Altering a stone

This is a pretty interesting read:

http://vsana.org/assets/bsam-2016q3-enhancing-the-stone-the-japanese-reality-of-modifying-suiseki.pdf

It will likely cause some controversy. Undoubtedly there will be a range of reactions and thoughts. I read it with an open mind and I would encourage all to do the same. Unless we're willing to intellectually consider something that causes dissonance, we may never move forward. In some ways I like the idea moving away from being a simple collector of stones to an artistic sculptor/partner with nature.

Having said all that, I still revel in the hunt for the perfect stone. I have yet to cut a stone, or try to polish one in any way. Part of that is likely an idealistic adherence to some unknown standard/practice. The other part is just being busy with life/lazy. I have the time to practice yoseki... when it entails nothing more than watering them along with my trees each day .

I do have some stones that are sub-standard that I may experiment with, to see how the material reacts to certain attempts at removing material. In bonsai we widely accept the idea that a tree may be modified/worked to maximize aesthetic quality. In many cases we attempt to mimic what nature provides, while trying to leave no trace of human intervention. Of course that's not always the case, but I think in some conceptual way the idea is understandable. Why do we resist the same idea with stones?

Trees change slowly, but stones even slower.

I could not translate pdf, but I understand the concept, also because I saw some stones changed here in the competitions here in Italy, I can say that look natural to the eye, but in the Acquaintances of how you form stones, (geology or petrography), you see that they are not natural, I now wonder why invent this? not enough stones that exist on the ground to see what exists in nature? when man is one thing we must always sort Natural get your "hands" !, I can accept the amendment sculpture called, but hopefully not the confondino with Suiseki, see here in Italy already do, by entering into an exhibition of suiseki , the category natural stones and biseki drawn together, I see no comparison.
Yôseki, Biseki in my opinion are not Suiseki, exhibitions competition I think it's a hoax expose yôseki without declaring it, and if anything should make a separate category.
In addition it must be said that from the moment the best one even raising stone something of it, you can remove everything and reshape it, who would never know? I studied a lot of the local stone, if you give me a shovel of the river, wishing I can make it a landscape stone.

Very interesting article.

The practice OF enhancing Japanese stones to make Suiseki has been occurring for over 100 years. Part 1 of the article Enhancing the Stone gave a broad overview of the practice in Japan. Part 2 of this article focus on the work of Sakurai Toshio, one of Japan's best stone carvers. You can find both parts of this article in the "classroom" section on the website www.vsana.org.

Tom Elias wrote:     The practice OF enhancing Japanese stones to make Suiseki has been occurring for over 100 years.  Part 1 of the article Enhancing the Stone gave a broad overview of the practice in Japan.  Part 2 of this article focus on the work of Sakurai Toshio, one of Japan's best stone carvers.  You can find both parts of this article in the "classroom" section on the website www.vsana.org.

Many thanks Tom! Your contributions to the viewing stone world are invaluable. They are much appreciated. I look forward to the insights from the article.