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From: Aliénor Anisensel
Date: Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 2:24 AM
Dear Vsgers,
Have you ever heard about the symbol of "nui non bô" ? Some old listerners of ca trù who listened ca trù in the singing houses (ca quan, around 1930-1945) told me that in front of the singing houses, sometimes, there was a "nui non bô" (artificial mountain) which symbolized the feelings and sentiments (tinh cam).
-Aliénor Anisensel-Ethnomusicology, Paris, CREM
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From: Hai Le
Date: 2009/7/20
It is called "Ho`n Non bo" as well, in the South. That's a form of Fengshui in the ancient architecture. You can see a big Hon Non Bo in Phat Diem Church as well, and many places in Vietnam, including the Hue royal and rich houses. There must be a mountain (Nui, Non), a lake/river and possible a 'man' (fishing) as very pupular in Chinese culture.
Hai.
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From: Hue-Tam Ho Tai
I think that they meant bonsai displays. The bonsai trees would be arranged on rocks rather than by themselves in individual pots. My sister in HCMC has one of these; it's the length (4m) of her balcony garden.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
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From: Mike High
Date: 2009/7/20
Many of pagodas and temples (particularly in the north) have a “hòn non bộ” in the front courtyard. Some of them are very tasteful landscapes with small models of temples and hermit-monks tucked away in the crevices and grottoes, some are adorned with garish painted plastic miniature figures. (Perhaps the strangest figure I’ve seen was in front of the Holy Mothers temple in Đồng Đăng, near the Chinese border—a large porcelain statue of an American bald eagle!)
There’s an illustrated book on the subject (currently in print and relatively affordable): “Mountains in the Sea: The Vietnamese Miniature Landscape Art of Hon Non Bo.” Also, a little piece on Wikipedia (VN):
vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hòn_non_bộ
:: Mike High
Great Falls, Virginia
USA
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From: Chung Nguyen
Date: 2009/7/20
I think the translation “artificial mountain,” comes from “ho`n gia? so+n”, another name for “hon non bo.” “Gia?” has several meaning – false, artificial, imitation, ersatz, etc.” Here, besides the sense “imitation,” it also means “in place of”, because, with a good “gia son,” there is nothing “artificial” about it: it’s a bona fine “miniature mountain.” On it you would usually find a mountain, a stream, an old fisherman or a woodcutter, a temple, etc.
This is one of the very old East Asian arts-popular in China, Vietnam, Japan,… It’s most identified with the love of nature in Taoism – if you can’t go to the mountain, bring the mountain to you. But it’s also perfectly harmonious with Buddhism – nature is one of the best place of refuges for the starting practitioner, and Confucianism – the unity of “Thien, Dia, Nhan” (Heaven, Earth & Human beings) in one scenic frame.
Along the RT 1 on the way to Hanoi, around the area of Thanh Hoa and thereafter, you might find several places with strange looking boulders of various shapes and sizes – prized finds for “hon gia son.”
With one in a home garden, or a temple, it’s a reminder that one’s life is more than a struggle for survival: is there a place for a mountain, a stream, or the open sky in it?
CNguyen
UMASS Boston
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From: Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Date: Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 8:24 AM
Check also Chinese scholars' rocks. While there is a Taoist influence, the interest in strangely shaped rocks is most closely associated with Confucian scholars. These rocks (not artificial) are the foundation for cultivating bonsai., that, as Chung suggests, express the unity of heaven, earth and mankind.
There is a market in HCMC that specializes in hon non bo. Googling hon non bo will bring up many images.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
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From: Nora Taylor
Date: Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 5:46 PM
These sometimes have been translated as miniature gardens. See Rolf Stein, Le monde en petit: jardins en miniature et habitations dans la pensee religieuse d'Extreme Orient, Paris: Flammarion, 1987
Nora Annesley Taylor,PhD
Alsdorf Professor of South and Southeast Asian Art
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Curator
"Changing Identity: Recent Works by Women Artists from Vietnam"
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From: Frank
Date: Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 11:33 PM
And in English: "The World in Miniature: Container Gardens and Dwellings in Far Eastern Religious Thought", Stanford University Press, 1990 - an expanded edition of an essay first published by EFEO in 1943.
Frank Proschan
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