Strange and wonderful. The bonsai rules have been demolished. The leaves are too big and the fruit is massive relative to the size of the tree. But rules don’t really matter all that much, and besides, flowering and fruiting trees receive a pass anyway.
Bonsai Guest House revisited
To quote from our last post “The photos in this post are from Bonsai Guest House in Osaka. I know almost nothing about the place, but you might want to check it out on your next Japan junket.”
Just wonderful. Everything about this bonsai is designed to show off it’s brilliant quince flowers. If it weren’t for the flowers, no one would give this tree a second thought.
Wonderful and strange, and oh so dynamic. Got a tree that’s too tall and thin for bonsai? Don’t let that stop you.
You can do it!
Enter our One thousand dollar Bonsai from Scratch Contest. There’s a good chance you’ll win something.
I read something about the Chinese approach to viewing stones (and placing them in certain places within their homes). The book mentioned that the Chinese value the stone for its energy. I think the same principle can be observed for bonsai. Despite all the rules we’ve attached to bonsai, some trees really express the energy of their particular species, and as such the leaf size and fruit size are neutral if not an asset to expression of the energy. It’s a principle seen in some shohin and mame bonsai that have no real proportional relationship to their species but still say “tree” when we witness them.
Hi Al,
Once again, agreed. There really are no rules and sometimes the most unexpected things work.
In fact, non of a bonsai book have ever said “rules” in bonsai, there are all simply basic knowledge and guide-line, but then many of us misperceive as rules. The only rules in bonsai are artistic principles and horticultural (plant physiology and morphology).
In bonsai, we are not creating the same species in miniature size, but we resemble the character of mature tree in nature, either connifers or deciduous…
Hi Robert,
Though you are the expert on this, and the quality of your bonsai reflect that expertise, still, I would place artistic principles in the guideline category. I think artists tend to push boundaries, so as soon as you establish a rule or principle, someone is going to fiddle with it and come up with something interesting.