This famous masterpiece Hinoki forest is by Masahiko Kimura and is one of his favorites. The photo is by Morten Albek (author of Shohin Bonsai). It appears in The Magician: The Bonsai Art of Kimura 2.
Though comparisons are often odious (and unfair, especially when it’s with Kimura), still, older trees make for more interesting forests. In this case, Kimura’s hinokis (above and at the bottom) are not only mature, but also expertly styled; each one in accord with its size and position in the forest.
Another distinctive feature on the Kimura forest above is the use of deadwood. It adds a touch of age and a sense of the struggle you might expect on a steep rocky mountain side.
The spacing on the forest just below is pretty good considering how many trees there are, but it is still a little crowded. Perhaps with time and a little jinning and pruning, it will open up a bit. You can see the advantage to a more open look on the Kimura forests.
Another distinction is the the maturity and power of the individual trees and also the varying sizes (ages) in the Kimura plantings, as contrasted with the almost uniformly younger looking trees in the planting just below.
I found this striking forest-on-a-cliff on facebook (six years ago). It caught my attention for two reasons: first it stands on its own as a very good bonsai with plenty of potential for further development, and second, it was clearly influenced by the famous Hinoki forests by Kimura (above & below). Though I can't find any information on image search or anywhere else, I'd wager that the trees are also Hinokis.
I borrowed this photo from a post we did in 2013. It's also by Kimura and my best guess is that it's also a Hinoki planting.
Today is the first day of a short mid-winter vacation, so rather than spend much time working, we dug this post up from our archives (November, 2010). With quite a few changes and one more photo, to bring it up to date.
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