Discussion

Rocks (iwa 岩)

There are all sorts of rocks (iwa). Some are big like El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, a nearly unbroken 3,000 foot tall chunk of granite.

Some are smaller than the period at the end of this sentence; fine sand grains, for instance.

There are three broad categories of rock. Igneous rocks originate from magma; molten rock under ground. Some like granite cool and harden slowly. Others like basalt cool relatively rapidly on or near the surface. Sedimentary rock is composed of ground up rock and organic material (like shells) that accumulates in layers and hardens. All of the exposed rock in the Grand Canyon above the lowest 1,500 feet is sedimentary. Sandstone is a very common form of sedimentary rock.

The third category, metamorphic rocks, start out as either igneous or sedimentary rocks but are then metamorphosed deep underground by heat and pressure. Marble, for example, is metamorphosed limestone, a sedimentary rock. Gneiss (pronounced "nice") like that depicted below can start out as either granite or certain kinds of sedimentary rock.

Artists find all sorts of rocks fascinating, but oriental art is known for particular kinds of rock representations based on real landscapes as shown in the pictures below. The first is from Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park in Honan Provence, China.

Some parks have thrill rides. Tianmen has a thrill walk. Those people are standing on glass.

Nearby Zhangjiajie National Forest Park has similar scenery.

Artists like the little-known Shūtoko (believed to have worked in the 15th or 16th centuries) weren't producing artwork like this one from a hanging scroll (kakejiku) purely from imagination.

Nor was Sesshū Tōyō (1420 - 1506) when he produced this painting. Sesshū learned much of his painting skills in China. Back in Japan, he was the founder of the Nanga (Southern School) style of art.

Rock Gardens (karesansui 枯山水)

Paintings aren't the only art form which utilizes iwa, and not all rock landscapes are quite so vertical though some have vertical elements. The following rock photo is of a garden rock that graces the Chinese Garden in Huntington Library in San Marino, California.

Zen, a sect of Buddhism, emphasizes the importance of meditation. Zen rock gardens or karesansui help to develop the proper frame of mind. Zen gardens are miniature stylized landscapes with carefully composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees, and bushes. Sand or gravel is raked to represent ripples in water. Karesansui are usually small. They are often surrounded by a wall and meant to be seen while seated from a single viewpoint. Stones are strategically placed so that they cannot all be viewed at one time. It is believed that anyone who can see them all from a single seated position has obtained enlightenment.

"Toranoko Watashi", the karesansui at Kyōto's Ryōan-ji Zen Buddhist Temple, is considered to be the most beautiful in the city, largely for its simplicity. It was originally built in the 16th century.

The Daisen-In Temple complex in Kyōto has several small karesansui scattered about its premises.

This example is from the Daitoku-Ji Temple in Kyōto.

Another form of garden is saikei (栽景) or planted landscape in a tray. These are similar to bonsai (盆栽); miniature plants grown in trays, except that saikei have a variety of elements which may include plants as well as rocks and other things to represent miniature landscapes. The following pictures show examples of saikei.

Note the strategic importance of iwa in all of the saikei examples above.