Page 52 - BSAM 2018 Q2

Kasahara’s Suiseki Journey
1964 Suiseki exhibited during World Olympic games
1964 Murrata Keiji begins publication of Juseki Magazine
1966 Kasahara opens his Sansui-en stone shop in Tokyo
1970 Suiseki exhibited at Osaka World Exposition
2010 Kasahara becomes chairman of the Nippon Suiseki Association and serves for two years as chairman
2013 Kasahara publishes his book Notes on Suiseki
2014 First Japan Suiseki Exhibition held at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
2017 Kasahara dies in October
1933 Kasahara born
1961 Kasahara attended the First Meihenten (Exhibition of Japanese Suiseki Masterpieces) held at Mitsukoshi Department Store
1961 Nippon Suiseki Association established
1955 Nippon Biseki Club established
Slow but steady decline in membership in the 1990s and beyond
Membership
grew from a few thousand to an estimated two million according to an official in the Japanese stone community
Top; This large, mountain- shaped Kamo River stone is a classic older Suiseki than may have been used in association with the sencha tea ceremony. It is another example of the type of stones that Kasahara sold in his shop.
stone appreciation in Japan. First, the Nippon Suiseki Association (NSA) was established and, secondly, the first Meihenten hosted by the Mitsukoshi Department store. The Japanese word Meihenten is literally translated as Master Piece Exhibition, but became Exhibition of Japanese Suiseki Masterpieces, the title used on their catalogs documenting each exhibit. This important event has continued to the present as a major event for people to display their stones.
Kasahara attended this first Meihenten with his boss Miyasaka Takatoma, an active stone collector and owner of the Shinagawa Wiring Company. Miyasaka often took some of his employees, including Kasahara, to the mountains to hunt for stones. These excursions peaked his interest in the unusual. Kasahara considered this first Meihenten to be a major turning point that
lead to many people to begin pursuing the hobby of stone appreciation. Those numbers grew from a few thousand to an estimated two million according to an official in the Japanese stone community. While the actual number cannot be documented, it is definite that this was a period of great expansion and pop- ularization of Suiseki in Japan. Five years later, in 1966, Kasahara left his job as an electrician, opened a new viewing stone gallery. Sansui-en and became a full-time Suiseki dealer in Tokyo with the encourage- ment and support of his mentor Miyasaka Takatoma.
Another trend was a major increase in the number of new books and new serial journals during this time. He thought this was another factor in the rapid growth in the number of people becoming interested in Suiseki. Kasahara said that Kenji and his son Murata
50 | BCI | April/May/June 2018