Suiseki
Many of the newcomers to suiseki
may have noticed at one point or another variety of stones with
different shapes and patterns placed with bonsai at bonsai
exhibits. Suiseki, water (sui) and stone (seki) in Japanese,
is an appreciation of stone art in their natural conditions.
Suiseki is usually seen with display stands called dai or daiza
(carved wooden stands) or suiban (shallow trays filled with sand,
fine gravel or water). From country to country, the name for
this appreciation of stone art differs. In China, it is
called gongshi, rare stones, or guaishi, strange stone or
fantastic stone. In Korea it is called suseok, longevity
stones. In the West, suiseki is called scholar's rocks as
referring to the classic Chinese stones or viewing stones as it
includes broad ranges of stones that are not included, such as
desert stones, under the suiseki classification.
The appreciation of stone art began in China over 1000 years ago.
From there, it gradually found its way to Korea, Japan and other
parts of the world. Nowadays, suiseki, like bonsai, has
become an international phenomenon. Many suiseki clubs,
often associated with bonsai enthusiasts and bonsai clubs, have
sprung up around the world. Suiseki was first known to
have been introduced to Japan during the reign of Empress Regent Suiko
around 600 A.D. as a gift from the Chinese imperial court.
The Chinese stones, now known to the West as scholar's rocks, were
of abstract shapes with bizarre and strange looking but awe
inspiring. These stones were fantastically and beautifully
shaped often in vertical positions, twisted forms with dramatic
overhangs, large and small perforations with projecting terraces
and deep crevices with sometimes heavily eroded surfaces.
The appreciation of Chinese stones became popular in Japan, but
over the years as the time passed, Japanese connoisseurs of stone
slowly moved away from the Chinese styles. Japanese adapted
their own aesthetic values as more subtle and horizontal in shapes
and depicting the forms of landscape such as of mountains, hills
or plateau, or objects such as human, animals or plants.
Thus the classification of suiseki was developed. Suiseki
can be classified by shape, surface patterns, place of origin or
colors. Suiseki in many aspects is representations of
mini-universes surrounding us resembling landscape, objects or
others. A stone is just a stone until it has been found and
perceived with artistic inspiration. The beauty of the stone
can be a matter of a personal taste or can be subject to the rules
of the classification such as in suiseki.
A stone shaped and cultivated by
the erosive actions of water, wind, heat and other natural factors
for hundreds, thousands of years, if not in millions, is an
appreciation of timeless art and a true wonder of nature.
back to
the top
