Japan Trip – Day 4

Today Kokufu 10 opens and so does the Green Club.  Peter Tea flew in last night and met us in the lobby of the Astil at 7:45 and we all headed over to the JR Train Station for our morning coffee.  The Green Club opened at 9am and we arrive at 9:01 and there were already people making the rounds through the three floors and the parking lot full of tables loaded with trees, pots, stands, suiseki, books, tools, etc.

We stopped at two tables loaded with suiseki and began to take our time looking at the various stones for sale.

First table of suiseki we stopped to review

I picked up a nice stone and turned it over to see that its diaza was carved by Koji Suzuki.  When I made that comment, the owner said that Koji was standing behind us.  To our surprise he was.  So he  introduced us to him and he recognized both Jeff and my name as we have had  numerous diazas made by him  through Yoshi as an intermediary.  Of course we asked for a photo.

Jeff, Mary, Mr. Suzuki and Sam

So we continued to look at suiseki located on all three floors and frankly there were so many it took several trips to each table to actually take in everything that was being offered as they were tucked away almost everywhere.

More suiseki

We had already purchased a very well  known doha stone when we ran across this mountain range so we had to pass.

Mountain range

At ¥95,000 this seemed to be a very good price for this stone.  We found with most dealers they were  willing to negotiate on price so my guess this suiseki could be picked up for at least 10,000 yen less.

Shinji Suzuki's trees and stones

We had a short visit with Shinji Suzuki.  He had some incredible trees for sale along with suiseki and antique pots.  Next to him was a dealer in very high quality pots and stands.  I immediately noticed two Tofukuji pots one in the antique dealer’s area and one in Shinji Suzuki’s sales area.

Tofukuji pot for sale at Shinji Suzuki's booth

Tofukuji in a beautiful green glaze

I have only seen this use of glaze color in two of Tofukuji’s pots.  Both are spectacular in depth of color and his use of both green, blue  and muted white.  We didn’t ask the price of this pot, but one can assume it was above $10,000 U.S.

We took  many, many more photos but it is 10pm and we have a train to catch to Kyoto early tomorrow  morning. So let  me close with this white pine on a stone.

White Pine on a slab

When KJ and I were walking outdoors we were taken back by the beauty of this large white pine on a slab.  It is hard to tell if this is a single tree with many trunks or many trees tied together.  We think it is one tree with many trunks but regardless it is quite beautiful.

Well just one day of the show and the Green Club this week for us and now we are off to Kyoto.  We will be there five  days and then back to  Tokyo on the 15th.  More tomorrow night.

Japan Trip – Day 3

Well it is  day 3 of our trip to Japan.  This morning we decided to grab coffee and then have a bowl of noodles for breakfast.  KJ and I had udon with mushrooms and it hit the spot.  After yesterday’s extreme walking we decided to have  a lighter day.  In our 2002 guidebook, 2002 is key here as you will learn in a moment, we found what seemed to be a great idea – a antique collaborative of 30 shops in Ikebukuro.  After arriving and asking three people for  directions we discovered the antique collaborative was now a drug store; see note on guidebook!

Well no antique shopping today so we decided to head back to the train and take a trip to  Asakusa.  On the way back to the Ikebukuro train station, we decided to duck into a shopping center to see the grocery market.  These markets are fabulous.

A shelf of small cakes

It seems every single item is hand crafted and beautifully packaged.  There were rows after rows of cakes, candies, cookies and the like.

Kimchi in all sorts of styles

One of our favorites is kimchi and this cabinet had it all.  Cabbage, daikon, cucumber, radishes and more.

Seaweed from Okinawa

Next we came across two young men “hawking” seaweed.  It was unlike any seaweed we had ever seen. It turns out to be Okinawa seaweed. Okinawa  is where KJ’s family is from so we had to try it out.  It was perhaps the best seaweed we have every had.  The young men called it Green Caviar and we know why after eating it.

Next I wanted to show KJ the very special cantaloupe that is normally purchased as a gift when someone is sick or for a very special occasion.  Notice the price.

Two cantaloupe for ¥25,200

These cantaloupe are almost perfectly round without blemish.  At today’s conversion rate of Yen to Dollars the cost of these two would be $273.  Even more than fruit  cost at Whole Foods!  They are beautiful  and I suppose they taste incredible but I doubt we will ever know as $273 could purchase a pretty nice shohin stand.

