Page 28 - BSAM 2016 Q3

GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN THIS ARTICLE:
Biseki: Stones with beautiful color, often polished
Bonseki: Originally used for an interior viewing stones in Edo period; later used for tray landscapes using small stones and sand.
Diabase: a common dark- colored igneous rock of basaltic origin
Suiseki: A general term referring to a stone that captures the poetic beauty of natural landscape scenery according
to Nippon Suiseki Association‘s Japan Suiseki Exhibition guide February 9-13, 2016.
Schalstein: a plate or sheet-like rock formed
from the compression
and metamorphosis of basaltic and an andesitic tu (igneous rocks resulting from explosive volcanic eruptions).
Enhancing the STONE
PART ONE
The Japanese Reality of Modifying Suiseki
By Thomas Elias and Hiromi Nakaoji, USA
26 | BCI | July/August/September 2016
Every Japanese suiseki dealer and most serious collectors are aware that suiseki have been, and continue to be, enhanced; yet it is a subject that is rarely discussed and seldom written about in contemporary stone
reference books. Numerous Japanese suiseki have been enhanced by various degrees and methods, some of these are displayed at major exhibitions each year and included in publications on stones. Despite this, many
Western collectors continued to believe that Japanese suiseki are completely natural stones. Stone collectors and dealers in Japan were interviewed over a two-year period to better understand the extent to which suiseki are enhanced in Japan, and to better understand the dichotomy that developed between Western beliefs about Japanese suiseki and the realities in Japan. is article is based upon experiences in Japan and a review of the Japanese-language literature on this subject. In