24905: Ibigawa Toyama Suiseki - 8in (20cm)

A good introduction to river stones.

A Toyama (Mountain) stone, featuring multiple peaks, precipitous ridgelines and scree runs, it evokes a strong sense of a high-mountain massif. It provides at least two main images depending on how you rotate it.

The colour varies from a grey-black to blue-black. It has possibly been treated in the past to darken it, but the overall appearance is natural. 

The unique texture of Ibigawa-ishi provides much of the interest – there are steep slabs, ridges, cliffs and a surface that looks like boulders and rubble running down from between the peaks. The stone is cut, and is why the textures are so well defined, this stone has not been rolling around but has been shaped by the passage of water and smaller stones. Being a cut stone, it will fit in the shallowest of suiban.

The overall impression is one of a severe, extreme environment, the Japanese might say the buddhist realm, for westerners it's maybe reminiscent of landscapes from science fiction and fantasy. This is not the mellowed distant mountain shape of bon-seki. Every detail is in sharp focus, suggesting a harrowing place; perhaps mythical and beyond human adventure, which surely provokes the imagination.

SKU: 24905

Size: 150 x 85 x 65mm (6 x 3¼ x 2⅝ in), 4kg in weight

Condition: Excellent, bottom cut, signs of surface treatment, no damage.

Ibigawa – The Ibi river starts at Mount Kanmuri, between Fukui and Gifu prefectures on Honshu. It is 121 km long and is one of three rivers that form the Kiso river system. The river has produced a great many good stones for suiseki, the distinct features are a unique jagure (jaggedness), and either blue-black or occasionally pure black colour. Ibi River stones are also popular with Bonsai people as rock planting material.