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Stone collectors and dealers in

Japan were interviewed over a two-

year period to better understand
the extent to which suiseki are

enhanced in Japan, and to better

understand the dichotomy that

developed between Western beliefs
about Japanese suiseki and the

realities in Japan.

our second article on this topic, we will present the
results of in-depth interviews with one of Japan’s
leading stone carvers, confirming that the carving of
Japanese stones was common in the 1960s and has who are able to communicate with Japanese collec- Facing page; This Ibi River hut
continued to the present. tors and stone dealers, and who have access to the stone was our first Japanese
Stone collectors and connoisseurs have long ad- Japanese literature and practices, learn that many of stone.
mired the many beautifully shaped landscape stones the Japanese stones have been worked in some capac- Top; An Ibi River waterfall stone
with single basal cut.
of Japan and their refined elegance. Foreign visitors to ity. Some well-respected stone dealers have said that Bottom; A small manufactured
Japan were often first introduced to Japanese suiseki a vast majority of the landscape stones in Japan are hut stone.
at their national exhibitions in Tokyo-the Meihen-ten enhanced while another dealer’s estimate was 60% to
or the more recent Japan Suiseki Exhibition—or at the 70%. This clearly conflicts with information published
fine Taikan-ten each November in Kyoto. Many at- in English, French, Italian and German on Japanese
tractive small hut stones and Ibi River waterfall stones suiseki and differs from what has been promoted in
were purchased at these events. These stones were par- Western countries over the last thirty years.
tially to totally manufactured. Slowly, and after repeat The presentation of Japanese stones as natural is
visits to Japan, some Western stone collectors learned found in many influential books on the subject. For
that other Japanese stones were often worked to im- example, Vincent T. Covello and Yuji Yoshimura
prove their appearance, many extensively so. Many (1984) stated that Japanese “suiseki are small,
of the Ibi River stones have been cut so the quartz naturally formed stones admired for their beauty
vein is at the base of the stone. Sometimes they are and for their power to suggest a scene from nature
further worked to make the cut bottom appear natu- or an object closely associated with nature” in their
ral. A broader range of Japanese stones were being book, The Japanese Art of Stone Appreciation. This
worked in one way or another to improve their ap- work was translated and published in Italian in 1994.
pearance as a natural stone. Western stone enthusiasts The French language book, La Collection de Suiseki de

July/August/September 2016 | BCI | 27