Cheng, Cheng Kung starts with this view, so we’ll call it the front (south).
I has been a while since we featured a 360 degree Bonsai. The tree shown here is from Cheng, Cheng Kung’s Si-Daio website (it’s been a long time since we featured Mr Cheng as well). If you visit Cheng’s Si-Daio you can watch the tree spin a full 360° circle.
This 360° bonsai brings to mind an old discussion whether a quality bonsai should be attractive when viewed from any angle. No hidden flaws or ugly spots, no matter where you stand in relation to the tree.
I’ve taken screen shots from 8 different points of view as Mr Cheng’s tree* rotates clockwise. Each view is separated by roughly 45°. Or, if you’d rather think about it in terms of cardinal and ordinal directions and you decide to call the front south, then the progression would be: S, SE, E, NE, N, NW, W, SW and finally back to South (confused yet?).
Maybe this will help.
My apologies for the somewhat fuzzy photos. This is mostly the result of increasing the size to fit our format.
*Collector: Mr. Hsu,Lung-Fa
SE view
East view (side view)
NE view
North view (the back)
NW view
West view ( the other side)
SW view
And back to the front (south view)