Well after seeing all  of this food we decided it was time to catch the train and head to Asakusa.  We jumped on board the local Metro, stopped at Ueno and transferred to the Ginza line and went three stops to Asakusa.   Upon exiting the train station we were immediately accosted by dozens of people each wanting to escort us to the Sensoji temple including a few with rickshaws.

So we took the short walk on our own to discover the temple was under repair so we stopped to take  a few snapshots and decided to then walk some of the side streets.

One of the structures approaching the temple.

Along our walk, we decided it was lunch time as it was approaching 2:30pm.  We saw numerous restaurants that looked like those found along Pier 39 – expensive.  So as we went off the main streets and down a small road, almost an alley, we saw a brush shop.  I mean they had every brush imaginable.

Even the Fuller Brush Man would have been impressed!

If you don’t get the title of the picture above, I would suggest doing a Google search.  After rummaging through the numerous brushes inside and outside the store we moved ahead looking for the right place to have lunch.

After passing dozens of noodle shops, sushi restaurants and the like we came across HiMono-Ya with just a single dish out front.  If you haven’t been to Japan it seems almost every restaurant has photos or facsimiles of their food at the front door.

HiMono-Ya Restaurant

HiMono-Ya showed a simple fish meal for ¥680.  We had no idea what a bargain and how  wonderful this meal  would be.  We headed downstairs and were  greeted and told to please wait.  One of the cooks was cooking dried fish on top of a large charcoal grill.  The aroma was terrific and I know Boon would have loved this  place.  Because there were four  of us they took us up two flight of stairs to our  booth.

Jeff and Mary in our booth.

As we went through the menu, there was more on it than just the fish plate they showed out front, we decided on the combo lunch with grilled mackerel. Lunch started with tea, then tofu with sesame paste, and then the main meal with a perfectly grilled whole  mackerel accompanied with rice, miso soup, daikon and pickles and two slices of pineapple.  First of all the amount of food for roughly $10 U.S. was surprising and the fact that it was so good perhaps shouldn’t have been surprising but since getting a great meal at the typical US restaurant is unusual it was a refreshing surprise for  us.

It was a leisurely lunch – the best kind – but after 70 minutes we decided we should head back to the hotel and take a rest.  This was just the perfect kind of day in preparation for heading to the Green Club and the Kokufu show tomorrow.  Well there is still dinner tonight, so who knows where that will lead but my guess it will be a  light dinner after such a heavy lunch.

Peter Tea is suppose to arrive today so perhaps we will greet him at the Astil and have  one more for dinner.

More  tomorrow…  Sam and KJ

Japan Trip – Day 2

Day 2 started off early with a trip to Ueno Station for coffee, Starbucks as they seem to be everywhere, and a few fresh bakery items.  We decided to take a walk through Ueno Park and to spend the morning at the Tokyo National Museum.

Tokyo National Museum

The museum was having a special showing of Dogu. “Dogū (土偶^?) are small humanoid and animal figurines made during the late Jōmon period (14,000 BC to 400 BC) of prehistoric Japan. Most of the humanoid figurines have the breasts, small waists, and wide hips of females and are considered by many to be representative of goddesses. Many have the large stomachs associated with pregnancy, suggesting that the Jomon considered them Mother Goddesses.  Made from clay, these figurines were never realistic, but, rather, were fashioned into fascinating shapes. The Dogū tend to have large faces, small arms and hands and compact bodies. Some appear to wear goggles or have ‘heart-shaped’ faces. Most have marks on the face, chest and shoulders, which suggest tattooing and probable incision with bamboo.”  [Cited from Wikipedia]

Dogu palms pressed together

There were some 100 pieces shown in this collection of the known 15,000 that have been collected from Eastern Japan.  The one above is  one of three listed as National Treasures.

Dogu with Goggles

After viewing the Dogu pottery we continued to walk through this massive gallery and came upon two exquisitely carved wooden animals  The first a horse and then a pig.

Horse by Goto Sadayuki 1893

I wish we had taken a closeup photo of the mane as it is stunning in texture and flow.  The horse was in remarkable shape being some 117 years old.

