Featured Article of the Month

The 58th  Tsukumo-kai Exhibition

An exhibition by one of the oldest suiseki clubs in Japan

By Hiromi Nakaoji

I had the privilege of attending the 58th Suiseki Exhibition of the Tsukumo-kai (Ninety-nine Club) in Kyoto May 16-17, 2026 at the Japanese House Annex of Kyoto International Exchange Hall. The Tsukumo-kai is one of the oldest and most prestigious stone clubs in Japan. It was established on August 1, 1968. I was happy to see some old friends and members of this club, Kawai Kaname, Nakagawa Mikio, and Nakaji Shoichi.

This year's exhibit was held in the smaller annex building, where only 23 spaces were available for suiseki displays. Invitations were sent to the 31 active members. In recent years, the Tsukumo-kai, like other Japanese Suiiseki clubs, has been losing more members to attrition than it is attracting new younger participants. 

Prior to the establishment of the Tsukumo-kai, many suiseki hobbyists throughout Japan participated in a Suiseki exhibit at Kenninji Temple in Kyoto at the end of January, 1968. This exhibition was very successful, and that success led to the organization of this national-level suiseki club, the Tsukumo-kai, headed by Kishi Nobusuke, former prime minister, as an honorary advisor. The Tsukumo-kai was designed to enhance the connections among the members to pursue the truth of suiseki and enhance suiseki knowledge. The Tsukumo-kai published a catalog of each exhibition from 1968 to 2018. These catalogs reveal much about the club’s history.


The first exhibition of Tsukumo-kai was held at Kenninji Temple on August 28-September 1, 1968. Unfortunately, we cannot find any catalog or descriptions of this exhibit. The Tsukumo-kai celebrated its 20th anniversary exhibition on May 22-24, 1987, at Kenninji Temple. The exhibition was supported by the City of Kyoto and the Kyoto Newspaper. This anniversary exhibition had many dignitaries in attendance, including Mr. and Mrs. Tokugawa Yoshimitsu, the 17th generation of the Tokugawa family, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Rai Shin, a family from Rai Sanyo. In this exhibition, 103 suiseki and bonsai, plus a special Tokonoma display of 8 were included. We assume that this exhibition was among the largest in the history of Tsukumo-kai.


In order to understand the history of Tsukumo-kai, we made a comparison of three catalogs such as the 14th, the 24, and the 34th exhibitions. In the 14th Exhibition held on May 22-26, in 1981, the total of 118 displays included 6 special displays (one is a pot). In the 24th Exhibition on May 17-19, 1991, the total of 120 displays, including 4 sets of flower arrangements by Enshu School. The 34th Tsukumo-kai Suiseki Exhibition, held on May 26-27, 2001, in the Kenninji Temple, had four special suiseki exhibits, 88 other suiseki with some bonsai on display. In this 34th exhibit, we find familiar suiseki names such as Matsuura, Oguchi, Sekine, Suzuki, Sakurai, Kawai (Shizuoka), Kawai (Kyoto), and Zhou (Shanghai). Based on this data, the peak number of stone displays was in the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, the number has slowly declined.


I can tell that it is getting more and more difficult to attract new and younger people to see the suiseki exhibit and become members of the Tsukumo-kai. Yet, I hope somehow suiseki culture in Japan will find new audiences to enjoy these natural miracles.

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