A daiza class by an American master

[dick benbow]

meet Sean Smith from marysville, PA.

he has studied in japan since 2000 to learn the art os daiza making for suiseki and for studying display.
he goes back every year to attend the big stone show put on by the Ganko Kai. a membership of just 25 ( long waiting list to be accepted but have to wait for death in membership before you can be accepted.) 155 people from around the world attend this show , all my invitation only.

Sean explained that on the inside of the top lid of the suiseki storage box, there was room to note the progression of ownership. Once three listed, another box had to be built just big enough to house the original storage box so that there would be room for 3 more names to be added.
You can add up to 2 more boxes to hold the original and must stop then after three.

Rosewood is thee wood to use to make daiza's from. mulberry is a no-no but ok for bonsai stands.

His biggest complaint with the examples we brought of our workmanship was that the legs were out of proportion to the stone (too big)

His class took 3 hrs and seemed like 15 minutes. great presenter and educator.....

 

[dick benbow]

Today in a few hrs we're off to search the saulk river for collectable stones with sean. I'll try and take my camera along to share. Following a day on the river we'll collect at a local restaurant and enjoy a meal with sean before sending him back home. So hopefully I can get something posted tomorrow morning from the trip.

 

[dick benbow]

collecting on the Saulk

The collection trip was a 3 hr drive to the site. weather warm and glorius but rivers responding with cold increased flow because of snow melt.

We had two sessions out on the river. before and after lunch. At lunch we shared our finds.
Sean I noticed liked to be focused on black stones, smaller maybe because of flying back home,
and nothing bigger than 3-4 inches long and an inch or two high.

I didn't find anything to bring home this trip and legs a little stiff this morning

 

[Ang3lfir3]

great picture of the gang !!! ..... it sure was a great day to go collecting ... wish I could have come hang out!!!

any pictures of the collected stones?

 

[dick benbow]

first let me say thank-you for acknowledging my posts. I was beginning to wonder why the effort when close to a hundred views a nary a thank-you.

I did not take any shots of the stones. most were small and you had to use you imagination to see celestial stars and plantets or a comet etc etc.

We'd love to have you come with us. Most hunts are in june july and august and all ways north of seattle.
BUT we do get a trip in towards the end of collection season on the skokomish just west of Olympia which would be closer to your location. I need to introduce myself at the next PSBA
meeting and get you in the loop for our next trips.

 

[JudyB]

I think most of us (at least me) were waiting for pics.... But I was watching!!! ( and a bit jealously, if I'm honest.... ) sounds like it was enjoyable, and interesting. Do you collect plants or just stones? I'm a huge rock hound... I have piles... (of rocks!)

 

[Ang3lfir3]

BUT we do get a trip in towards the end of collection season on the skokomish just west of Olympia which would be closer to your location. I need to introduce myself at the next PSBA
meeting and get you in the loop for our next trips.

we've met before ..... LOL ... heck I'm the district 1 representative for PNBCA ... I went on the trip last year at the end of the season.... Patrick has a couple of my stones getting diazas as we speak and I displayed at the meeting before last.... you just don't know its me...

 

[M.B.]

Thanks Dick for posting your pics (you need to show more )
I was curious how Sean Smith ended up in the great northwest? Did your club invite him for the class and collecting trip? I would love to figure out how to get some of the suiseki enthusiests around Sacramento and the S.F. Bay area together for this kind of weekend.
Mary B.

 

[dick benbow]

Mary....Sean was invited by the curator of the weyerhauser bonsai collection, David De Groot.

He was used by the portland bonsai club as well as the one in seattle during his week long visit.

David also used his talents to thank his volunteers at the collection with programs and he did a session for the public in a city wide celebration entitled "buds and blooms".

Following the dinner Tuesday nite, Sean expressed his interest in returning to the west coast
in the not too distant future. SOOOooooo, I'd suggest you make a contact and see what it would take to get him out your way.

Ang, quess I'll need to get better aquainted and maybe you can make the trips being planned
when flows are low.

 

[kakejiku]

first let me say thank-you for acknowledging my posts. I was beginning to wonder why the effort when close to a hundred views a nary a thank-you.

Almost none of my posts or PM's receive any response at all...?

 

[Smoke]

Of the 100 or so active posters here (and thats being generous) maybe about 10 are active in scrolls and or stones. People look but its just not their cup of tea. As far as scroll lovers here, there is probably no one more pssionate than RockM or myself. I can't speak for Mark but most of the scrolls you post are not my cup of tea either being too garish in the colors or too much calligraphy. As well as the posts containing so much Japanese terms that it is impossible for someone to even know what you are talking about.