Wild Boar by Ishikawa Komei 1912

The carving of this boar is simply stunning.  If one can give life to wood this artist has achieved that goal. After leaving the museum, we decided to head to Ginza to visit Bonsai-S-Cube to have a bit of a bonsai fix.  The gallery has certainly been downsized from its prior state but it did have a few nice bonsai trees for sale.  Inside the shop were a mixture of stones, stands, pots, and small bronze huts and birds.

In the end, we passed on purchasing anything as we thought the prices a bit high compared to what we have previously seen at the green club.  However, if we can’t find a similar small bronze hut at the Green Club we might just head back there before we return home!

Well it was a long day and we must have  walked 4 or 5 miles in very strong winds which have left us with sore feet.  So we will make an early night of it and once again meet for coffee in the morning and figure out what we do with ourselves tomorrow.  We may head to Kamakura or visit other sites in Tokyo.  Check back to see where we go.

Post-note: We have had several emails about a major earthquake in Japan of which we were totally unaware.  It appears it have occurred some 1,100 miles south of Tokyo and there is little damage being reported.

Japan Trip – Day 1

Our day started with many tears this morning as we gave up Daisy our 8 week old  lab puppy to their  new owner’s Dave and Liza.  Daisy or as she was known at the Vet “Leeloo’s puppy” was born on our  oldest son’s birthday 12/12.  She was a singleton and didn’t nearly make it as she was stuck and Leeloo had to have a c-section.  And yes, it is more expensive  than when Nathan was born by c-section!

Daisy at 7 weeks - (C) 2010 Samuel Edge Photograph

KJ and I have to admit this little pup touched our lives in many ways our other dogs have not.  Hand raising her from the instant she was born, watching her feed for the first time, her eyes and ears opening, her first steps, her first little tail wag, even the first time she could poop all on her own are very precious times  for us.  As we watched this transformation of “nothing” into a living and growing animal we stood in awe of God’s creative power.  The hardwired ability for Daisy to nurse and to do it perfectly the first time. But most of all we cherish the relationship created with her.  We have three other labs at home: Leeloo,  Cody and Sampon otherwise we would  have kept her  and let me tell you to give her  away was perhaps one of our largest acts of love – ever.

Well this is how our day started, seeing David and Liza greet her warmly and with open arms and us placing them in the terribly awkward position of watching us cry like  babies knowing that our little girl was going away.  Perhaps God knew best and that it was good that we were hitting the road that morning for a 12 day trip.

So we left at 7am heading into the city to pick up  Jeff and Mary in San Francisco.  The traffic was light – perhaps due to being Friday – so we were at their  house in under an hour. Quickly packing their bags into the Sienna off to the airport, security, and waiting always waiting.  The weather was good and our 747-400 took off right on time.  The flight was the best you can have – uneventful.  We landed at Narita 40 minutes early.  Breezed through  customs and grabbed our bags. While walking into the main terminal we immediately ran into  Yoshi and that was quite a surprise.  He was waiting on visitors from Brazil; always at work.

Next Jeff and  I took our 9  suiseki stones and mailed  them via ABC Delivery to Yoshi’s shop for  1290 Yen so they could be sent off to Koji Suzuki for diazas to be made.  Wish the  post office at home was this easy; four people waiting on us and their English impeccable.

Next down to find the Keisei train and the Ueno Skyliner.

Jeff and Mary waiting for the train at Narita.

The trip  to Ueno station in Tokyo was only 1920 Yen with reserved seats so we loaded our 9 bags on the train and off we went.  The train ride took about 61 minutes with four stops.  Having been to Ueno before we disembarked and immediately headed out to the Astil Hotel across  the street from the JR station.  There was a big business party in the restaurant and it was filled with smoke which by now to us is a strange site.

