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Japanese or Chinese
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Sep 20, 2022 05:02:27   #
kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy
 
fantom wrote:
After having traveled quite a bit over a number of years in both countries I would say this is Chinese. I do not speak nor read either language but if you compare the two you would probably find that Chinese characters are much more complicated with more lines and more intricate designs. Japanese characters are simpler, less complicated shapes and in some cases almost appear to be letters similar to our alphabet. A larger sampling of characters would be helpful but I realize that is not possible in this case. I, therefore, will vote for Chinese.

However, an interesting question that could be asked is, how does a Chinese phone book work if they do not have an alphabet.
After having traveled quite a bit over a number of... (show quote)


Actually the opposite. Mao simplified the characters for mainland China. Taiwan and Japan still use the traditional Chinese characters. Japan does have two syllabaries with simpler characters, called hiragana and katakana, but those are never used when writing names. Personally the style of the calligraphy looks Japanese to me, but unless one knows the name, it is not really possible to tell where it came from. For instance, if you saw the name “Brookings“ on an item, you would need to find out if the Brookings company was English, American, Canadian, etc. You can't tell from the letters, because they are common to many countries.

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Sep 20, 2022 10:02:19   #
Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio
 
RainierView wrote:
I posted a vintage teapot question back in January for identification. I received a reply it was made in Japan back before 1911. Now I see a similar one on eBay but unsigned that the add says made in China. It's very similar, but not shaped exactly the same. I'm wondering if it is a knock-off of the original. Can anyone verify this signature on the bottom is in Japanese? Or is it Chinese.


I believe it is Japanese. Here is a Japanese writing that basically matches it from a piece of Japanese pottery



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Sep 20, 2022 13:58:07   #
fantom Loc: Colorado
 
kymarto wrote:
Actually the opposite. Mao simplified the characters for mainland China. Taiwan and Japan still use the traditional Chinese characters. Japan does have two syllabaries with simpler characters, called hiragana and katakana, but those are never used when writing names. Personally the style of the calligraphy looks Japanese to me, but unless one knows the name, it is not really possible to tell where it came from. For instance, if you saw the name “Brookings“ on an item, you would need to find out if the Brookings company was English, American, Canadian, etc. You can't tell from the letters, because they are common to many countries.
Actually the opposite. Mao simplified the characte... (show quote)


Good for Chairman Mao! He obviously was a heck of a great guy and humanitarian but his efforts to simplify characters must have fallen short.

Generally speaking Chinese characters are far more complicated than Japanese. Try this test, look at the characters and ask which more closely resembles Korean text.

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Sep 20, 2022 14:29:35   #
letmedance Loc: Walnut, Ca.
 
If I could see the front of the piece I might be able to help. If you check the net for asian pottery markings it might help.

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Sep 20, 2022 16:42:08   #
BebuLamar
 
kymarto wrote:
Actually the opposite. Mao simplified the characters for mainland China. Taiwan and Japan still use the traditional Chinese characters. Japan does have two syllabaries with simpler characters, called hiragana and katakana, but those are never used when writing names. Personally the style of the calligraphy looks Japanese to me, but unless one knows the name, it is not really possible to tell where it came from. For instance, if you saw the name “Brookings“ on an item, you would need to find out if the Brookings company was English, American, Canadian, etc. You can't tell from the letters, because they are common to many countries.
Actually the opposite. Mao simplified the characte... (show quote)


I believe that you're living in Japan. If so can you ask someone there to verify?

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Sep 20, 2022 18:04:53   #
kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy
 
fantom wrote:
Good for Chairman Mao! He obviously was a heck of a great guy and humanitarian but his efforts to simplify characters must have fallen short.

Generally speaking Chinese characters are far more complicated than Japanese. Try this test, look at the characters and ask which more closely resembles Korean text.


I personally don't like Simplified Chinese, but the intention was to help the populace to be literate, and he was quite successful. I lived in Japan for 32 years, the last 11 of which I lived half the year in China, so I do know what I am talking about. Don't be fooled by the simple Japanese characters, which are more like a phonetic alphabet. They are NOT used in people's names or generally in any names at all.

Korean is a different story. Hangul was invented by King Sejong in order to help general literacy, as the only people who could read and write were the Mandarins, who wrote using Chinese characters. Some Chinese characters are still interspersed with Hangul.

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Sep 20, 2022 18:06:14   #
kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy
 
BebuLamar wrote:
I believe that you're living in Japan. If so can you ask someone there to verify?


I've been living in Italy for the past year.

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Sep 21, 2022 08:31:46   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
Stephan G wrote:
Regarding the mentioned Chinese waiter above, that was a long time ago in a restaurant in Chicago China Town in a block back from 22nd st. He was gesturing with a big butcher knife in hand. His gestures were as broad as that of a Frenchman. (Shades of Wu Tang movie!) My friend Ken was not with me that day to translate the conversation.


We were in a Chinese restaurant in London years ago, and we had a young waiter who could barely speak English. When it came time for dessert, something American Chinese restaurants don't usually offer, we had no idea what he was saying, but then we heard, "Vin." That sounded enough like vanilla ice cream, so we ordered that. Yes, it was vanilla ice cream.

That reminds me of another funny restaurant situation. A woman at a nearby table was mad at the man she was with. At one point she said, "You, you, you...twit!"

Some memories stick with you forever. Those two events took place in 1974, forty-eight years ago.

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Sep 21, 2022 16:57:41   #
petrochemist Loc: UK
 
fantom wrote:
After having traveled quite a bit over a number of years in both countries I would say this is Chinese. I do not speak nor read either language but if you compare the two you would probably find that Chinese characters are much more complicated with more lines and more intricate designs. Japanese characters are simpler, less complicated shapes and in some cases almost appear to be letters similar to our alphabet. A larger sampling of characters would be helpful but I realize that is not possible in this case. I, therefore, will vote for Chinese.
After having traveled quite a bit over a number of... (show quote)


My initial impression was also Chinese from the same observation that Japanese tends to have simpler characters. I wouldn't go as far as to cast a vote however :)

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Sep 21, 2022 18:41:39   #
kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy
 
Here is a page of Japanese pottery marks. However Chinese pottery marks look the same. It is actually necessary to check the characters against lists of known makers. For instance, if you saw the name Robert Thaddeus Smith on a piece of pottery, you would not be able to know if it came from England or the US without knowing who the guy was and where he worked. However all said, six character pottery marks in blue are more common in China than in Japan.

https://orientalantiques.co.uk/uncategorized/japanese-porcelain-marks/

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Sep 22, 2022 07:52:48   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
kymarto wrote:
Here is a page of Japanese pottery marks. However Chinese pottery marks look the same. It is actually necessary to check the characters against lists of known makers. For instance, if you saw the name Robert Thaddeus Smith on a piece of pottery, you would not be able to know if it came from England or the US without knowing who the guy was and where he worked. However all said, six character pottery marks in blue are more common in China than in Japan.

https://orientalantiques.co.uk/uncategorized/japanese-porcelain-marks/
Here is a page of Japanese pottery marks. However ... (show quote)


Too many choices.

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Sep 22, 2022 08:35:19   #
kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy
 
If the OP posted a picture of the pottery design it might be easier to tell, as there are distinct differences sometimes between Chinese and Japanese designs

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Sep 22, 2022 11:02:36   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
kymarto wrote:
If the OP posted a picture of the pottery design it might be easier to tell, as there are distinct differences sometimes between Chinese and Japanese designs


Ah, so!

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