A sad or happy story? Around Vietnamese suiseki lovers.

A sad or happy story? Around Vietnamese suiseki lovers.

A year ago, I left a position as a suiseki-judge was held yearly in TaoDan, SaiGon City South of VietNam. Oh, what a pity. In the Vietnamese suiseki-lover-community, some people seek fame and weath so they want to seize gold medal in the suiseki contest by cheating the judges or by under-table way,. Some others, they made a shaped stone as a sculpture and then polish it professionally in order to make its skin as weathered skin in nature by themselves or buying from the malefactors.

They find many way to seize the medals such as they blured judge-eyes by giving them gifts before or after contests or promising something, they toadied some judges who also want to be greedy profit. They often airm to senior judges who can influence other judges and of course the judge they choosed is the bad moral judge.

I will tell you a sad story that I wonder that is a sad or happy story ?

In sping 2011, a beautiful suiseki stone (pool on mountain) participated in the suiseki contest. The contestand who owned this stone surely commit that his suiseki is a perfect stone suitable with a suiseki (not be cut, not be polished). I wonder that the major judge had a contract with the owner or not that he also commit that participated suiseki is not cut and edited. After the contest, some one who knew clearly about that participated suiseki talked that it was cut the bottom and was polished and its skin looked like weathered skin in nature.

The major judge knew that earlier. But he had a under-table contract…?

That is the reason I left the judge position. I understood that in the world there was many malefactors, greedy pigs. It is very good for a suiseki viewer is to be a normal person as well as a suiseki-lover who knows only the beauty of suisekis.

Finally, the sad story is tricking everybody from malefactors but the happy story is recognizing of that and leaving judge position to get a leisurely life.
Ninh Huu Hiep