We headed up to our rooms and threw things done and decided to head out to eat.  We walked back to the main street by the Train Stations and headed down a familiar alley to find food.  After walking for 10-15 minutes we decided to duck into a restaurant and it turned out they served Korean food and none of the waiters spoke English.  So we ordered food and believe you me it was some of  the hottest Korean food I have ever eaten.  Poor Mary tried three times to get a simple  “hot” in temperature bowl of noodles but each time they brought her back this beautiful  dish of noodles filled with ice!  So we got our water without ice and our soup full of it. Go figure…

Anyway, a short meal  and we headed back to the hotel to get a night sleep. Short night that is since I’m typing this post at 3am. LOL

Well today we meet at 8am for Starbucks and a visit to the bakery and then off to find a museum and then shopping in Ginza.  More  tonight….

Suiseki – A Small Display

Today we are a week away from heading to Japan to attend Kokufu, the Orchid Show, Kyoto and of course the Ueno Green Club.  It is our hope to find a few nice suiseki to bring back as the Green Club often has a few dealers who exclusively deal with stones only.

A few months ago, I was doing my daily review of web sites in Japan and came across a site that sold principally bonsai and a few suiseki.  This day though they had posted about 5 dobans. Dobans are bronze or copper trays used to display suiskei.  Not to be confused with suibans which are made from clay and can be glazed or non-glazed.

This merchant had three small bronze dobans on his site.  Frankly, I have rarely seen small dobans and the prices seemed reasonable so we purchased all three of them.

I don’t know about you, but we find in bonsai trying to match a tree, to a pot to a stand is at best a difficult proposition.  So when it comes to doing the same with suiseki – I think you get the picture.  It is often very difficult to have just the right components in one’s collection to create a decent display.

Mountain Stone in Bronze Doban (Doban - 9.5 x 6.5 x 1 cm)

I purchased this small cut stone about a year ago and commissioned a diaza for it which turned out nicely; however, I always wanted to place this stone in a doban.  Out of the three bronze dobans this came the closest to fitting the stone; yet to me it still feels a bit confined.

Regardless, we like the look and it does display nicely on one of our shelves.  Can I find a doban that fits it perfectly – doubtful!  But we will continue to look.  The suiseki looks to us like a far mountain stone or toyoma-ishi.

The doban unfortunately did not have a potter’s mark so we have no idea who made this lovely little doban.  It is unfortunate when this isn’t done as it makes it very difficult to ever determine who the artist was who certainly spent hours making this doban.

But as in antique Chinese bonsai pots, the lack of a chop isn’t an indication of lack of quality as we have seen many, many antique pots with simply no mark but incredible patina and style.

As can be seen from the photo, this is an old doban with a very nice patina though we doubt it is an antique for many reasons.  Regardless, we appreciate that the craftsman spent many hours making this doban and its other cousins.

Let us know what you think!

I hope to post from Japan, so if you are interested tune in on February 9th to see what we find at the Green Club.

Preparing for Japan 2010

I finally have coaxed KJ into taking a trip to Japan to visit Kokufu and the Green Club.  It has taken eight years and a solemn promise not to spend 10 days doing nothing but bonsai and suiseki.  The capper was the promise to take her to Kyoto for our 12th wedding anniversary on 2/14.

I’m an avid fan of Lightroom to manage our photography collection and for light editing of images.  I’m a 17 year user of Photoshop and often use it for the heavy lifting when I want/need to take an object out of its shot background.  So today I opened Lightroom and came across photos from my 2008 trip to Kokufu and to various bonsai gardens throughout Japan.

The BIB (Bay Island Bonsai) show is this weekend in Pleasanton, CA and even though our club has fantastic trees, I thought you might want to see a few that we saw in Japan that year.

Every time I look at this tree my imagination kicks into high gear.  This juniper has incredible depth, movement, gracefulness, and style.  I have seen many fine trees but this is perhaps my absolute favorite and I never tire of gazing at it.  This is a powerful and compact tree not standing more than 32–inches tall, but I believe if I removed the background and pot it would be simply impossible to tell if this tree was 32–inches or 32–feet tall.  If you are interested in a larger version of this photo with the background removed click this link.

As can be seen in the photo, this tree is in a protected structure and therefore the foliage is a brighter green than the tree below.  Perhaps this was because the tree has been recently repotted or awaiting an upcoming show.

This is another incredible juniper.  A large tree with sweeping movements, a great lifeline and to die for deadwood.  This photo was shot in winter so the foliage is darker due to the cold weather.

