Behind of Bo’s (Crayon Shinchan’s friend) love against Rock

Have ever you ever feel so philosophical or poetic about something that seems ordinary, like bedsheets, cigarets, your last sip of coffee? or maybe a rocks?

If you living your childhood around 90’s / 2000’s you should be familiar with Bo, one of Crayon Shinchan’s friends, who collects rocks, not just collects, He adores them, worships them.

You might say it is an odd thing, to worship rocks, as well nowadays it is a bizarre thing to worships God, but rocks? why he worship rocks? Turns out, it was tracked long long centuries.

You see, in the west, we generally expect the philosphy to come from books. In the east, more wisely, there’s an awareness that it can also come from other things, for example: Rocks

826 AD, in the reign of the Tang Dynasty, Lake Taihu, Jiangsu Province, China. A gentleman walking around a large lake on the Yangtze Delta, something caught his eyes, apparently It’s a trivial discovery : a pair of oddly shaped rocks. This gentleman isn’t just a man, he’s quiet special at that time in China, He’s not just a state official, He also happens to be one of China’s major Poets. Bai Ju, the ideal of perfect combination of talents, not only excellent in mathematics but also has a knacks of arts.

So struck about these rocks, with their twisted angles and perforations, that he has them taken back home. Shortly after his return, He sits down and writes a poem. He admits that the rocks are not typically beautiful. Dark, sturdy, two slates of rocks, their appearance is much more grotesque rather than ugly. They also covered in dirt and green moss. The holes perforations and indentations, it refers to the great powers for bearing the universe, which we must respect it, appreciate it, and try to find harmony with him.

Another rock’s worshipper was in 12th century AD, Song Dynasty. Mi Fu, another rather eccentric scholar, who has been appointed as a magistrate in Wu Wei County. On arrival he has to pay an important visit, he’s been invited to greet all the important administrators. They all stand waiting for him in the front garden of the official residence. But as he walks towards them, he’s been stopped in his tracks by an unusually large rock in the garden instead of offering his respects to his hosts.

Mi Fu bows ceremoniously to the rock, then calls it as “Elder Brother Rock”, and after he makes an elaborate speech in its honor (about rock indeed). He’s been called “Crazy Mi” and captured the imagination of East Asian’s painters for whom Mi Fu & his elder brother rock a favorite image for centuries, for modern days it’s equal as Meme.

As with much in Chinese culture, the obsession with rocks has crossed over to Japan, but has been adapted in a particular way. In Japan, the spirit of rocks are called “Soseki or Shoseki” and the Japanese favour much more subdued, smooth rocks. Different from China, at several Zen Budhist temples, the stones start to be set in a very minimal settings, to emphasise their qualities. There are various pattern ones meant to use, such as water pattern on concentric rings, or ripples, like those produced when a stone dropped in a lake.

At this point, I believe Bo in Crayon Shinchan, is the calmest, yet not timid and has an attitude of a gentleman, even though some of us might think he’s just a weird, snotty kid with obsession for rocks. His strong presence and minimal response brings ripples for his surrounding, which most likely a chaos.

Bai Ju or maybe Bo was well aware of how powerful a love of rocks can become, he speaks out loud for his addiction that some rocks can bring about. When few of us spend more than a few minutes for looking at a rock, the advice seems less than urgent, indeed the tradition of Rock reverence has a lot to teach us, that wisdom can hang off bits of the natural world, just as well as issuing from books. That we need to surround ourselves with objects that embody certain values, we’re in danger of losing sight of day to day, and that some of our most precious moments can be spent in the presence of nothing more chatty, prestigious, or costly than an old stone ripe with years.

Another attempt to write, it is faster for me to write in English (Sombong) Although, it was written in broken English I suppose, I hope this article “Rocks”!