Suiseki in California

CC ALIFORNIAALIFORNIA A A ISEKIISEKI K K AIAI Volume 37, Issue 3 March 2019

[Last month I told you that I wrote a series of 24 articles for Aiseki Magazine which were translated into Japanese for the benefit of the primary audience. This month I will start at the beginning. The following was published in November 2012.]

California Aiseki Kai is a study group, founded in 1983, centered in the greater Los Angeles area, for the purpose of learning about suiseki as practiced in Japan. Where appropriate, we hoped to apply these principles to stones found in North America. Sixty individuals became members the first night. Today there are more than 200 members from 10 countries. Early History of Suiseki in California The art of suiseki was first introduced to the public in California in the 1950s by Japanese-Americans who, for the most part, participated in cultural activities such as bonsai exhibitions. For example, two bonsai clubs in Southern California, California Bonsai Society, Inc. (CBS) and Los Angeles Bonsai Club, included stones in their bonsai exhibitions as early as 1950. Northern California In the San Francisco Bay Area, also in the 1950s, Keiseki Hirotsu was teaching the aspects of suiseki to other Japanese in the area. He co-founded the oldest suiseki club in North America, Kashu Suiseki Kai in Palo Alto. And in 1981, he and several suiseki enthusiasts including, Mr. and Mrs. Kourjiro and Eiko Iwasaki, Ben Nanjo, and Ben Yoshikawa founded San Francisco Suiseki Kai, with Mr. Hirotsu as instructor. Mrs. Iwasaki served as the first president. Southern California California Bonsai Society members began including suiseki in their annual exhibition in Los Angeles displaying suiseki alongside bonsai. In 1967, CBS was honored to display their bonsai and suiseki at the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry. Nine stones were included in their first show. That same year, the Society published, Bonsai in California, Vol. 1, and included photographs of the 9 suiseki, (5 in daiza and 4 in suiban) . More significantly, there was an article, titled Suiseki, explaining the concepts of the art form. The author, Richard Ota, is a long time bonsai artist and at that time, the owner of a local bonsai nursery.

March Program

Recently we got an email from Carol Mortensen requesting information about the existence of a video tape of Mr. Sudo’s lecture on the subject of Kei-Do. Although we were unfamiliar with the tape, we were in attendance in 1992 when Mr. Sudo made that presentation so we contacted Bill Valavanis who had produced the event. As it turned out there was a VHS tape, although it is not Mr. Sudo’s lecture, and Bill was kind enough to send it to us. With his blessing, we had the VHS tape converted into a DVD. On March 27th we will show that DVD called “Kei-Do, The Way of Display and Appreciation” by Ichiu Katayama (who was the founder of the Kei-Do school and Mr. Sudo was his student). It includes an English translation. You will not want to miss this one!

Stone of the Month

continued on page 5

This famous Ibigawa ishi was recently on display at the NSA Exhibition. Approx in inches: 23 x 4.5 x 9.25 Photo by Chuck Barker

We had a request from Joseph Gaytan who said that because of the record amounts of snow fall this year, he would like to see stones that suggest snow.

Jim Greaves’ CA mum stone was also on display at the NSA exhibit. The flower looks like snow. Approx in inches: 6.75 x 2.25 x 4.25

The 1 inch wide inner m

argins are designed for use with a 3 hole punch.

VOLUME 37, ISSUE 3 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

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ANNOUNCEMENTS: We discussed the need for at least all wheel drive for our March Yuha collecting trip and that the ever so generous Aaron Finkbiner will have his portable bbq with him and he plans to grill hotdogs for everyone for lunch on Saturday. Yay! Stone of the Month: Yuha stones from our last November collecting trip (or perhaps a prior Yuha trip). Measurements are in inches, w x h x d

Carol Mortensen: “Wave” 7 x 4 x 3 and it is a natural with a flat bottom.

John Mortensen: Also a natural. 10 x 9 x 6 We call it “Middle Earth” because the bottom has terrain that is as mountainous as the top.