This outside photograph of this Japanese Maple simply doesn’t do justice for the incredible beauty of this tree.  Some would want a heavier ramification of its branches but that being said this tree is simply elegant reminding me of princess awaiting Spring.

This tree’s trunk isn’t perfect as one can see several scars where branches have been removed but they are healing nicely and soon will be a distant memory.  There is very good movement in this maple.  How many of you like the small left-sided branch at the bottom of the tree.  For many this branch would seem unnecessary; however, I believe this branch adds greatly to this trees structure.  Thoughts?

When I first saw the nebari (surface roots) of this tree, I wondered how many hours were spent combing the roots during repotting.  The stability added to the tree by the nebari can not be under estimated.  To develop nebari like this takes tremendous skill and more patience than most of us possess.

Speaking of nebari – look at this next photo!

When we first saw this tree I simply couldn’t believe the nebari this tree possessed.  It is as if the trunk where a candle and the wax from the burning tip had simply evenly poured around its base.  How this was done appears to be a secret and only known by a few of the absolute craftsmen in Japan.

The full photo of this zelkova – yep a zelkova.  A large tree at that standing nearly four feet high.  This is the personal tree of a bonsai master and I don’t believe it has ever been shown in public before.  Truly outstanding.

This tree was located at located at the garden where his father developed the technique of growing very short candles on Japanese Black Pines.  There were so many beautiful black pines that it was almost too much to see at one time.  In 2008, the bonsai master of this garden had 26 trees in Kokufu.  That is a mind boggling number when you consider how much work must be done to prepare trees for this important bonsai show.

Lastly, this photo of the bark on a Japanese Black Pine reminds me that life continues and clearly is in many layers.  Some years good some years not so good yet looking at the texture and layers it lets us know that time continues on and that there is great beauty in the rough textured look of this tree.

Our visit this year to Japan will include a trip to Kokufu and several trips to the Green Club where we will see trees that we can only dream of but knowingly will never own.  And perhaps that is good, for the responsibility for trees like this is great and not for the faint-hearted.

Surely upon our return many more hours will be spent in Lightroom cataloging our favorite photos and I’m sure that will generate a post or two.  If you plan on being in Japan for the show, ping us and let us know and perhaps we will see you there oggling over trees, pots and stands and perhaps even a few classic suiseki.

Sam and KJ

Koji Suzuki – Diaza Artist

Our interest in suiseki really peaked on having conversations with Mas and Janet and participating with them on a trip to the Eel River in 2008.  We began to collect stones in the wonderful rivers of Northern California and we began to purchase suiseki from Japan.

I began to stress though on how in the world would I ever find time to create diazas for the stones we found much less gain the skills to create them.  Well as usual, we began the search to see if we could find someone to create them for us.  We purchased a stone from Japan and upon turning it over I found that this suiseki’s diaza was signed.  This was something that was new to us as we had never seen a signature on a diaza.

Koji Suzuki Signature

I contacted Yoshi and he was kind enough to research for me and to determine it was made by Koju Suzuki in Japan.  Little did we know at the time but we had stumbled upon one of the best diaza makers in Japan if not the world.  I emailed Yoshi and ask him if the thought Mr. Suzuki might make a few diazas for us.  Yoshi didn’t know him but he rang him up and they had quite a long conversation.  Mr. Suzuki said he would, so off went numerous stones to be delivered to him and within three weeks we had them back.  To say we were pleased with his work would be an understatement.

There is a short bio on Koji Suzuki in the book Suiseki-II An Art Created by Nature: The Sen-En-Kyo Collection of Japanese Viewing Stones published by BeeBooks in 2008. This book is an excellent book on suiseki and is priced at 18,000 Yen. If you would like a copy contact me and I can tell you how to obtain it from Japan. There is also a prior book in this series published in 2004. I will do a post on both at a later date.

“Suzuki Koji – he is a craftsman of bases born in 1939 in Hammamatsu City, Shizuoka.  His pen name is “Koju.”  After graduating Shizuoka University, he was teaching for a while.  He became ill and when he was recuperating, he came across suiseki and started to make bases.  He learned under the craftsmen working at the quarry sites of the Furuya stone in Wakayama and the Fujieda stone in Shizuoka, and became an oustanding craftsman today. He is a Director of the Japan Suiseki Association.”

