National Bonsai Foundation

Autumn Arts of Nature
September 26 – November 29, 2009

A bright autumn moon –
in the shade of each grass blade
a cricket chirping
Yosa Buson (1716-83)

With just a few descriptive words arranged in a haiku, the Japanese poet touches on the essence of autumn. In similar fashion, this exhibition made use of natural “objects” distilled from nature to stand in for the evocative words of a poem. Bonsai with leaves of fiery hues, stones with patterns of chrysanthemum flowers, small plantings of autumn grasses—each of these objects alone can suggest autumn. Yet, when they are arranged into artistic groupings or accented with artwork, our poetic response is intensified. In the Autumn Arts of Nature, we are celebrating the beauty of autumn.

Rabbit viewing the moon
Malus sieboldii ‘Toringo’ | Toringo Crabapple | Donor: Shyuichi Ueda | In Training Since 1905

Autumn Kusamono
Created by Young Choe
Ceramic by Ron Lang

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Badlands’)
Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia)
Sage (Salvia coccinea ‘Bicolor’)
Sage (Salvia lemmonii x greggii)
Snakeroot-black bugbane (Actaea simplex ‘Hillside Black Beauty’)
Oak sedge (Carex pensylvanica)
Bellflower (Campanula ‘Pink Octopus’)

Zelkova serrata | Japanese Zelkova| Donor: Yoshibumi Itoigawa| In Training Since 1895

Kusamono: Pygmy bamboo (Pleioblastus pygmaeus) & Wild Ducks
Artwork created by Sam-Kyun Yoon

This artwork is inspired by a traditional Korean folk art called sotdae. Placing larger sotdae at the entrance to a village is a very old Korean tradition still practiced today. The carved ducks atop tall wooden poles are thought to guard against calamities and disasters.

Ligustrum obtusifolium | Japanese Privet | Donor: Seiko Koizumi | In Training Since 1968

Tokonoma display for Halloween
Ulmus davidiana var. japonica | Japanese Elm | Donor: Shyunichi Sato | In Training Since 1906

Liquidambar styraciflua | Sweet Gum | Donor: Vaughn Banting | In Training Since 1975

Kusamono
Ceramic by Michelle Smith
Bluestem (Schizachyrium sp.)
Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum ‘Chidori’)
Spikemoss (Selaginella rupestris)

Korean Chrysanthemum Stones
Loan from Thomas S. Elias
Kusamono: New Zealand dead sedge (Carex buchananii ‘Red Rooster’)

Pseudolarix amabilis | Golden Larch | Donor: Shu-ying Lui | In Training Since 1971

Chrysanthemums in the courtyard

Ginkgo biloba | Ginkgo | Donor: Kiku Shinkai | In Training Since 1926

Kusamono with bamboo cricket
Ceramic by Michelle Smith
Bluestem (Schizachyrium sp.)
Flowering onion (Allium thunbergii ‘Ozawa’)
Japanese windflower (Anemone hupehensis)

Tokonoma display with moss-ball kusamono
Ceramic tile by Ron Lang
Thundercloud switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Thundercloud’)
Swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius ‘Gold Lace’)
Smartweed (Persicaria microcephala ‘Red Dragon’)

Zelkova serrata | Japanese Zelkova | Donor: Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi | In Training Since 1984

Fagus crenata | Japanese Beech | Donor: Kiyoshi Kawamata | In Training Since 1946

Chinese Chrysanthemum Stones

Originally, Chinese chrysanthemum stones were carved into decorative, but functional objects such as ink stones or brush washers. Later, the mined stones came to be appreciated by stone connoisseurs as natural pattern stones worthy of veneration and respect. The stones are still carved and polished, mainly to expose and enhance the chrysanthemum patterns. Often, the dark limestone matrix will be carved away from the crystal shapes to enhance the three-dimensional illusion of flowers emerging from the stone.

Chrysanthemum Stones
Hubei Province, China

Loans from David Frasher and Thomas S. Elias

Japanese Chrysanthemum Stones

In Japan, chrysanthemum stones were discovered in the late 1800s in Neodani, a high mountain valley in central Japan. (This site has become a Nationally Protected Area.) The flower-shaped patterns of crystals formed naturally in sedimentary mud over 250 million years ago. Compared to the relatively soft, sedimentary chrysanthemum stones of China, the Japanese stones are denser, metamorphic stones that were subjected to high pressure and heat. The “flowers” tend to be smaller and the surrounding matrix is often more colorful due to the presence of various minerals. They are typically polished to bring out the patterns, but otherwise left in their natural shapes.

View from the International Pavilion into the upper courtyard

Chrysanthemum Stone (polished)
"Mums in the Moonlight" (Tsukiyo kiku)
Neodani, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Donated by Tanekichi Isozaki, 1976
Bicentennial gift to President Ford

Detail

International Pavilion case display

Chrysanthemum Stone (river-washed)
Neodani, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Donated by Kiyoshi Yanagisawa, 1975
Bicentennial gift to the people of the United States

Detail

Cultivated chrysanthemums & Japanese chrysanthemum stones

Chrysanthemum Stone
Neodani, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Loan from Thomas S. Elias

Woodblock print illustration: BAIREI’S ONE HUNDRED CHRYSANTHEMUMS
(Bairei kiku hyakushu)
“Dragon flying around Mt. Fuji “(Fujikoshiryu)
Designs by Kono Bairei (1844-95)
Woodblock-printed book, 1891

Chrysanthemum Stone
Neodani, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Loan from Thomas S. Elias

Woodblock print illustration: BAIREI’S ONE HUNDRED CHRYSANTHEMUMS
(Bairei kiku hyakushu)
Designs by Kono Bairei (1844-95)
Woodblock-printed book, 1891

“Lost Flower” (nukesaba hana) Chrysanthemum Stone
Neodani, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Loan from Thomas S. Elias

This stone no longer has a white mineral pattern of a chrysanthemum, but only depressions in the shape of the flower where the crystals once existed.

Chrysanthemum Peacock Stones
Neodani, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Loan from Thomas S. Elias

Chrysanthemum Peacock Stones
Neodani, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Loan from Thomas S. Elias

California Chrysanthemum Stones

Until the 1990s, chrysanthemum pattern stones were only found in China, Japan and Korea. However, the four stones displayed in this case prove that they are not just an Asian curiosity. They were all found in the Eel River in northern California by different people at different times. The Eel River is most famous for its metamorphic stones, including variations of serpentine, jasper and jade. Thus far, finds of chrysanthemum stones have been extremely rare.

“Fox in the Mums”
Loan from Robert H. Wilson

Detail

“Chrysanthemum Mountain”
Collected by Alice Greaves - Loan from American Viewing Stone Resource Center
Detail on right

“Moonlight, Moths and Mums”
Collected by Ken McLeod, Gift In Memory of Alice Kikue Greaves - Loan from American Viewing Stone Resource Center
Detail on right

“Chrysanthemums”
Collected by Cliff Johnson
Loan from Skip Chalfont

Detail

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