Another State-of-the-Art Saikei by Toshio Kawamoto – This Time in a Completely Round Pot 2/15/15

Enchanted lands is another in a series of plantings from Toshio Kawamoto’s Sakei classic. The tree are 3 five year old ezo spruce, 16 five to eight year old Cryptomeria (6-8 inches tall), 7 three to eight year old Satsuki azaleas and 3 three year old Tsutsuji azaleas. The pot is a round unglazed tray, 28 inches (71cm) in diameter (it’s hard to tell from the photo just how large the planting is).

We’ve been resurrecting a series of plantings from Toshio Kawamoto’s classic Saikei, Living Landscapes in Miniature (long out of print), so let’s just keep going. And why not? Mr Kawamoto’s plantings are some of the very best anywhere and his diagrams are unrivaled.

Note: The images suffered a bit when we enlarged them to fit our current expanded format. On balance though, I think larger and slightly fuzzy is better than smaller. But you can be the judge; here’s the original (from 2010).

A tip from Toshio Kawamoto
Place the rocks so that the best looking surfaces are visible and their heights vary. Tilt the rocks slightly toward the center of the tray. Also note that the spruce trees 1, 2, and 3 (get out your magnifying glass) are planted so that their branches extend out beyond the rocks and toward the center of the tray.

 

This diagram is designed to give you a little better idea of the layout and relationship of the elements. The trees are numbered, but your eyes are much better than mine if you can distinguish them.

This bird’s eye view shows the placements of the rocks and footprint of the hills. Yes, the tray is completely round. Round tray-style pots this size are very unusual. You’ll see extra large ovals and rectangles for sure, but when was the last time you saw a monster round tray-style pot?

 

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Sale ends tonight at 11:59 pm, EST