The stone thread while interesting did not contain enough usefull information to make it interesting for most people that know nothing about stones. We have an article about a worldclass daiza maker without one picture of a stone and daiza that he has made. We have some pictures of some daiza profiles without any explanation as to what anyone is looking at. I am no world class daiza carver by any means but I have carved many for my own stones.

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?6724-Building-the-Daiza

Not that many replies but it got some good views. I think if someone wanted to carve their own this thread could be usefull.

 

[JudyB]

Almost none of my posts or PM's receive any response at all...?

I love looking at posts on scrolls and stones, but am not knowledgeable enough to feel like I can contribute in any way to the conversation about them. I might look stoopider than I really am....

But I do appreciate them, as well as the nice threads about putting together displays.

 

[rockm]

I'm not a rock person, despite my handle. I'm interested, but haven't really gotten into it.

As for scrolls, I find Kakejiku's scrolls interesting, but also really not my cup of tea. I gravitate towards scrolls with landscapes, animals and other living things, not kanji or script. I find using those kinds of scrolls with bonsai and on the walls of my house very difficult. I can't tell what Kanji and written characters say. Who knows, they might say "this house is a mess and its owner is a toad." Landscapes and wildlife speaks volumes universally...

 

[kakejiku]

This is what I wrote about rosewood from this thread.

Re: A Sean Smith Class on daiuza making
Kakejiku Today at 1:42 pm

.dick benbow wrote:
Rosewood is the most popular wood to make daiza's out of. Mullberry ok for stands to show bonsai but not daiza's.
best wood is from India but other rosewoods will do. A way to come close to rosewood if not available is to use walnut wood with a mahogany stain.

This is similar to the jikusaki on some scrolls. There is 紫檀 iShitanwhich is the rosewood and 紫檀塗り shitan nuri which is stained to look like Shitan. Nuri is the word for lacquer or staining...The difference is the price.

As for Mulberry as a Jiita or stand, I have been taught it is classified as a 行 Gyou Semi-formal material while the 紫檀 Rosewood and 黒檀Ebony (shitan) and (kokutan) are the formal materials....

If you do not like the Japanese I am sorry...but I think it is necessary for true undertanding.

 

[kakejiku]

I love looking at posts on scrolls and stones, but am not knowledgeable enough to feel like I can contribute in any way to the conversation about them. I might look stoopider than I really am....

But I do appreciate them, as well as the nice threads about putting together displays.

If you ask a question I am sure to respond with as much information as I can. You can read my book to learn more about scrolls, unfortunately it is long on the production and short on the presentation/display side which would probably be what you are more interested in knowing about.

 

[rockm]

"If you do not like the Japanese I am sorry...but I think it is necessary for true undertanding. "

This is not true. It's hardly that I don't like Japanese. I have called more than a few Japanese friends over the years.

It's just that I'M not Japanese, so all the arcana related to wood types, scroll classifications (I'll not touch "shitanwhich" with a four foot diaza ) that go along with formal Japanese displays is not important to me. The arcane stuff holds none of the cultural signficance for me that it does for the Japanese. It's like expecting the Japanese to understand fireworks on the Fourth of July. To say they don't understand fireworks is silly. Understanding the context, of course, lends them greater significance, but how much significance for someone who is not American? It helps, but it's not really all that necessary.

Understanding all that cultural stuff can be enlightening, but it can also be stifling. A little air let into an airless room can freshen things up a bit.

 

[kakejiku]

As far as scroll lovers here, there is probably no one more pssionate than RockM or myself. I can't speak for Mark but most of the scrolls you post are not my cup of tea either being too garish in the colors or too much calligraphy. As well as the posts containing so much Japanese terms that it is impossible for someone to even know what you are talking about.

I guess it depends on what my customer wants...This is what I have in process at the moment.

 

[kakejiku]

"If you do not like the Japanese

Poorly written on my part, let me rewrite "Japanese Language".

 

[Smoke]

If you do not like the Japanese I am sorry...but I think it is necessary for true undertanding.

True understanding can only start with understanding the written word. You might as well write it in Greek cause I can't understand that either. Understand?

I have read well over 16 books on the Greek empire and the Roman empire. I am learning so much and understanding so much that it is mind boggleing. I have yet to see in any book I have read one word in Greek or Latin except for names which are Universal. It is written for English speaking people to understand and gleen knowledge from. True understanding is Universal and can be written in ANY language as long as the reader understands the language. It is up to the WRITER to make the decision who his audiance is.

Talkin over everyones head makes no sense to me.

 

[stacy allen muse]

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