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bonsaiTALK Master
Join Date: Jul-2006
Location: massachusetts
Country: United states
Posts: 446
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Beautifully flawed, opinions wanted
Hello everyone,
I purchased this tree last week. It is a shimpaku juniper, literati. I went back to the nursery with the tree yesterday to prune and repot it and also for a workshop. While I was working on the tree, Master Hiromi Tsukada was potting up a huge, probably 300 year old pine. As you may or may not know. Master Tsukada is considered by many, the number one bonsai azalea artist in the world and currently instructing at NE Bonsai Gardens.
Mr Tsukada was about to repot was about 3 1/2 feet tall and about 4 1/2 feet long. It was a semi cascade. The tree was probably up near 300 years old. I had noticed that the tree might require a second pair of hands so I offered my assistance to him. So I held this humongous tree in place while he stepped back several times to look for the best view. He found it and then wired it in while I held it in place. He smiled and said "thank you".
A little while later, he saw me working on my tree, I was just getting it into its new pot and then I was going to start pruning. He came over and looked at the tree. At this point the tree was placed in the pot and loosely wired for the moment. He cannot speak english so I was concerned that If he offered instruction, I would not be able to understand it. However, he knows a little english. He asked me "front". I said yes. He asked me "back branch", I said yes. Then he made a gesture to turn the pot. It was a literati pot that had 3 feet. I initially had the 2 feet in the front. He made the gesture again to keep turning until 1 foot was in the center in the front. I did so and then he said, " I like this front".
I initially had the idea of planting the tree planted on about a 35 degree slant to the right. Then he said ' stand here", so I could view it. He walked over to the tree and put his hand in the middle of the trunk and said, " this straight", then put his hand on the base and said "this straight". Then he moved the tree into a straight position. So I went over to the tree and held it while he stepped back and looked. Then he traced the movement of the tree with his hand and stood back. He looked and said "nice". Then he said, " now center". So I centered it and tied it in. He looked again and said "nice"". At that point, John, my bonsai teacher walked in and saw the tree and said that sublime could be a word used to describe this tree.
Well, here is the tree, a before pic and then the afters. The afters are after pruning the entire tree and then some fine wiring. This tree has a few flaws. One, is that the trunk is kind of straight for a literati. Two, the main, or what look like main branches on the left and right, are actually a front branch with the sub branching divided to look like left and right side branches. I may still jin some branches.
Also, concerning the back branch at the bottom. I was all ready to jin it, but I did a photo shop virt of it without that branch and I also used my hands to hide it and it actually seemd to take away the balance from the tree. I am not sure that the branch should be removed. Even if the rules may lean towards it. It seems that the branch is counter balancing the weight of the top of the tree. I would also like to add that I cannot really take credit for the styling of this tree. This tree is probably over 40 years old and about 2 feet tall. Whoever had it before must have trained it for years and years to get this look, flawed or not. Also, the ramification is exquisite.
I would love to hear as many thoughts as possible about this tree.
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