If you go for a drive in rural Japan you’ll occasionally come across billboards for stone dealers. Stone dealers do just what you’d think: they sell rocks. You might imagine that these people sell gravestones or maybe natural gemstones with mystical powers. Well this week we went to visit a stone dealer in Yamanashi’s Koshu City where they sell the kind of stones that are used in Japanese traditional garden landscaping and took a deeper look at the business.
Interviewed by Takafumi Suzuki
Translated by Claire Tanaka
First off, could you tell me a bit about the stones you use here?
We use stones called Koshu Kurama-ishi. Yamato-cho in Koshu City is well known as being a source of these stones since ancient times. The stones you can get here are similar to Kyoto’s famous Kurama-ishi stones, and that’s why they’re called Koshu Kurama-ishi stones.
I’ve heard of Kurama-ishi before.
Kurama-ishi are the classic Kyoto garden stones. They’re used for stone lanterns, for kutsunugi-ishi, the large stone that acts as a step up to the garden veranda in traditional homes, and generally for stepping stones in gardens and so on. The surface has a red-brown rusty quality to it, so it has a wabi-sabi effect. Koshu Kurama-ishi are, when you really get down to it, practically the same stone. It’s just that the brand isn’t as well known, so our stones sell from one-fifth to one-tenth of the price of Kyoto’s Kurama-ishi stones. (laughs)
How do you get a hold of the stones?
The land we dig them from is community property. We get permission from the prefecture which we have to renew every three years, and we dig up each one with great care. Recently, we have to comply with various environmental protection rules as well, so following all those regulations makes it a tough job. Then, we take the rocks we’ve gotten and grind and process them before selling them. Most of the rocks we sell are used in home gardens.
I understand you also sell your stones online. It must be hard to send them through the mail!
That’s true. We sell direct through the mail, but often the freight cost winds up being more than the cost of the stone itself. (laughs) So in our case, we actually do a lot of business in cooperation with building contractors. We do get some very passionate people who come to us directly to see the stones, but most of our work comes through construction companies.
How long have you been in the stone business?
Yes, well, my grandfather founded the business in 1930, so it’s been about eighty years. Back then they used to call Kyoto’s Kurama-ishi “Honkura” and Koshu’s stone was called “Shinkura.” Well, there really isn’t much difference, though. Look, you dig it up like this and let it sit for a while and it gets a real character to it (points at a stone). When they’re freshly dug, they’re quite bright and young-looking. If you use one like that in your garden it really stands out.
Mr. Sato, do you also think about the layout of gardens?
Yes. But that’s the most difficult thing. I have to think about how to make the best of the stone’s natural shape. With tobi-ishi (stepping stones), I think about how to lay them so that it’s easy for people to walk, yet at the same time somehow meaningful, and how to arrange the different sized stones. I try to bring out the natural beauty of the stone. That’s really difficult.
What do you mean when you say, “Make the best of the stone’s natural shape?”
Well it’s like this. It’s the same as when you’re cooking a meal and you want to show off the ingredients. You don’t just line them up neatly; you’ve got to take so many things into account: the boldness and delicateness of each stone, the overall effect. I think about the momentum of the hidari katte (stone that will be trodden with the left foot) and the migi katte (stone that will be trodden with the right foot) when I’m laying stones.
Mr. Sato, you seem as though you’re not just a stone dealer but you’ve also got quite an eye for garden planning.
Oh no, that’s not really true. At first, I was just working as a plain old stone dealer. I started working at this job thirty years ago. I’d graduated university in Tokyo, but I was the oldest son in a stone dealing family so I took it over as the third generation. I hated every day of it and cursed those Kurama-ishi as I worked. The stones are heavy and you get covered in powder when you grind them. I felt like you’d have to be a real idiot to want to work as a stone dealer. (laughs)
How long did it take before you got turned on to the charm of the stones?
Oh, I was gritting my teeth as I worked for the first eight years or so. But when you spend every day looking at stones and gardens, you gradually begin to appreciate the finer elements. And one day, I suddenly began to feel, “Stones are perfectly alive.” And then, strangely enough, I began to talk about that with my customers. Up until then we’d only ever talked about stuff like the economy. It turns out that among my customers there are people who feel the same way about stones as I do.
Once you develop an eye for stones, does your aesthetic sense for other things change as well?
Well, once you get to know a bit about rocks, even if you go to a hotel you wind up checking out the stones in the garden, and you notice when stone lanterns have been manufactured overseas. “Ooh, they’re in such bad financial shape that they can’t take care of their garden” and “This lantern is of inferior quality, it must be made in such-and-such country.” And so on. But one thing that I can say applies across the board and that is that good things take the time and care of a human hand to make them what they are.
Watching you look at the stones, I can really tell how much you care for them.
Yes. My hobby is my work, and I really love interacting with the stones. Up until about seven or eight years ago I was just working for the money, but now thinking about earning money just feels boring to me. But actually, once I started getting interested in the deeper aspects of stones and started to enjoy my work, it’s a funny thing but I started having an easier time making money too.
But to hear how you started out cursing the stone industry and now you’ve made it your life work is really inspiring.
Oh yes, I’m really very lucky. I’m so grateful that I was born into a stone dealer’s family. I can do what I love and make money too. What has changed since I was young? I suppose my way of thinking is the only thing that has changed. (laughs) You’ve got to believe in yourself. If you think it’s bad then it’s going to be bad. Your parents gave you life, so you’ve go to take that life and make it the best one you can. That’s what I believe.
Sato Teiseki-ten
Tsuruse 540, Yamato-cho, Koshu City, Yamanashi
Teruyuki Satoh
Born in 1955, in Yamato-cho, Koshu City, Yamanashi.
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PingMag MAKE is the sister site to PingMag. We use an interview format to put the spotlight on a wide range of people active in rural areas. We document the voices of these unknown heroes and broadcast them to the world. It’s the Japan-based magazine about people and making things, coming out once a week. We’re passing on the passion, ideas, skills, and life stories of people who are building today and exploring tomorrow: craftsmen, engineers, entrepreneurs, and inventors. Stay tuned!
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Reading this interview and seeing these photographs just confirm my opinion that stones -their shape, arrangement, and presentation - are an art form. How lucky Mr Satoh is that he finally fell in love with his stones!
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