Page 15 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2017Q2

© Nippon Suiseki Association Used by permission. The color gradation is really beautiful on this quiet
stone, and makes an absolutely excellent autumn display. This stone was in the personal collection of
the late physician, Dr. Matsuyama Tomonaka and was shown by Mr. Kasahara in the 3rd Japan Suiseki
Exhibition in the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum. The writer is the current owner.

This very thin Tama River stone is (13 x 8 x 3 cm). Provenance is unknown except that the daiza was
carved in 1978.

n modern society, there seems to be less and less time for deep aesthetic greatly appreciate stones which leave the interpretation
reflective thought and observation. A ‘hurry up and wait’ mode to the viewer. The Japanese aesthetic admires the subtler view of
Iis often the norm. Traffic jams and long lines seem to create a nature in a stone rather than a more explicit stone that requires little
perpetual frenzy. This hectic pace often carries over into other parts imagination.
of our lives, leaving precious few moments for contemplation and This aesthetic can be described with Japanese words like wabi,
reflection. At this hurried pace, important and interesting things sabi, and yūgen. Wabi is defined as ‘simple austere beauty.’ Sabi
can easily be passed by, overlooked and totally missed. Modern describes something that has aged well, acquiring a rustic patina.
schedules are the antithesis of the patience and quiet necessary for Yūgen translates as ‘profound and reflective grace.’ Quiet stones often
viewing stones and suiseki. have all three of these characteristics working together. They are
In a more western aesthetic many viewers tend to quickly move smooth, have well-worn edges and are very weathered. Many quiet
right past stones that are less obviously suggestive, totally missing stones have a simple beauty, with the kind of patina that makes the
the delicate beauty the stone offers. I have come to call these less observer want to touch it over and over again. The more time spent
pretentious stones “quiet stones.” A quiet stone could be described as with the stone, the more it reveals its delicateness and beauty.
a subtle stone which upon contemplation gives the viewer a sense of This aesthetic of quiet was expressed by Japanese novelist
tranquility and serenity. A quiet stone may not boast crags and sharp Jun’ichiro Tanizaki in 1933 in his wonderful little book, In Praise
jagged ridges, but, rather, is more modest and unassuming, often of Shadows: “And had we [the Japanese] invented the phonograph
with more subdued color. Collectors that adhere to the Japanese and the radio, how much more faithfully they would reproduce the

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