Japanese fishermen’s tableware in Gizhiginsk in the first third of the 20th century: trade, exchange, or everyday comfort

This article discusses fragments of tableware uncovered during the 2024–2025 excavations at the cultural heritage site «Town of Gizhiginsk». Gizhiginsk (1752–1940s) was a settlement in present‑day Magadan Oblast where, in the first third of the 20th century, Japanese entrepreneurs conducted industrial fishing and fish processing. The finds originate from a household waste pit dated by coins, maker’s marks, and perfume packaging to the 1920s–1930s. The authors identify four functional categories of tableware: kitchen, table, storage, and decorative ware. The fragments are traced to Japanese ceramic centres – Arita, Seto, Kutani – as well as to the Matsumura and Noritake factories; they date from the late 19th to the first half of the 20th century. The presence of this tableware in Gizhiginsk is linked to the activities of the Japanese fishing concession headed by I. Gentarō. Two probable reasons for its importation are proposed: the Japanese desire to maintain a familiar aesthetic environment and trade with the local population.