Suiseki

In traditional Japanese culture, suiseki (水石) ("水" means Water and "石" is Stone, suiseki means water stone in Japanese) are small, naturally-occurring stones which are appreciated for their beauty and power to evoke a natural scene or object. Suiseki is said to have originated from the fourteenth-century Chinese interest in stone appreciation; a suiseki stone is said to have been displayed by Japanese Emperor Go-Daigo (1288–1339).

Suiseki is tightly intertwined with the Japanese art of bonsai, and it is said that they the twin pillars of the traditional appreciation of the vastness and essence of nature in Japanese culture. Suiseki and bonsai are frequently displayed together in a tokonoma.