All Japan Aiseki Association’s 16th Kansai Exhibition
An illustrated account of the All Japan Aiseki Association 16th Kansai Exhibition
By Thomas S. Elias, March, 2024; Photographs by Tatehata Kengo
Each year, the nearly 200 clubs in the All Japan Aiseki Association (AJAA) hold small local or regional exhibitions of suiseki. The AJAA is the largest group of susieki hobbyists in Japan. The leadership of the AJAA organizes two major national exhibitions of stones. Any member of one of the clubs can participate in these larger exhibitions. The quality of the stones on display is excellent, while the fees for displaying a stone are modest. The fee for this year was only 13,000 Yen ($90) and 22,000 to 30,000 Yen ($150 to $220) for a tokonoma display. This includes having their displays published in the Japanese Aiseki magazine.
Unfortunately, most non-Japanese stone enthusiasts are unaware of these excellent exhibitions. I find these stone displays very appealing. They are more informal and collegial and less commercial than the annual exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. I enjoy sitting in small informal groups of stone collectors at the AJAA exhibits and discussing their stones and exhibits or some other aspect of suiseki.
This most recent AJAA national exhibit was held on January 27 & 28, 2024, at Kakumei-kan, Okayama Koraku-en. Koraku-en is one of the three major gardens in Japan; the other 2 are Kairaku-en (Ibaraki) and Kenroku-en (Ishikawa). The AJAA hosted this exhibition in cooperation with Sanyo Aiseki-kai and with sponsorship from the monthly
Aiseki
magazine.
Exhibition hall Kakumei-kan in Koraku-en garden.
AJAA members who participated in this exhibit.
A total of 69 stones were on exhibit at the Koraku-en Garden. Forty-two stones were displayed by All Japan Aiseki-kai members, including two stones from overseas members, while Sanyo Aiseki-kai members displayed twenty-seven stones. There were two Tokonoma displays; one was by Nishiyama Takashi, and the other was by Watanabe Tsuyoshi. Additionally, there were 40 stones displayed by members representing over 20 prefectures in Japan. Two foreign members, Sami Amdouni from France and Tom Elias from the USA displayed foreign stones. Sami entered an attractive French river stone, and Tom displayed an upright Chinese Lingbi stone.
A Mabuchi-gawa stone, 23 x 11 x 9 cm, display by Saito Hiromu.
A Tamagawa stone, “Thinking of my far away home town”, 16 x 5 x 8 cm, was entered by Ochiai Touichi.
This Furuya stone named “Treasure Mountain” is 19 x 9 x 8 cm and displayed by Tatehata Kengo.
A Hakkaisan stone, 17 x 13 x 5 cm was entered by Watanabe Kouki
A Nishikigawa stone named “Dragon Head” (18 x 15 x 7cm) was displayed by Matsuo Goro.
This Ogatsu stone is 28.5 x 14 x 10 cm and was entered by Onodera Masahiko.
First: A Kamuikotan stone named “Play with one heart” (10 x 30 x 7 cm) displayed by Nishiyama Takashi.
Second: A Sajigawa stone called “Flame” (5 18 x 4 cm) exhibited by Higashiyama Kanseki.
A Kamagawa stone, 20 x 13 x 8 cm, entered by Sakai Masao.
This Nishiki-gawa stone, 17 x 7 x 9 cm, was displayed by Tamuro Teruo.
An upright Kumagawa stone named “Wind and Waves” (23 x 30 x 16 cm) was displayed by Watanabe Tsuyoshi.
Along with the exhibition, the AJAA held a benefit auction of suiseki on January 27 to collect money from the members to donate to the victims of the Noto Earthquake. This earthquake occurred about three weeks prior to the exhibit and devastated the Noto peninsula. January 1 is the day for the largest family gathering day in Japan. The Earthquake happened around 4 pm on that tragic family day. As a result, there were more deaths and injuries caused by this violent event. The auction and donations from participants produced a total of $900 that was then given to the victims or their families. In addition,
Aiseki Magazine is collecting additional funds through their magazine until the end of February for this purpose. There are stone friends in the Ishikawa area, and the exhibition participants have much sympathy for those friends who were earthquake victims.
Nishiyama Takashi, President of the All Japan Aiseki Association, was very pleased to have such an active exhibition in Okayama. VSANA asked Mr. Nishiyama to send his comments on this exhibition. You can see his comments below:
“We feel this All Japan Aiseki Association’s Kansai Exhibit is a national-level opening of the annual stone exhibition in Japan. We were fortunate to have 69 stones displayed this year. We had many visitors thanks to the good weather. I appreciate all the visitors.
Unfortunately, the Noto Peninsula was hit by a big earthquake on January 1, 2024. This area produces many wonderful stones. Many stone hobbyists were victimized by the quake. To offer some help to those victims, we held a stone auction and collected donations during this exhibit. Thanks to much goodwill, we got a positive result. Thank you for all the support.
Last year, we had 75 exhibitions throughout Japan, out of which six exhibitions were at the national level. The number 75 means half of the number of exhibitions ten years ago. I hope we can have more exhibitions this year. The All Japan Aiseki Association intends to lead the effort to be more active. I hope I can get more support from all of you.”
