Japanese Art of Stone Appreciation. Vincent T. Covello

related to collecting, altering, and displaying stones. When I was first approached to write a foreword for this book, I was at a loss as to what I might be able to provide, given that I am not an expert in Japanese stone connoisseurship. At first, I felt that I lacked the frame of reference to fully appreciate the classification system. The next morning, however, after reading the book, I wandered out in my garden and suddenly one of the rocks I had casually gathered from the beach took on new and exciting significance. I should explain that I live on one of the Gulf Islands off the Pacific Northwest coast of Canada. The geological foundation for the islands is sandstone and shale, but over the shale beaches are strewn a great variety of stones that have been ground and polished by an ancient glacier before being dropped as the glacier receded. The stone I noticed that morning was smooth, dark gray-green, with three white lines descending its sides in a pleasingly random pattern. It came to me, of course, this is a “Thread-waterfall stone” (Itodaki-ishi) and I rushed inside to fetch the book and look it up on p. 34. There was the description and the illustration, Fig. 41, to confirm it. I derived such pleasure from this recognition, and the stone has become infinitely more precious. This experience made me reflect on the importance of classification systems to help us recognize differences among the myriad phenomena surrounding us. Naming actually enables us to see more clearly. That is what the classification system in this book did for my perception of this one stone. Now, I am contemplating ways to create a suitable display for it, perhaps improvise a driftwood stand to suggest a surrounding ocean, or find a suitable clay pot in which to immerse it in sand. All the aesthetic advice and instructions for display that I would need for such a project are available in this volume. Thus, I can recommend this book highly to anyone with a natural but untutored penchant for collecting stones. You will find your enjoyment of this pastime much enhanced.

      In this essay, I have used “stone” and “rock” as though they were interchangeable in usage, but one notes that the title of this book is indeed, “The Japanese Art of Stone Appreciation.” I would like to close with a poem by Naomi Wakan, a Gulf Island poet, that contemplates the distinction between rocks and stones. She, like the authors of this book, comes down resolutely on the side of “stone” when one is dealing with something to be aesthetically appreciated.

      Are Rocks Stones?

      Stones are quiet things

      gathered on beaches

      shifted about in pockets.

      Stones are tumbled together

      until, become gem-like they are viewed with awe.

      Rocks are torn from moons

      and other exotic places;

      shredded in labs for what their innards might reveal.

      Rocks are attacked with cleats

      and picks and Vikings who seek

      to conquer, or, as in the inevitable

      cycle of things, themselves

      be conquered in turn.

      Stones are placed in courtyards

      and gazed at patiently for years

until there are signs of growth.6

      Sonja Arntzen

      Footnote

1 Edward H. Schafer, Tu Wan’s Stone Catalogue of Cloudy Forest, University of California Press, 1961, p. 1.

2 Xiaoshan Yang, Metamophosis of the Private Sphere: Gardens and Objects in Tang-Song Poetry, Harvard University Press, 2003, p. 18.

3 Author’s translation, but I first found the poem in Yang’s Metamophosis of the Private Sphere, and followed Yang’s citation of the original Chinese on p. 101.

4 Katsu koori/ katsu wa kudakuru/ yamagawa no/ iwama ni musebu/ akatsuki no koe, poem no. 631 in the Shinkokinshu poetry anthlogy. (c. 1200)

5 Shizukasa ya/ iwa ni shimiiru/ semi no koe, from Basho’s Oku no hosomichi, “Narrow roads to the Back Country.” Basho composed this haiku on a visit to Ryushaku Temple in Yamagata province.

6 Poem by Naomi Wakan, from Gardening, Bevalia Press, 2007, p. 12. Reprinted with permission from the author.

      Introduction

      Suiseki are small, naturally formed stones admired for their beauty and for their power to suggest a scene from nature or an object closely associated with nature. Among the most popular types of suiseki (pronounced suu-ee-seck-ee) are those that suggest a distant mountain, a waterfall, an island, a thatched hut, or an animal (Figs. 28-30).

      The art of suiseki is believed to have originated some two thousand years ago in China, where small stones of great natural beauty were set on stands to represent legendary islands and mountains associated with Buddhist or Taoist beliefs. In the sixth century A.D., emissaries from the Asian mainland brought several such stones to Japan. The Japanese adapted the art to their own tastes and have practiced it to this day.

      Suiseki are traditionally exhibited on a carved wooden base or in a shallow tray. When formally displayed, suiseki are often accompanied by bonsai, dwarfed trees trained to grow into pleasing shapes. The term suiseki means literally “water stone” 水 sui, water; 石 seki, stone or stones). It is derived from the ancient custom of displaying miniature landscape stones in trays filled with water, and from the association between suiseki and classical Oriental landscape paintings of mountains and lakes. Prior to the Meiji era (1868-1912) a variety of other terms were used interchangeably to describe miniature landscape stones, including bonseki, bonzan, chinseki, kaiseki, and daiseki. By the latter part of the nineteenth century, however, the use of the word suiseki was firmly established among Japanese collectors, and it assumed precedence over all other terms.

      In the last thirty years the popularity of suiseki in Japan has greatly increased. Numerous books in Japanese have been written on the subject, and annual exhibitions of suiseki are held in nearly every large Japanese city. Collectors roam the countryside looking for high-quality specimens, and some of their finds are sold for thousands of dollars.

      Within the last decade an increasing number of non-Japanese, particularly Western bonsai and tray-landscape enthusiasts, have discovered the special beauty of suiseki. These new collectors share with their Japanese counterparts the challenge of searching for suiseki among thousands of ordinary stones, and the exhilaration of discovering a specimen that will be admired for generations to come.

      CHAPTER 1

       Historical Background

      For thousands of years the Japanese have looked upon stones with a spirit approaching veneration. It is therefore not surprising that Empress Regent Suiko greatly admired the miniature landscape stones first brought to Japan as gifts from the Chinese imperial court during her reign (A.D. 592-628). Reflecting the Chinese taste of the period, these imported stones were often fantastically shaped, with deep folds and hollows, pass-through holes, highly eroded surfaces, convoluted forms, and soaring vertical lines (Fig 2). Stones of this type were popular in Japan for many centuries and were an important item of trade (Fig. 1).

      During this early period of development, miniature landscape stones were appreciated both for their natural beauty and for their religious or philosophical symbolism. For Buddhists, the stone symbolized Mount Shumi, a mythical holy mountain that was believed to lie at the center of the world. (Fig. 31). For Taoists, the stone symbolized Horai, the Taoist paradise