Paradise & Another Invitation from Toshio Kawamoto 2/20/15

5paradiseMy apologies for the fuzz. The original scan wasn’t that great and blowing it up so we can get a closer look has its advantages and drawbacks.

We might as well plow forward with our resurrection of Toshio Kawamoto’s Saikei masterpeices. He called this one Land of Paradise which is a reference to the Pure Land buddhist tradition. We originally featured it in April of 2010.

There are two things that jump right out about this one: First, the rocks. They are different than the wind and surf smoothed rocks in his other plantings and take us to a more rugged landscape, reminiscent of China’s Yellow Mountains or Vietnam’s abrupt coastal islands. Second the sense of space that he manages to convey in a planting almost completely filled with elements, and with so little actual open space, is remarkable. There’s more but you have your own eyes.

Land of Paradise, our forth in a series of plantings from Toshio Kawamoto’s Saikei classic. The trees are seven 5 to 7-year-old rock cotoneasters (4″ – 7″ tall) and seven somewhat shorter 3-year-old satsuki azaleas. Though you can’t really tell in the photo, the pot (Tokoname) is very large (48″ x 16″ – 122cm x 41cm).

5para2

Front view diagram.

5para3Bird’s eye diagram. This shows what looks like two rocks are actually fifteen joined together.

This planting is about how to create a saikei that depicts two wild rocky mountains that are dotted with beautiful old trees. The photo taken together with the drawings, create the impression that the author is inviting you to duplicate his work.

What looks at a glance like two large rocks are actually fifteen stones joined together (see bird’s eye diagram above). The original text says: secure the rocks with peat and sphagnum moss (this must be a muck like mixture) then fill in the spaces between the rock with soil. The remaining materials are green moss and river sand.

The Land of Paradise refers to the indescribably beautiful Pure Land that is described in some Chinese and Japanese Buddhist scriptures.

 

Watering Cans

Watering in style. We just added these beautiful high quality watering cans to our vast and wonderful selection of bonsai and Japanese garden related items at Stone Lantern. When you figure in FREE Shipping (U.S. orders 25.00 or more) and recently reduced shipping overseas, these cans are a great deal. And then there’s our extra 10% off for orders 100.00 or more.