Kutani kiln sake flask

This little sake flask (tokkuri) is 6" high x 2.5" at its widest. It has the generic Kutani mark in a square on the base, plus some sort of production code in Arabic numerals. The mark supposedly dates to 1930s-1960s according to the link below. I had not seen this style of piece before and was not sure what its intended use was until I found a complete sake set with a similar shaped flask with bird and spout on top. I like that, though it is a really small piece, it is very busy with a lot of decoration on all sides. Someone spent a lot of effort on this decoration. I call it my bird spout flask because of the bird and what looks like a spout on the top but an auction on Etsy calls it a "whistling bird" flask.

http://modernjapanesepotterymarks.blogspot.com/search/label/Kutani

https://tinyurl.com/yxah8r28

"Lithophanes occur almost exclusively on the bottoms of tea cups, with the occasional Sake cup set. This marking span from the late 1930's and into the late 1950's/early 1960's. Many thus dates to the Occupied Japan period (1945-52) and could have been made for the GI trade, why the US Customs "country of origin" rules would not apply. Many of this style were made in Nagoya area factories."