Some of bowls are grilled in the kiln piece by piece, and those marks are from tongs used to take them out of the kiln. Tongs may or may not leave a mark on a vessel at the point of contact. The potter can cool the tongs in water before they enter the kiln and their cooled surface immediately harden the glaze, so there will be no impressions left on the surface.

But in Japan, Raku tea bowls with tong marks hold more value, for evidence of them being made carefully and individually. Also, the Japanese believe that these imperfections make the bowls more artistic and valuable.

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A stunning teaware made on the island of Shodoshima. There is several styles of Kankake and some of them are decorated with mapple leave. You can see the word Kankake - かんかけ, written in Hiragana inside the mapple leaf and the potter's stamp.

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Gyokuryu kiln runs by Umehara Jiro, son of potter Umehara Haruhito. Umehara-san was born in November 1952 and started to turn the potter's whell at around the fifth grade of elementary school. In 1967 he was graduated from Tokoname High School's ceramic industry and in 1975 he established Gyokuryuu kiln.

During his life, Umehara-san won many prizes and was awarded many times:
- Certified as a traditional craftsman
- Selected for the Japanese Sencha Crafts Exhibition
- Awarded Aichi prefecture excellent technology prize
- Award for promotion of the culture of Tokoname city
- Won Tokoname city "Nagaso Awards Ceramic Exhibition"
- Regional Brand "Tokoname-yaki" Certified Kiln and others.

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Ichikawa Kozo (1930-2009) was a talented potter from Kyo. He studied under famous master potter Kusube Yaichi. During his life, he won many prizes and awarded many times:
1952 - first time participated in the prestigious Nitten Exhibition
1955  - won the Governor’s Award at the Kyoto Prefecture Art and Crafts Exhibition (after that he won this award three times)
1966 - invited to become a judge for Nitten, won the Mayor Award at the Kyo Exhibition (after that he won this award two times more).
1974 - invited to become a judge at the Kyo Exhibition, exhibited overseas at the Canadian International Ceramics Exhibition, and the France International Ceramics Exhibition
1976 - won the Kyo Exhibition Award at the Kyo Exhibition held in Kyoto city and Chunichi International Ceramic Art Exhibition Award
1977 - his work was broadcast on television under the name “Creating Beauty”
1981 - received the Nitten Special Exhibition Award
1985 - invited to become a judge at the All Kansai Art Exhibition
1993 - became a judge for the Nikkokai Exhibition
2000 - received the Minister of Education Award at the Nikkokai Exhibition

On this kogo there is a chicken kanji - 鶏. I also made some research about what is written on the box:
白磁瑞 - Hakuji
香合皿 - incense box
廣三 - Ichikawa

Japanese pottery often has a net of cracks that covered all the glazed surface. You can see these crack when look at Hagi, Kyo, Raku ware and many other. And you can think that this is some kind of defects, but it is not. In Japanese, those cracked patterns are called kan-nyuu (貫入) and it is actually a desirable feature of the pottery.

When clay covered with glaze is fired, it expands. The glaze melts at high temperatures and fuses with the clay. When the pottery is cooled down, it shrinks back. But the glaze shrinks more than the clay and while cooling, it covered with cracks, or kan-nyuu. Two kan-nyuu patterns can never be the same and this offers uniqueness in each piece of pottery.

Then tea seeps into these cracks, staining it every time you use the cup. The piece is changed in color with frequent use. Its character seems to grow together, develop with its user.