Linda Gill: 6 x 1 x 1

Linda Gill: 3 x 1 x 1.5 Linda Gill: 4 x 4 x 1

Uyen Truong: 1.75 x 3 x 1.5

February Meeting Notes

Carol Mortensen: 4.5 x 3 x 2

CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI VOLUME 37, ISSUE 3 PAGE 3 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

Brad Hagbery: 10.5 x 4.5 x 7

Marty Hagbery: 12.5 x 4.5 x 3.5

Larry Ragle: 10 x 2.5 x 4.5

Jack Levy: 9 x 4.5 x 7

Nina Ragle: 7 x 4.5 x 3.5 Nina… another view

Kyra Haussler: 5 x 2.5 x 4 Kyra… another view

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Jesse Krong: 2 x 12 x 2.5

Phil Chang:10 x 3 x 6 Phil and Janet’s daiza are in progress…. Janet Shimizu: 6.5 x 1.5 x 3

Richard Turner: 28 x 5.5 x 16 Richard’s 2 Yuha stones are mounted on a piece of plywood that had been used when sandblasting leaving an interesting pattern in the wood.

Uyen took his Yuha stone to a calligrapher and had this haiku inscribed on it. The translation reads:

Stillness Seeping into the rocks cicadas’ voice

~Ueda, Bashō

Uyen Truong: Although these pieces are a physical match, that is, they fit together perfectly, it is clear from their worn surfaces that they were apart for many years.

Uyen Truong: 3 x 16 x 2.5

~Larry Ragle

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Inspired By Major Stone Shows in Southern California In 1973 the Los Angeles Nagoya Sister City Affiliation and the Chubu Aiseki Association sponsored the “Los Angeles Meiseki Exhibition for U.S.- Japan Friendship”, May to August 1973, featuring 124 meiseki. The event was held at the Los Angeles County Natural Museum. In 1974, the American Bonsai Society exhibited stones as part of their convention. They published a magazine in which Bob Watson, curator of the Japanese Garden at the Huntington Botanical Garden, wrote an article on suiseki. He would become a founding member of Aiseki Kai. In the ABS magazine, Toy Sato was acknowledged as a suiseki expert. In 1976 I discovered a suiseki pamphlet in the National Arboretum Library in Washington, D.C. written by Toy Sato in which I learned that Mrs. Sato lived in Los Angeles. A few years later, she would become a founding member of California Aiseki Kai.

My Interest in Stones My interest in viewing stones began soon after I started studying bonsai on my own, in 1962. At that time my parents lived on the Russian River in Northern California so each year at vacation time I would hunt for stones to use along side my bonsai. I had seen pictures in an American publication of bonsai next to a rock included in a pot. I placed rocks I had collected from the Russian River in the pot with some of my trees. By 1965, I was invited to study bonsai with the Master, John Naka (1914-2004). When I had my first lesson with Naka, I took one of my combo arrays to work on. I remember saying to my friend as we walked into the class, “Today we find out what Sensei Naka really thinks about stones!” It didn’t take long. He didn’t like it. Naka said loudly, “What’s that rock doing in that pot? Take it out! Remember, the rock came first. The tree has to be over the rock!” Nevertheless, Naka encouraged all of his students to collect viewing stones. I would learn later he was an avid collector of suiseki, mostly from the Kern River, a three hour drive from Los Angeles. I began seriously looking for viewing stones in 1972. A New Dawn—Information in Print The seed for California Aiseki Kai was planted in 1967 but would require years to sprout. I visited the

California Bonsai Society’s Exhibition in Los Angeles and saw, for the first time, suiseki, in daiza and suiban, displayed next to bonsai. That day I purchased Bonsai in California Vol. 1. (1967) and was captivated by Ota’s article, Suiseki. I travelled each year to view the Society’s exhibition hoping for more articles. There were stones on display and there were stones pictured in each new issue of Bonsai in California but no new written information. I had to learn from photographs as best I could. The Doors Open—a Bit In 1973, Naka suggested that I take lessons from Harry Hirao. Hirao had discovered the source of beautifully shaped stones, black, brown, green or red, on an “unnamed river” in Northern California. I became his student but he would not share his secret place. He would only say, “Near your mother’s place. After 4 years of vacation searches, I found Hirao’s secret place 300 miles north of my mother’s house, on the Eel River. Moving Up In 1979, I was asked to write an article on suiseki for Bonsai in California, Vol. 14 (1980) and another article for Vol. 16 (1982). It was the age old technique of “throwing a person into the river and they will learn to swim”. Most of what I had learned was from viewing pictures in the few Japanese publications available at that time. When I read my articles now, I cringe just a little. We didn’t know much in those days.

