Stone of the Month: 

January 2021 

"Matsuyama's Mountain"

The features of a landscape stone and its base combine to make an excellent viewing stone. When accompanied by a well-documented provenance, the stone takes on added meaning and value year after year. It is easy to imagine a rugged mountain peak worn and eroded by the elements when looking at our stone of the month. The tunnel on the left side of this stone offers shelter for mountain climbers. Furuya stones originate in the mountains in Wakayama prefecture, Japan and have been collected there for centuries. For more information about Furuya stones, see the featured article Japanese Furuya Stones in our archives. 

Tanimoto Hyakusui, one of Japan's most skilled woodcarvers, made and signed the stone's wood base, perhaps 50 to 60 years ago. This Furuya stone was in the collection of the late Dr. Matysuyama Tomonaka for many years before it passed on to stone collector and dealer Kasahara Nobu in Tokyo. In 2015, we acquired this stone and its storage box from Kasahara. The stone is 14 cm wide, 7.5 cm high, and 7.5 cm deep.