning ‘high’. So romantically, Takahara, 高原, is ‘high prairie’.

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There are nine roundels within this design, and they are given fully here as they are very distinctive and therefore useful for comparison with other, unsigned workshop pieces.

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Object 90 is very similar.

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These are the roundels for Object 90. Several are very similar to those used in the item above.

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There are also these four smaller roundels, very similar to those on the first object above.

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For completeness, here also are four ‘coins’ used in the design.

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NB. When inspecting items without a maker’s mark and comparing them with these, caution is needed. It is likely that designs were copied between workshops, with some sharing of third party or outsourced ‘kits’ for some elements of design. This means that workshops in a particular place (e.g. Kyoto) will often show similar elements. Indeed, it is probable that sometimes family members worked in competing workshops and shared ideas.

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