Creating California Aiseki Kai

Creating a foundation The idea of a study group, an arm of the California Bonsai Society, to try to solve the mystery of suiseki was actually born in 1982. My wife, Nina, and I sent letters to every bonsai club in Southern California (15) asking for the names of anyone interested in learning about the art of Japanese viewing stones and their display. We contacted those individuals we knew had knowledge to share; Naka, Ota and Hirao and we were successful in locating Toy Sato, a known authority, who was ecstatic about the idea. We soon learned that there were other long time collectors or authorities of the art or related fields. Elmer Uchida, a long time enthusiast and Bob Watson, Curator of the Japanese Gardens at The Huntington Library, agreed to join our group in February 1983. We began with nearly 60 members. Today we have over 200.

Suiseki in California continued from page 1

[The following was published in December, 2012]

[The following was published in January, 2013]

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use of our Guest Book and leave comments that will provide us with future guidance as The Huntington loans to new public venues around the country.

(Shameless plug: If you know of an institution that might be receptive to hosting a suiseki and/or viewing stone exhibit, please contact me to discuss possible options.)

In spite of considerable local ice and storm, Ice and Stone: Suiseki Viewing Stones and Hokkaido Landscape Photography opened at the Portland Japanese Garden on February 8th. In celebration of the Year of Hokkaido, the exhibit consists of black and white images of Hokkaido by Seattle photographer Michael Kenna and the first major Huntington loan drawn from the American Viewing Stone Resource Center collections: a selection of 29 Japanese suiseki and 11 American Viewing Stones. Many of you may have seen East Meets West: Japanese Suiseki and American Viewing Stones that was presented in the Flora Legium at The Huntington at the end of December. (Refer to CAK February Newsletter, pp. 6-7.) That installation, consisting of 22 Japanese suiseki and 24 American stones was a preview of a larger prepared loan to Portland conceived as an introduction to stone appreciation organized around the concept of “Perspectives from the Pacific Rim”: the idea was to present West Coast stones seen in the context of Japanese antecedents. Subsequently, only a week prior to scheduled shipping date, the curatorial staff in Portland requested a major reduction in the size and scope of the loan. Fortunately, in our preliminary trials Robert Hori, Huntington Cultural Curator, AVSRC volunteer numero uno Buzz Barry and I had experimented with such a multitude of equally satisfying variations of stones and display options that we had jokingly noted that we had effectively created half a dozen different exhibitions. (In fact, we did photograph concepts that may assist when creating future installations.) However, being faced with the request for less, not more, we saw no option other than to abandon our plan to integrate Japanese suiseki and American viewing stones, retaining only those American stones that had been specifically selected to be shown paired with photographs in Portland’s smaller Tanabe Gallery (at right). The primary presentation in their Pavilion Exhibition Hall (pages 7-8) was then reconceived to be a visually engaging all Japanese Suiseki Exhibit – to the best of our knowledge the first since the Los Angeles Meiseki Exhibition in 1973. After years of working with the brief time slots and confined exhibit spaces available at The Huntington, it is gratifying to see part of the AVSRC collections on public display for an extended period and in galleries that provide unaccustomed breathing space. Reports are that the exhibition is being enthusiastically received; hopefully, visitors will make

2019 Portland Exhibit

Jim Greaves jimgreaves@avsrc.org

American stones paired with photographs in the Tanabe Gallery

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Above: Selection of Hokkaido suiseki Below: Kamuikotan toyama ishi, Ishikari River, Hokkaido Donated by Ann Horton

Abegawa taki ishi, Shizuoka Prefecture

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Seigaku seki, Shizuoka Prefecture

Grouping of random examples of classifications, textures and materials.

At left: Miniature Hokkaido Suiseki Kamuikotan Kuzuya ishi Kikka seki Sengen Mizutamari ishi

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Darrell Whitley found these 2 stones in Colorado last December. Each is about 10” wide. It looks like Colorado has some great material. Thank you for sharing, Darrell.

Note: Beyond incorporating a group of suiseki from Hokkaido, the selection process became largely a matter of matching stones to Portland’s display parameters. As you can see in the photos, the available pedestals were mostly square and relatively small. While such pedestals are often quite suitable for non-landscape stones such as figures or patterns, Portland had specifically requested that we restrict ourselves to landscape suiseki and these generally require longer rectangular surfaces to accommodate common horizontal formats. Because even the few larger available pedestals were only about two feet square, bigger daiza stones and most stones requiring suiban were preemptively eliminated. Thus the final selection necessarily consists of smaller stones and is rather eclectic with a quality ranging from hobby level to stones with significant provenance.

Robert Hori, Jim Greaves and Laura Mueller, PJG Curator of Art

‘The Great Divide’ Eel River, California Collected and donated by Hanne Povlsen This stone was placed at the entrance as a “touch” stone to provide a tactile experience for the visitors.