Yoshi hand delivered our stones to Mr. Suzuki and spent quite a few hours talking to him about his craft.

Koji Suzuki

The above photo is Mr. Suzuki studying the photographs of our stones we shipped to him.   He intently studied the stones and this was apparent when they returned to us and we saw his craftsmanship and artistry in making the diazas.

Mr. Suzuki's suiseki and stands.

All of the diazas made for us were made from Rosewood.  We frankly love this wood both for its color and grain.  The floors in our home are rosewood so it is easy to determine that we were pleased with his selection of wood for our diazas.

Rosewood used for our diazas.

The following photos are diazas made by Mr. Suzuki.

Mountain with lava waterfall.

We purchased this stone from Mr. Suzuki and it comes from a very well known suiseki collector from Kyoto.   When it first arrived, I commented to KJ that I had never seen a red waterfall.  She laughed and said don’t you think it is a lava flow?  Duh!  It is a beautiful stone and the diaza fits it well.

Another stone obtained from Mr. Suzuki.

Seven Peaks or perhaps more...

A mountain with lakes.

The start of Spring.

Doha from the American River

The original suiseki that lead us to Mr. Suzuki.

Well KJ and I would love to hear what you think about Mr. Suzuki’s work.  We love his craftsmenship and his artistic eye and how he makes the stone and diaza meld together.  Our eye is never taken away from the stone and this in our opinion is so very important in any base.

Let us know what you think!

Heian Kouzan Bonsai Pots

Well it is the beginning of a new year and I was thinking what to display and I thought about a pot I hadn’t taken out of its box for almost a year – a Heian Kouzan pot.  I have spoken about this potter before and you can find his book Yusen & Kouzan in this blog.  When I decided to write today about his pots, I immediately began to think of all the photos I could post – ah how American.  I seem to be instilled with this American view that more is better.  It struck me how this was likely the antithesis of how Mr. Kouzan might have felt.    Let me show you the pot and then why I think my original idea of so many photos was so wrong.

Heian Kouzan bonsai pot - collection of Sam and KJ Edge. Pot dimensions are 14cm x 11cm x 5cm.

The first thing that struck me about this pot when I was evaluating purchasing it, other than it was an actual Kouzan pot, was the simplicity of design.  This is a very strong pot but with a soft edge which is very difficult to do.  I believe you typically see pots that are very strong (masculine) or very soft (feminine) and this often is a deciding factor in picking a pot for a tree.  A feminine pot for a Japanese Black Pine with a thick trunk just wouldn’t make sense nor would a strong masculine pot for a delicate Japanese Maple.

This photo simply can’t show you how nice the glaze is on this pot.  Whereby a number of new Tokoname pots are close to the same color profile they are often, in my opinion, heavy in glaze.  I mean by that there is very little color variation across the entire surface of the pot.  Look at this more detailed photo to see what I mean.  Notice the variation in glaze. I believe Kouzan used a brown underglaze or possibly a clear top glaze after applying the bluish glaze.  I’m not a potter so unsure of this so if any reader can tell please post and let me know.  I do like this variation of glaze.  Even though this pot has never been used and is over 50 years old it still has a look of antiquity.  Many would say this pot should be stored outdoors so that it begins to weather and to take on even more age and perhaps if the water wasn’t so bad in Dublin I would (if I did it would turn white in our water); however, I’m going to respect that the original owner of this pot (Daisaku’s father for BIB members who know him) decided to keep this pot in its original Kiri wood box and so therefore so will we.

Kouzan closeup

The other thing that strikes me about this pot are the feet.  I first started studying feet on pots by observing how Ryuen made his pots. You can see examples of his pots at this link: www.ryuen.com.  Kouzan’s feet on this pot find just the right combination of elegance while at the same time conforming to both the soft  but yet still strong nature of this pot.

So back to how this post started.  I have many photos of Kouzan’s work and this post could have contained dozen’s of photos, but I believe keeping this post to two simple photos is more in line with this pot’s design.    Kouzan’s reputation was built on making principally shohin pots of the highest quality using beautiful designs.  Many of his pots are covered in scenes or paintings and therefore are quite expensive.  Most of his pots retail from $1000 to as high as $5,000 from what I have seen at auction.   I highly recommend purchasing the book Yusen & Kozan to discover the artistry of Heian Kouzan.  It is rare to find a potter who style is so distinct that one can determine that it is his pot without looking at the chop mark; in the days ahead I will publish a post on chop marks.

