Curious Japanese Blue Mark on Tea Set

Hello, I am from Michigan. I am glad to have found this site while trying to research the markings on a tea set. I acquired this tea pot and cups when I recently bought a new house, which came with the entire contents included as part of the sale and found this tea pot and four matching cups in the china cabinet. It appears to be Japanese but I have not been able to identify the marking on the pieces. The inside of the tea pot lid and each of the cup bottoms have what appears to be the same mark - I assume it is the artist's name, although I have absolutely no expertise in the field of Japanese markings, so I realize it could also be the name of a porcelain maker. I am also not even certain if the markings are indeed Japanese. I tried researching all of the porcelain marking identification websites that I could, but to no avail and have still not been able to find or recognize this marking anywhere. I would appreciate any help with the deciphering of this calligraphy. As for who I am and my interests, well I have been a collector of antiques, china, Depression Glass, buttons, vintage and antique jewelry and many other old things for 35 years and am always researching new finds. I love to shop, buy and sell all things old, especially vintage and antique jewelry from the 1970's and older. I have recently been sorting through a large collection of buttons that I inherited and selling these on eBay. I have sold bakelite, antique rubber, and some interesting metal buttons to date. I find myself exploring any and all antique shops, resale and thrift stores as well as pulling over for garage and estate sales whenever I have time. I began collecting as a teen during the 1970's when my mother would take me to every garage sale in the neighborhood on the weekends. She became quite the hoarder and our tiny house soon became filled with so many treasures as well as the occassional junk item. This has caused my lifelong interest and obsession with all things antique and vintage. I can appreciate the charm and character as well as rarity of many of the things that other people would label as "junk". It is quite pleasing when you

find something of value in a box of junk - there was the time I found a Victorian women's compact in a box of junk which was marked 25 cents, and another time my mother purchased an old cigarette lighter for an old Ford truck from the 1930's. It was still in the original box, never installed or used. She had paid under a dollar for it and ended up selling it for over $300 online in an auction. She was incredibly shocked and could not believe it was worth that kind of money. Those are a few of the more memorable finds. For awhile I collected glass and bisque dogs of all sizes and when this collection began to get out of hand, I began to sell them on eBay, which became another fun and profitable hobby for me. Being an eBay seller is something I enjoy doing as it just fits into whatever your schedule and time will allow you. When my mother passed, I inherited her massive tea cup and saucer collection which I adore. I have used some of the old, cracked cups to make soy based candles which I then gave away as mementos at my daughter's wedding shower. We also sold some online. I also inherited my mom's large costume jewelry collection which I still add to to this day. I love collecting jewelry because of the fact that it is small and easy to display, takes up little space and yet is so beautiful to look at and appreciate. I occassionally sell some pieces on eBay also. I do my most buying, selling and researching of jewelry, but won't hesitate to buy anything that I think I can sell for profit. This brings us back to the tea set in question. Since I do not collect Japanese porcelain or tea pots I will probably sell this set. I just don't have the room to collect every lovely piece I see. This set will end up on eBay, and as a conscientious seller I definitely want to describe this beautiful set and its markings as accurately as possible, and so I will appeal to this public forum and hopefully someone with the expertise and knowledge of these types of markings will come forward with answers and help with this identification. Thank you for your time and consideration of my query!