Page 34 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2016Q4

Top left; Mr. Sakurai Toshio has been one of Japan’s
foremost stone carvers and a leading supplier of enhanced
stones in Japan for over 40 years. One of his specialties is
the manufacturer of hut stones. He is also a stone dealer
at the major events each year in Tokyo and Kyoto. Now 81
years old, he is preparing to close his business.
Middle left; This building is his show room filled with hundreds of different types of stones for sale.
Bottom left; This building is his workshop where he manufactures suiseki ranging from small hut
stones to large scenic landscape stones.
32 | BCI | October/November/December 2016
literati to the general population. This can be called
the “period of popularizing suiseki.” Several journals
were started for the growing number of stone clubs
throughout Japan. Many of these clubs held their own
local or regional exhibitions and some participated
in the annual major exhibition—Meihen-ten—held
annually at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo starting in
1961. This period was also a time of major economic
expansion as Japan was investing heavily in their
industries and infrastructure.
Sakurai’s showroom, a large rectangular-shaped
building, contains shelves lined with different
examples of natural and enhanced suiseki. These
stones are available for sale to individual domestic and
international collectors. Sakurai is a major wholesaler
who also supplies other dealers with quality landscape,
waterfall, hut stones, and other Japanese stones.
Sakurai has been making various sizes of hut stones to
sell directly to the public and also to sell to dealers. He
has been doing this for approximately four decades.
It was then that we realized that we were talking with
the person who made the first Japanese stone we ever
purchased, a small hut stone, approximately twenty
years ago. Many of the stones on display have been
enhanced in one way or another by Sakurai. Some
were completely manufactured, others have been
cleaned and polished by sand blasting, and others have
been carved or shaped by removing portions of the
rock to create a scenic stone.
As we sat on two old couches drinking tea and
talking, Sakurai talked about his life and his role in
Japanese stone appreciation. He was open, detailed,
and we believe, honest. Sakurai was more relaxed
on our second visit and eager to answer a long
list of questions. When he first began buying and
selling stones, he would occasionally take a stone to
someone else to have the bottom cut. He found this
to be expensive and decided to buy his own cutting
equipment. He was familiar with several others who
were buying stones and making suiseki. He quit his