Nippon basically means “made in Japan.” When you see a “Nippon” mark on the underside of a base of a piece of ceramic, you know that you have a piece that was made in Japan.

Is Nippon the same as Noritake?

Other marks include the word Noritake, a picture of a factory, and the M in wreath. The words Hand Painted and Nippon also appear. Nippon is an older word for Japan but in 1921 import regulations required that only Japan be used, so a rule of thumb is that china marked Nippon was made before 1921.