An autumn Rock Planting project, placing a Shimpaku Juniper in Cascade Style onto Ibigawa Stone. How to choose the stone's front, how to balance the scale of tree and stone, and when to transform a branch into Jin — we walk through the process of two materials drawing out each other's beauty, together with Koji Hiramatsu.
Every stone has a front. Hold a piece of Ibigawa Stone and slowly turn it — which face welcomes the tree, which face makes a landscape possible? The time spent listening to the stone is where Rock Planting begins.
The guiding criterion is 'depth and space.' A face that offers a sense of visual depth. A face where the tree seems to emerge from within the stone. This is not something you see right away — it surfaces gradually, after you have looked at the stone again and again.
When placing a Shimpaku Juniper against a stone, there is one guiding principle. If the tree is too large, it overwhelms the stone's expression; if too small, only the stone speaks. Finding the place where two materials bring out the best in each other — that is the essence of Rock Planting.
The angle at which the tree settles into a pocket-shaped hollow in the stone. The downward sweep of the Cascade Style filling the open space above the stone, embodying the harshness of wind and snow. When compositional aesthetics and the tree's inherent meaning align, the stone and the tree become a 'landscape' for the first time.
The decision to turn a branch into Jin is not simply a matter of styling. It is a choice made to echo the old Jin already present on the Shimpaku Juniper — to let the age of the stone and the story of the tree resonate together.
By removing what is unnecessary, what remains comes alive. To give life by cutting — bonsai's quiet paradox appears here as well. Rock Planting may be, at its heart, the work of two materials drawing out the 'beauty already present' in each other.
'If you prefer this side, then make it the front' — in Rock Planting, there is no single correct front.
It is about sensing the dialogue that flows between stone and tree, and finding a landscape that is yours alone. I believe that the process of that search is itself the heart of this work.
The Master: “Fune” journey begins with registration.
Begin the Journey
