The Art of Bonsai

Bonsai (literally “potted plant”) is the art of aesthetic miniaturization of trees by growing them in containers. Cultivation includes techniques for shaping, watering, and repotting in various styles of containers.

This art originated in China during the Han Dynasty, “bonsai” is a Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word penzai. The word bonsai has been used in the West as an umbrella term for all miniature trees.

Recently, I happen to bumped on one of the Bonsai Exhibits in the Philippines held in a mall. There were scores of beautiful entries. Out of these entries, these were my personal choices.

The origins of bonsai are believed to have begun at least 4000 years ago during the Han Dynasty in China. It has since developed into new forms in parts of China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

At first, the Japanese used miniaturized trees grown in containers to decorate their homes and gardens. During the Tokugawa Period, landscape gardening attained new importance. Cultivation of plants such as azalea and maples became a pastime of the wealthy. Growing dwarf plants in containers was also popular. At this time, the term for dwarf potted trees was “a tree in a pot”,.

The oldest known living bonsai trees are in the collection at Happo-en (a private garden and exclusive restaurant) in Tokyo, Japan, where bonsais are between 400 to 800 years old.

Here are the ten most common styles of bonsai. Aside from these styles, there are still many other styles of bonsai.

1. The Group or Forest Style, or Yose Ue

   

   This is a style that comprises a planting of more than one tree (typically an odd number if there are three or more trees and essentially never 4 because of its significance in Japan) in a bonsai pot. The trees are usually the same species, with a variety of heights employed to add visual interest and to reflect the age differences encountered in mature forests.

2. The Root-Over-Rock Style, or Sekijoju

   

   This is a style in which the roots of a tree (typically a fig tree) are wrapped around a rock. The rock is at the base of the trunk, with the roots exposed to varying degrees.

3. The Broom Style or Hokidachi

   

   This style is employed for trees with extensive, fine branching, often with species like elms. The trunk is straight and upright. It branches out in all directions about 1/3 of the way up the entire height of the tree. The branches and leaves form a ball-shaped crown which can also be very beautiful during the winter months.

4. The Multi-Trunk Style or Ikadabuki

   

   It has all the trunks growing out of one root system, and it actually is one single tree. All the trunks form one crown of leaves, in which the thickest and most developed trunk forms the top.

5. The Growing-in-a-Rock or Ishizuke Style

   

   This means the roots of the tree are growing in the cracks and holes of the rock. There is not much room for the roots to develop and take up nutrients. These trees are designed to visually represent that the tree has to struggle to survive.

6. The Formal Upright Style or Chokkan/ Informal Upright Style or Moyogi

   

   This is characterized by a straight, upright, tapering trunk.

   

   The trunk and branches of the informal upright style, or Moyogi, may incorporate pronounced bends and curves, but the apex of the informal upright is always located directly over where the trunk begins at the soil line.

7. Slant-style or Shakan

   

   This bonsai possess straight trunks like those of bonsai grown in the formal upright style. However, the slant style trunk emerges from the soil at an angle, and the apex of the bonsai will be located to the left or right of the root base.

8. Cascade-style or Kengai/Semi-Cascade style or Han Kengai

   

   These bonsai are modeled after trees which grow over water or on the sides of mountains.

   

   The apex, or tip of the tree in the Semi-cascade-style, or Han Kengai, bonsai extend just at or beneath the lip of the bonsai pot; the apex of a (full) cascade style falls below the base of the pot.

9. Raft Style or Netsuranari

   

   Raft-style or Netsuranari bonsai mimic a natural phenomenon that occurs when a tree topples onto its side (typically due to erosion or another natural force) and branches along the exposed side of the trunk, growing as if they are a group of new trunks. Sometimes, roots will develop from buried portions of the trunk. Raft-style bonsai can have sinuous, straight-line, or slanting trunks, all giving the illusion that they are a group of separate trees — while actually being the branches of a tree planted on its side.

10. The Literati Style

    

    This style is characterized by a generally bare trunk line, with branches reduced to a minimum, and typically placed higher up on a long, often contorted trunk.

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