Well I hope you enjoyed this short article on Kouzan and that you will one day see his works in person.  KJ and I are off to Kokufu in February and no doubt there will be a few in the show and a few more at the Green Club.

Our best wishes to everyone for a happy and prosperous New Year!

Sam and KJ

P.S. For those interested the stand is made by Rikizo.

Bunzan Pots

About two years ago, Boon Manakitivipart introduced me to a few new pots he had found on one of his trips to Japan.  Interestingly enough the potter chop spelled Bunzan.  For those of you know that know Bonsai Boon the irony is obvious.

Bunzan Drum Pot

His use of colors really fascinated KJ and I so we undertook to find more of these pots and build a collection.  As you will see from some of the following photographs, his pots have a faint reminiscence of Tofukuji glazes though his pots shapes are not as refined as his.

I asked Yoshi to see if he could obtain a bit of background on Bunzan.  He reached out to Ms. Shima the proprietor of Bonsai Howawa to obtain a short bio on Bunzan.  Kaoru Ito uses the name Bunzan for his pots.  he was born on May 10, 1949 and began making pots by hand when he was 24 years old.    Bunzan does not use molds and produces his works by the touch of his fingers.

KJ and I have collected over 40 of his pots for our personal collection and to give away a few to close friends.  We enjoy his use of color.  Many of his pots are round or oval with an occasional square or rectangle pot to be found.  He also on a rare occasion creates a pot that represents items like acorns, squash etc.

His use of color is fascinating.  Photos really don’t allow you to appreciate the vibrancy and saturation of the colors he uses.

This is one of our favorite pots by Bunzan. Even though the shape of the pot is plain the glaze is extremely good.

Here a number of his pots so please enjoy and click the image for a larger version of the photo.

Bunzan’s studio as expected is small with pots everywhere.  Boon took theses photos on his last trip to Japan.  Fortunately he was kind enough to allow KJ and I to collect three new pots which will be the subject of a future post.

Bunzan's Studio

I hope you have enjoyed reading about this potter.  Please post your thoughts about his work.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Sam and KJ

Using Stands with Suiseki

After Thanksgiving we thought we might take a few photos of a few of our suiseki.  It is interesting to us how difficult it is to photograph suiseki and to depict them as we see the in our home.  Having a bonsai collection almost always insures that a few stands are laying around house so tonight we thought we would photograph these suiseki sitting on stands.

As a reader of this blog, feel free to comment on the stand selection.  I have my own views of the good and bad of each but it will be interesting to see what you think.

Japanese Suiseki ~18cm in length

This first suiseki was purchased from Japan and is sitting on a Rikizio stand made from Japanese Quince.

American River Suiseki ~ 10cm in length

The second suiseki is an American River stone and it is sitting on a small rosewood slab that is approximately 50 years old purchased from Japan.

Mountain Suiseki ~ 4cm in length

The last suiseki was purchased therefore we are not aware of where the stone originated other than the Western United States.   The stand is from China and was purchased in Hong Kong.

We like to display suiseki in our home sitting on stands even though there is no requirement for this whatsoever.  Displaying in a show is a subject for another blog.  The real difficulty as with displaying bonsai is obtaining a stand that fits well with the stone.  It must be both the correct size but also aesthetically pleasing.  Ah but what is pleasing to your eye may not be pleasing to mine and vice-versa.  Having said that we do believe that when tree or stone is matched to the right stand, the stand adds to the overall aesthetic.  If it detracts then one has chosen the wrong stand.

We will let you decide if any of these stands work or not.  At the same time the quality of the  photograph will impact your view.  I can say that the American River stone on the rosewood slab is quite beautiful in our home.

The smaller suiseki, region unknown, is quite difficult to place on a stand as any stand can quickly overwhelm the stone itself.  Perhaps a small quiet slab would be more fitting for this suiseki. What do you think?

Well we hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Ours was until we learned our female lab Leeloo is with child!  At least this unborn puppy has a future home.  Cheers…