Karen Higgins and Kathleen Emerson-Dell attend the opening

In Our Mailbox

Kamogawa ishi, Kyoto: (Center) Kamogawa yase sudachi maguro ishi, (Foreground) Kamogawa ishi, Provenence of Katayama Ichiu, the founder of the Keido

continued on page 10

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Carol Mortensen is taking Ikebana lessons. Here is a free style arrangement (on the left), from the Sogetsu school of Ikebana. She said she began her Ikebana study with Polly Gould. She is having fun incorporating flowers rather than bonsai with her viewing stones and the one the right is her first attempt after beginning lessons with Hideko Metaxas who specializes in the Ikenobo style and we think both are wonderful! Below are four earlier displays …. also quite lovely, right?

Visions from Carol Mortensen and Kristin Zethren

A happy collaboration: Carol’s display with her ikebana and wave vase, Hideko’s suiseki and Bob Gould’s jiita.

Kristin Zethren found this rounded piece of limestone in the sand below the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt. The pattern on the left is ‘Hora’ and a 'hieroglyph’ is on the right. It is 5 x 3.5 x 1.5 inches

A Pattern Stone Isn’t it remarkable that this stone’s pattern relates so well to the area where it was found.

March Contributors: Jim Greaves and Larry Ragle. Mailing: Flash Partch Editor: Nina Ragle

Contact People

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Newsletter Committee

We hope you will participate. Please send any submissions to ragle@cox.net no more than 10 days following our monthly meeting. Thank you!

California Aiseki Kai meets on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 7:30 pm at the Nakaoka Community Center located at 1670 W. 162nd St, Gardena, CA. Second floor. We do not meet in Nov-Dec.

Programs: Larry Ragle 949.497.5626 crimescene@cox.net Treasury/Membership: Nina Ragle 949.497.5626 ragle@cox.net Annual Exhibit: Jim Greaves 310.452.3680 jimgreaves@avsrc.org Exhibit Set Up: Marty Hagbery 909-257-9559 Refreshments: Janet Shimizu 310.822.6012 janet.shimizu46@gmail.com Beverages: Jack Levy 626.794-4572 jnlevy@earthlink.net Historian: Ray Yeager 760.365.7897 ryeager890@aol.com Webmail: Chris Cochrane 804.918.4636 sashaichris@gmail.com

February Program Notes

Mika Breyfogle - Japan

Buzz Barry - Yuha Desert Bill Vincent - Yuha Desert

Lisa and Phat Vo - Eel River, CA BJ Ledyard - Desert in California

We showed photos of all the stones on exhibit last December at The Huntington. In most cases we were pleased with the choice of suiban and placement of the stone as well as the choice of daiza as it enhanced the stone. Only a few required some adjustment and that means we have clearly improved our display skills! Thanks to the curatorial skills of Jim Greaves, our exhibit over all continues to be a favorite for our visitors, many of whom return year after year. Well done, Aiseki Kai participants!

Ragle P.O. Box 4975 Laguna Beach CA 92652

Coming Events

Leaves no stone unturned

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

aisekikai.com

Thank you Naomi Yoshida for the sushi, Uyen & AiLan Truong for the egg rolls, Hanna Povlsen for the cookies, Ragles for more cookies and David Melitz for a virtual spread that included a pasta salad and fruit and much more! March munchies will be provided by Buzz Barry, Naomi Yoshida and Uyen Truong.

Always check Golden Statements Magazine Calendar section for additional coming events

Stone Sales Ken McLeod 209-605-9386 or 209 586-2881

suisekistones.com

Freeman Wang 626-524-5021 Suiseki-Viewing Stone Sale

stores.ebay.com/thestoneking

CALIFORNIA BONSAI SOCIETY 62nd Bonsai Exhibition, March 23-24, Banta Hall and Ahmanson Classroom, Botanical Center, Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino. 10-4:30 both days. Appreciation Reception in Banta Hall March 23, 5:30 – 7:30PM SAN DIEGO BONSAI CLUB

54th Annual Spring Show, April 27-28, Balboa Park, Casa del Prado, Room 101, San Diego, 10-5. Sales. Demos at 11 and 1. Free. For more info: email bunjin54@yahoo.com

ICE and STONE: SUISEKI and VIEWING STONES Portland Japanese Garden, continues in the Tanabe Gallery through April 7th. For more information, see pg 6 of this issue and pg 11, February issue.

Refreshments

The above reception is also a display of appreciation for Aiseki Kai’s December exhibition. We are all invited! Come for the festivities.