By Thomas S. Elias

This Japanese Furuya waterfall stone rests next to an original Hekisai Stone Catalog published in 1894 by Mera Hekisai. The link between a stone and what may be the earliest Illustrated book of Furuya stones combined to inform us of the rich history and importance of viewing stone appreciation in Asian cultures. Hekisai Stone Catalog contains illustrations of five Chinese Ming stones as well as many illustrations of Japanese Furuya stones. Seventy-two Japanese poems dedicated to seventy-two Furuya stones were written in Chinese in this volume. This illustrates the strong influence of Chinese stone appreciation practices on early Japanese Suiseki customs. 

Scrolls, display tables, and small accessory items (bronze tempai) are often used in Suiseki displays; however, older stone-related books are rarely used in traditional Japanese Suiseki displays. For this reason, I began to explore the combination of selected stones and books in contemporary viewing stone displays.