I Bought a Rock

I Bought a Rock

My girlfriend and I attend bonsai classes every Wednesday night at a bonsai village in Shipai, a suburb of Taipei.  The guy teaching us is one of Taiwan's most respected bonsai men in the country.  He regularly gives demonstrations and is one of the head judges when it comes to bonsai competitions.  

He is very passionate about bonsai and another related art form called SUISEKI.  The Japenese word SUISEKI breaks down to derive the english words, WATER STONE.
Sui - water  Seki - stone

Mr. Yen, our teacher loves collecting suiseki.  Everytime I visit his nursery I always spend some time looking at his stones.  He told me that people hunt for these rocks throughout the world.  The prized ones are found in mountain rivers, streams, wind-blown deserts, and along ocean shores.  Pretty much anywhere where mother nature has had her way with them over many years.  

Suiseki are also called Viewing Stones or Scholar Stones.  They resemble much larger land forms such as a mountain, a cliff face, islands, caves, or an entire mountain range.  They evoke a feeling of nature, something larger, that can be held in the palm of your hand.  I love these beautiful stones and, can surprisingly, look at them for a very long time.   

Anyway, I bought my first one the other month.  It was collected  in an Indonesian river.  They call this particular stone...BLUE, BLACK STONE.  

Check it out...

I bought a 70 year old Japanese suiban (flat tray) for my rock to be placed on.

And here she is...maybe a small boat needs to be added?

Rethink

Recently a comment was posted regarding this suiban and rock placement.  After considerable thought I must concede and agree with Dave.  His concern was that the suiban was a little too shallow for this rock.  He forced me to take a closer look at the rock's depth in the suiban.  I noticed that the front left side of the rock slightly bulged out a touch.  If this rock was in a deeper suiban the horizon line would meet at the steep incline of the left side.  This minor change, I believe,  would create a drastically different feeling, a more natural look, as I was attempting to resemble a large powerful mountain.  The bulge would in effect be covered.

I plan on searching for a deeper suiban and raising my suiseki to a higher level.

Thanks Dave for taking the time to pass on your thoughts on suiseki for all the All in One Bonsai viewers out there.

In the meantime I was lucky to stumble on a more jagged, but less hard rock imported from Japan.  I have used my original suiban that had the blue, black stone in it as the canvas for an alternative composition.

Imported Japanese rock on Japanese suiban

January 17th

Last night I bought another, more suitable suiban for my rock to be placed in.  The suiban has been handmade and was imported from China.  Unfortunately, I cannot claim to say that it is an old piece.  On the contrary, it is rather new.  When dealing with suiban or bonsai in general, old means precious, mysterious, full of character, stood the test of time, wise and respectful.  But also expensive!

New Chinese pot, new finer sand.  Due to the deeper suiban the rock is now able to be pushed deeper into the sand, giving, I believe a more realistic feel of a large mountain in the distance.

The previous suiban and different style sand.  I bought this particular sand at an aquarium shop.

Now I can sit back, watch Australian Rules football on my tv and during the add breaks can glance over and imagine what the view would be like at the top of this mountain.

SOME SUISEKI IN TAIPEI

Suiseki stones can also represent animals or human figures.  

Very dense stone on beautiful sand.

An intimidating rock looming over a small fishing boat.

Some stones have wooden stands carved in the 

shape of the stone's base.  This is a very difficult skill to master.

I have to say I prefer the stones in sand and displayed in an old suiban.

On a recent bonsai trip to Japan I bought another rock and suiban.  December 2012.