Stepping stones lead across the water at Ro Ho En -- the Japanese Friendship Garden in downtown Phoenix, Arizona.  One of the guides at the garden told me that, according to Oriental wisdom, "every stone has a face."
   Every stone looks best when viewed in a certain way, from a specific angle.  I would have to agree, and I have noticed that as well.  It is even what makes particular mountains look so appealing, and gives them character.
   In Japanese art, this quality goes right down from the grand scale, such as mountains, to the small scale of "viewing stones", which can sit on a shelf or table.  These stones are know by the name Suiseki.
   Stones have characteristics known as wabi, sabi, shibui, and yugen.  Wabi translates roughly as a mood of melancholy, loneliness, desolation, stillness, and unpretentiousness.  It is a subjective feeling evoked by an object.  Sabi means ancient, mellowed, seasoned, or mature.  Shibui connotes quiet, elegant, understatedness, even refined.  And yugen can imply obscurity, mystery, the profound, and the subtle, much in the way the moon shines out from behind a veil of clouds.
   Think about this the next time you look at Camelback Mountain, or Squaw Peak, for example.  I think they've got some of these qualities on display in various ways.  It's what gives them their "soul".
   Return to the map of "Rock Art in the Valley of the Sun" for more view locations.
   You can also send this as an E-Postcard to your friends!