The Philosophy of Bonsai. Bonsai is the art of dwarfing trees or plants by growing them in containers and training them in line with certain aesthetic ideals. The history of bonsai in Japan goes back to the Kamakura period (1185-1333), when Chinese brought miniature trees in pots to Japan along with Zen philosophy. The Chinese bonsai were actual stunted trees, plucked from nature and grown in pots. The Japanese developed from this the art of cultivating dwarf trees from seeds, seedlings, or cuttings. The aesthetic ideal is for the miniature tree to replicate a large tree or trees in nature. This should be done not only by paying attention to the appearance of the tree itself, but to its overall relationship with the surrounding space and other plants or rocks or driftwood placed in the container. A number of techniques are used to suggest old gnarled trees, by knotting and twisting the trunk, or to suggest a forest, for example, by placing several trees in the same tray. Training bonsai is a time-consuming art. The trees are kept small by pinching off new growth as it appears and trimming the roots. The plants are kept healthy by carefully controlled watering (in summer it may be necessary to water twice a day), fertilizing, and repotting to replace nutrients in the soil. Meanwhile, branches and trunks are wired so they will grow in the desired shape. There are two main recognized bonsai styles - the classic or dramatic (koten), and the informal or comic (bunjin, meaning literati). And these are subclassified according to their growth style: upright, slanting, cascading, weeping-cascade, twisting trunk, twin-trunked, clumped, forest, or rock-planting. Unglazed dark containers are generally employed for classic bonsai and glazed containers for companion and flowering trees. Another convention is for oval containers to be used for deciduous trees and rectangular ones for evergreens. The most popular plants for bonsai include cedar, juniper, pine, bamboo, maple, oak, zelkova, azalea, cherry, and plum. On special occasions bonsai are brought inside to be displayed in the alcove of a traditional Japanese room. A large one displayed on a stand while a smaller companion bonsai is placed by its side. Bonsai can live for hundreds of years, and prized specimens are passed on from generation to generation. However, age is not an essential quality of good bonsai. Growers say the bonsai art inspires a great love and respect for nature and an understanding of universal truths.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 08:38:34 +0000
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