Bonsai tree

Friday, December 23, 2011

Bonsai tree: Taikan-ten – all the little things

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Taikan-ten – all the little things

Looking over my photos from Taikan-ten last night made me really happy. Sure, I miss being around such great trees every day, but I’m happy to have seen them and I appreciate the opportunity I have to share the photos.

To get a better sense of the overall event, please read Peter Tea’s report, “Taikan-ten 2011” and see Bjorvala Bonsai Studio’s fantastic video report, “The Bonsai Art of Japan: Episode 22.”

Below are some some of the small-sized bonsai and suiseki exhibited at the 2011 Grandview Bonsai Exhibit. I’ll post pics of the larger trees next week.

Shohin display

Japanese quince – Choujubai

Shohin black pine

Jasmine

Shohin

Crabapple

Japanese quince – Choujubai

Trident maple

Shohin

Princess persimmon

Jasmine

Special display

Suiseki

Antique pot

For those who read Japanese: Cards accompanying antique pots

Accent

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Bonsai tree: ‘Chojubai’ Quince—Diminutive Jewels

This unassuming dwarf quince is a plant that can steal your heart. There are many who have gone to Japan for the spectacular pines, junipers, and maples and had the surprise of discovering Japanese flowering quince ‘Chojubai’. And that’s probably because we don’t have much of it in the West, and that being for the most part young and ignored. Yet we may take inspiration from overseas: Masterpieces of idiosyncratic, craggy branching and twigging, adorned almost contradictorily with glowing ruby flowers.

It seems the Japanese themselves took a while to really see this plant, too. Historically Chojubai appeared commonly as a small accent plant in the Kokufu show forty years ago, as an unramified twig or two. Only rarely was it seen as a primary tree in the medium size category, and never in the large size. It was a second tier tree. Then something shifted. Around 1990 we began to see large size Chojubai in the Japanese shows. These were trees about 1-1.5 feet tall and twice as wide, multiple-trunked and highly ramified. Occasionally single-trunked trees, which are rare, were seen. In Kokufu book 80, about six years ago, two Chojubai won Kokufu prizes. Two years later in book 82 another won. Chojubai had come of age.

Like many trees before, including our standby the juniper which was once not too highly considered, there was a shift in attitude toward Chojubai. It began to be taken seriously, and so technique was applied to it to foresee a new future. And then everything in bonsai—or art for that matter—seems to pass through a period of absurdity, where the material is pushed to limits of control, and then eventually relaxing from that extreme place. Conifers wired to within microns of position… the grafted pancake nebaris of maples looking like tree jokes…but eventually it dials down a bit to some sanity over the material and the technique, and to the willingness of artists to allow for what the tree brings to the table. In the case of Chojubai, perfect dome trimming seems to limit the expression of the innate character of the plant—which would be the eccentricity and unexpected angles and directions in the branching. If this were a plant trained by music, that music would be jazz.

For those who would grow Chojubai, keep it moist. Plant in deeper containers to hold more water. Keep in the sun. Use a pesticide when shoots are elongating to control aphids. Wire main branches and shoots from the base for multiple trunks, and cut and grow following that. This is not so much to create branch taper, as there will be little of that, but for the short, zigzagging and erratic branching that is only created by many years of scissor work. Leave one to three internodes only. Always immediately remove shoots that come from the base that you are not intending to use as trunks—they will weaken the older areas.

If you have a Chojubai, you have one of the rare shrubs that can live more than 100 years and only gets better and better. If you like something, become a connoisseur of it! With attention and focus, even the lowliest plant can become elegant and distinguished.

Chojubai Gallery:

A well-known root-over-rock Japanese flowering quince 'Chojubai'. 45 cm high

Fairly typical of the multiple-trunk old Chojubai now seen in Japan. 33 cm high

Medium-sized ('chuhin') Chojubai. Fine old tree. 29 cm high

Quirky medium-sized raised-root Chojubai. 30 cm

Most Chojubai are enjoyed out of leaf, although the small glossy leaves are perfectly in scale. As Chojubai often flowers nearly year-round there is nothing stopping you from putting them on the display tables any day of the year. 30 cm

You might wonder why I put this in...Well, it is a Chojubai accent plant in the Kokufu show 40 years ago. Interesting, isn't it, how tastes and techniques have changed? These days, this tree would be unlikely to even get accepted into a local Western bonsai club show.

The vast majority of Chojubai grown for bonsai are the red-flowered variety; all the other photos in this gallery are of red-flowered trees. This is a white-flowered tree and it won a Kokufu prize. Very hard to ramify the white ones. 33 cm

A red-flowered Kokufu prize winner. Very old. This is a good example of the extremes in technique used to create a very crystalized form. Impressive, and yet in some ways perhaps not showing the best of what Chojubai offers. Hmm, I wonder how long I will be in purgatory for that comment... 35 cm

One of the rarer single-trunked Chojubai. Another Kokufu prize winner. If you have a single-trunked tree, be very sure to cut all suckers that come from the root base. Beautiful old tree! The warty bark is evident only with great age. 38 cm

Lovely loosely styled multiple-trunk Chojubai. Many years of careful scissor pruning created this natural form. 40 cm

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Bonsai tree: Taikan-ten setup and judging

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Taikan-ten setup and judging

The 2011 Grandview Bonsai Exhibit, or Taikan-ten as it is generally known, was recently held at the Miyako-messe in Kyoto, Japan. The exhibit opened on Friday, November 25th, which means a lot of bonsai professionals – and amateurs – were busy on the 24th setting everything up. As fast as folks could set up their displays, others were taking theirs apart to facilitate judging. Around midday, the aisles were full of tables with trees under consideration for awards.

Conifers awaiting judging

Large deciduous trees

The first round of judging is done by a group of bonsai professionals who narrow trees in each category down to the best three.

Professionals turning in their ballots for the suiseki category

Trees that don’t make the cut are returned to their displays. The remainder were shuffled for a second round of judging.

Large deciduous trees – final cut

Satsuki

Smaller satsuki

The tags were removed from trees that made it to the second round.

Medium shishigashira – ready for the second round

Some of the judging categories were new to me.

The bonsai-on-a-slab-or-stone category?

The bunjingi category?

Once the trees had been selected for the second round, things in the hall slowed down a bit.

Owen Reich and Peter Tea comparing tales of apprenticeship

Others used to time to check out the displays.

Bright red pyracantha berries – oh boy

The second round of judging took a long time to complete. Here the judges contemplate outstanding suiseki.

Evaluating stones

Winning entries received awards – slender, gold cards. Once all of the awards were distributed, the trees returned to their displays.

A winner!

Some displays got more attention than others. Below, a number of professionals watch the setup of a special display for the late Daizo Iwasaki. Iwasaki was one of the best-known bonsai collectors in Japan.

Many volunteer to help arrange the late Mr. Iwasaki’s bonsai and suiseki

Daizo Iwasaki

Mr. Iwasaki’s shimpaku

The vendor area was the last part of the room to come together. It included large trees and small, rough pre-bonsai and show-ready trees, tools, pots, viewing stones and other bonsai-related material.