Shohin sizes

albek

Shohin size; a one hand tiny thing

The precise size of a shohin-bonsai has been discussed more than one time. So I have tried to dig deeper into the subject with my Japanese friends.

The main rule is that you must be able to hold the shohin-bonsai in one hand, and it has to express the beauty of a little thing.

Expressed in inches or centimetres this means that a shohin-bonsai is 20cm / 8 inches - 25 cm / 10 inches or less in height.
The exact measure of the height of the tree is less important, but it is difficult to achieve the feeling of a small one hand bonsai that is higher than 25 cm / 10 inches.
The measure of most shohin-bonsai is approximately 20 cm / 8 inches in height.

Some shohin masters eagerly teach a maximum size of 20 cm / 8 inches, and some doesn’t care much about anything else than the one hand bonsai expression.
The shohin must be capable of being easily carried in one hand, and possess the visually performance of a tiny thing.

Often westerners have a habit to make shohin-bonsai and display stands i.e. too tiny. If one takes a look into the best shohin-bonsai they are not Mame sized. Mame is not higher than 7 cm / 2,5 inches. But often western bonsai enthusiasts seems to develop all their shohin in near Mame size.

Also many shohin pots produced in Europe are too small to fit a shohin in the upper end of the size scale. This causes some to choose to heavy pots in oversize to fit some shohin-bonsai. Hereby the expression of a tiny thing is lost.
Summing up all this, the pot and the tree must express the feeling of a tiny thing that is carried easliy by one hand.

In the case of exhibitions there are no official scale restrictions in Japan. If a bonsai display exhibited at a shohin exhibition is not fitting the above description it will simply be judged very poorly. And in the case of a pre selection before the exhibition, the bonsai will not be selected for exhibition.

I hope this clarifies the issue.

Kind regards
Morten Albek

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Morten Albek
Shohin-bonsai Europe
Morten Albek Bonsai

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jeremy_norbury

Height excluding pot, right? The measurements are just of the tree itself I assume.

Jerry

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albek

When measuring the height of a bonsai it is always measured from the rim of the pot, to the top of the tree.

Kind regards
Morten Albek

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Morten Albek
Shohin-bonsai Europe
Morten Albek Bonsai

Bonsainut

Nice post Morten,

Thanks for the info. So to recap - up to...

2.5 inches maximum for Mame

8 to 10 inches maximum for shohin

Right?

What are we currenly calling the tree that falls between--? Shohin, all the way from 2.6" up to 10", correct?

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