Bonsai tree: Taikan-ten – awesome bonsai

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Taikan-ten – awesome bonsai

I hope it’s been obvious from my recent posts, but in case it isn’t, I’d like to underscore the fact that the great bonsai exhibits in Japan feature some really great trees. The Taikan-ten in Kyoto is the second largest exhibit in Japan and it always includes some outstanding trees. Special displays feature Kokufu and Sakufu prize-winners. These are typically very large and very old bonsai. It can be difficult to keep such trees healthy, let alone move them from one bench to another. Their beauty reflects not only great bonsai skill, but also great caring as their maintenance over long periods of time requires considerable resources.

Although the show isn’t organized by size or variety, I’ve taken license in presenting like groups of trees for dramatic effect. Doing this helps remind me just how many fantastic pines, for instance, the show contained.

I hope you enjoy the photos below, and I’d like to wish you all a happy new year!  I appreciate your readership and engaged comments – they mean a lot to me. To borrow a phrase from Peter Tea, thanks for reading!

Japanese black pine from Mr. Moriyama’s collection

Japanese black pine – work by a Daiju-en graduate

Japanese black pine – from Mr. Moriyama’s collection

Japanese black pine

Japanese black pine displayed at this year’s Gomangoku

Japanese black pine

Semi-cascade Japanese black pine

Japanese black pine on a rock

Cascade Japanese black pine

Japanese white pine from Mr. Moriyama’s collection – one of the trees I helped prepare for the exhibit

Japanese white pine

Japanese white pine – although the pot looks new, it’s likely over 100 years old

Japanese white pine – a great conversation piece

Japanese white pine

Hemlock – a favorite among many Taikan-ten visitors

Formal upright hinoki bonsai

Ezo spruce

Ezo spruce

Needle juniper

Shimpaku

Shimpaku

Shiimpaku

Roughbark Japanese maple

Trident maple – from Mr. Moriyama’s collection

Japanese winterberry – work by a Daiju-en graduate

Japanese maple

Ginkgo

Korean hornbeam

Japanese maple – possibly shishigashira

Japanese flowering quince – ‘Chojubai’

Kadsura

Satsuki azalea

Read more!

Bonsai tree: Shimpaku bonsai on sale at Green Club

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Shimpaku bonsai on sale at Green Club

Close by the Kokufu bonsai exhibit is the Green Club, home to a massive bonsai vendor area set up to accompany the event. Inside, some spectacular trees are for sale, including the shimpaku below.

What makes for good shimpaku bonsai? In addition to age, character, and beauty – general qualities that apply to all bonsai varieties – I’d say movement. Turning, twisting, even writhing formations of entangled live and dead wood characterize good shimpaku bonsai. Some of the better trees for sale at the Green Club this past winter have awesome movement.

Shimpaku juniper

Some of the trees for sale are quite refined, others are less so. And even though each of the these trees could easily be shown at most of the exhibits I’ve attended, all will benefit from further refinement.

Another awesome shimpaku

No matter how good the wood, bonsai really stand out when the branches exhibit the same age as the trunk. And the better the branch placement, the less likely we are to be distracted by imbalances that can draw our attention away from trees’ best features.

A graceful shimpaku

There’s also some room for fun when styling shimpaku. As the variety that best lends itself to abstract designs, shimpaku make great candidates for creative designs. I’ll admit it – I would not have thought to keep the lowest branch on the tree so far below the rest of the foliage.

Shimpaku with low branch

And I don’t know that I could have come up with such a well-balanced design for the shimpaku below.

Tall shimpaku bonsai

Of all of the trees pictured here, the following shimpaku reminds me the most of trees I’ve seen in California. Not unlike some California junipers, this tree has one main twist around the trunk and good deadwood.

Shimpaku with a twist

Finally, the shaggiest shimpaku of the lot. Less refined trees have been showing up more and more in Japanese exhibits as a trend towards more natural looking trees seems to be gaining traction. I would love the opportunity to decide how much work to do on a tree like this to best show off its unusual trunk.

Fun Shimpaku bonsai

Read more!