Page 27 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2014Q2

Japan Suiseki Exhibition in this new venue resulted in Top left; Mr. Kunio Kobayashi,
a record breaking attendance at a major annual stone the new Chairman of the NSA.
exhibition in Japan. Top middle; Mr. Kobayashi
Charting a new path for the NSA is the result of present Letter of Appreciation
new leadership and re-structuring of their board of to Mr. Suzuki, Japan’s leading
daiza maker.
directors. In mid-2013, Kunio Kobayashi was elected Top right; Tom Elias and Hiromi
at the new Chair of the association and Mr. Seiji Mori- Nakaoji receiving Letter
mae was appointed as the Executive Director. Their of Appreciation from NSA
dynamic leadership led to this first ever Japan Suiseki Chairman Kobayashi.
Exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum and Middle and bottom right;
the publication of an outstanding 232-page exhibition Hagoromo, a river washed
catalog in Japanese and English. They were strongly chrysanthemum stone from
Neo Valley, is one of Japan’s
supported in this effort by a board of directors. The most famous suiseki. This
NSA also broke with long-standing tradition by ap- figure stone resembles a
pointing their first ever non-Japanese to the board. person in the Noh play also
Now only was Wil Lautenschlager, an American living named Hagoromo.
and working in Tokyo, appointed as a full voting board
member, he also became the youngest board member
ever elected. The new exhibition and board makeup
is a public announcement of how the leadership plans
to re-vitalize this key organization in the global stone
appreciation community.
The first ever Japan Suiseki Exhibition was or-
ganized into four major sections—special entries,
tokonoma displays, general exhibits, and suiseki ac-
cessories. The gem of the four special entries was the
beautiful and impressive Bonseki “Kurokamiyama,”
a masterpiece stone and storage box that came with
the Illustrated Handscrolls of the Origin of Kuroka-
miyama. They belong to the Ken’eiji temple in Ueno.
Interestingly, the base of the storage box also serves
as the diaza for the stone. Three other outstanding
stones comprised the special entries. In another break
with tradition, the leadership decided to feature 28
tokonoma displays. This is a uniquely Japanese way
of formally displaying a stone within a defined indoor
space. This is a welcomed change as it helps visitors,
especially foreign guests, to better understand aspects
of Japanese culture and how defined spaces can be
used in stone aesthetics. Among my favorite toko-
noma displays were Mr. Masaru Hasaka’s white saba
chrysanthemum flower stone, the finest example of
this type of stone in Japan, and Mr. Kaoru Koizumi’s
dramatic Seta river tiger stone.
The majority of the Japan Suiseki Exhibition was
devoted to the general exhibits. These are the stones
of individual members of the NSA, mainly Japanese,

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