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14 The NaTioNal ButtonBulleTiN March 2025
Support for the conclusion that
Yuzan buttons are Arita porcelain
will be presented next. There are two
findings that support this idea. The
first is that the original packaging for
Yuzan’s products states they are Arita
porcelain. Yuzan obidome can be
found in original boxes marked with
the kanji for Yuzan and Arita-ware.
Also, boxes for Yuzan mini vases
retailed by Morimoto-Toen Co. state
in English that the vases are Arita
ware. This package information clar-
Yuzan marked peony obidome in box with ifies that Yuzan products are Arita
Yuzan and Arita inscriptions porcelain.

The second point is that documents published by the Arita History Museum and
Arita Historical Compilation Committee list the Yuzan kiln among Arita porce-
lain makers and describe its products. The references are listed at the end of the
article and details from the documents are provided below.

The Yuzan kiln was established in 1937 by Mr. Souichi Mitsumatsu in Saga
prefecture with eight employees. Yuzan produced miniature vases, brooches, but-
tons, obidome and other items. The kiln sold products prior to WWII through a
firm in Kobe. After the war retail sales were in gift shops and military PX stores
(Institute of Industrial Science, 1949).
After WWII in Japan, resources were
very scarce and only select manufac-
turers were allocated the materials to
make their products. Yuzan was one
of them as records show Mitsumatsu
delivered 500 miniature vases to Oc-
cupation General Headquarters in
Osaka in 1948 (Arita Town, 1985).
The Yuzan kiln was still making but-
tons and other porcelain products
as of 1961 and selling them through
a variety of Japanese retailers, but
Aitosha was not listed among them
(Nagai,1961). Yuzan buttons on original card with a
tag marked “Japan near Arita.”