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Enhancing

STONE
the

PART ONE

The Japanese Reality

of Modifying Suiseki

By Thomas Elias and Hiromi Nakaoji, USA

GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED
IN THIS ARTICLE:
Biseki: Stones with
beautiful color, often
polished
Bonseki: Originally used
for an interior viewing
stones in Edo period; later
used for tray landscapes
using small stones and
sand.
Diabase: a common dark-
colored igneous rock of
basaltic origin
Suiseki: A general term
referring to a stone that
captures the poetic beauty
of natural landscape
scenery according
to Nippon Suiseki
Association‘s Japan Suiseki
Exhibition guide February
9-13, 2016.
Schalstein: a plate or very Japanese suiseki dealer and most Western collectors continued to believe that Japanese
sheet-like rock formed serious collectors are aware that suiseki suiseki are completely natural stones. Stone collectors
from the compression have been, and continue to be, enhanced; and dealers in Japan were interviewed over a two-year
and metamorphosis of yet it is a subject that is rarely discussed and period to better understand the extent to which suiseki
basaltic and an andesitic Eseldom written about in contemporary stone are enhanced in Japan, and to better understand the
tuff (igneous rocks resulting reference books. Numerous Japanese suiseki have been dichotomy that developed between Western beliefs
from explosive volcanic enhanced by various degrees and methods, some of about Japanese suiseki and the realities in Japan. This
eruptions).
these are displayed at major exhibitions each year and article is based upon experiences in Japan and a review
included in publications on stones. Despite this, many of the Japanese-language literature on this subject. In

26 | BCI | July/August/September 2016