The 2nd Japan Suiseki Exhibition was held on February 9-13, 2015 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo. This is the same venue as the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition held in a second floor gallery.
The timing of this exhibition was excellent with the opening day being held on the day all the bonsai are changed at the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition. It offered visitors an excellent opportunity to see beautiful suiseki without the competition of bonsai.
Kunio Kobayashi
At the Opening Ceremony, Managing Director Seiji Morimae introduced all distinguished visitors from Japan, Indonesia and Taiwan. Representative Director Kunio Kobayashi spoke and welcomed everyone to this important and highest level suiseki exhibition in Japan. Seiji Morimae and Kunio Kobayashi were the primary organizers of the exhibition and oversaw all details.
There were individual suiseki exhibits as well as alcove displays. Additionally historic stones, display tables, water basins and bronze ornaments were displayed, with the smaller objects in glass cases.
Over 150 suiseki were displayed including 22 foreign stones. There were suiseki from Taiwan, Denmark, China, England, Malaysia, Switzerland and 9 stones displayed from the United States
Professor Amy Liang, Taiwan
Sean Smith, USA
Michael Pollock, USA
Hideko Metaxas, USA
Nina and Larry Ragle, USA
Douglas Paul, USA
Thomas Elias, USA
William N. Valavanis, USA
Mulberry display table with grapevine table top and bamboo-shaped elements by Katsuraki Kozan. This was my personal favorite display table.
Display table detail
Like the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition, this show requires several visits to fully comprehend, appreciate and study the masterpiece suiseki.
Oh, Man, a little longing, envy here! This looked like a wonderful venue to be included into. It was really nice to note Sean Smith, Mike Pollock and your stones… and all the other USA representatives were there to show the prestigious world that we do have much to contribute to the suiseki world.
The bamboo display stand is special. I noted the little leaf nibs worked into the wood worked legs. That, and the beautiful joining would be difficult to replicate in the USA (but, I’ll bet Sean could do that).