Finally a couple of shots with Master Yen and some prize winning shimpakus.
I went to Taiwan for my brother-in-law's wedding, but this visit was an unexpected special highlight of my trip. I will definitely seek out more bonsai on my return visits to Taiwan.
I also made many treks into the national forests on day hikes where I saw massive wild growing chinese junipers, japanese yews, and cryptomeria forests. I received so much inspiration from the wild growing trees. It is amazing to see a massive yew 20 feet in diameter mostly deadwood and branches reaching from the side of a mountain like a wild claw.

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Hi Ralph, That is one heck of a spring vacation! You are very fortunate indeed. I love touring Asian Masters gardens, even if it is only in photos. Thank You!

Hi Ralph,

What a great trip! Worth going just to see the trees alone lol. Many thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed looking through your photos.

All the best,

Aaron

Thanks for the excellent photographs, Ralph!

i know you took more pics than that....we want more...lol..

I really like #34349.Is it a Guava ? Bonsai World All In All looks like they have a good site.If you know anyone there, you might get them to translate it.BTW,if I had thefunds to go to Taiwan,I probably wouldn't come back.

Sounds like you had a really great time Ralph . I am always impressed with the trees I see being done in Taiwan,great stuff Thanks for sharing!!

That tree in #34349 is a "Fingered Citron Buddha's Hand", it is ornamental only.The fruit is quite dry without much pulp. This is the only bonsai I have ever seen of this species, and it goes to show if you are willing to grow a big tree, then big leaves and fruit are no problem. This one was probably about 40 inches high not to large, but it packs a lot of tree into it's size. The excellent nebari and trunk movement really aide in keeping this from looking like a mini-shrub. You first catch sight of the fruit, but then step back, and see the tree as a whole, and it is quite believable as bonsai even with the large leaf structure. It gives hope to others wanting to develop fruit trees with large leaves as bonsai.

I might add, while in Taiwan, I followed the chinese vs. japanese thread on the forum with much interest. Yen and the other artists continually referred to their bonsai as "pensai", and I asked him about the whole japanese-chinese and penjing influences thing. What he said was that his father who taught him, clearly was influenced by japanese art, but received no formal training from them, and that the style is uniquely Taiwanese.
The pines are definitely more open, and lighter in foliage than Japanese pine bonsai.
That said, there are certain artistic conventions they follow as do all bonsai, with branches for the most part alternating, and occurring on the outside. Basic triangular patterns and well developed foliage pads.
Notice the bunjin black pines that clearly sit higher in their pots than do many bunjin, showing off a nebari that appears to cling desparately to the soil. Some might criticize they look off balance, but this is a pattern with the bunjins I saw there. It probably reflects how they see the yew and pines growing in their high mountains. On my hiking trips I saw so many images where previous earthquakes had caused a side of a hill or mountain to fall away, and the trees just clinging to the sharp tips of the cliffs. Some amazing inspiration.

I was just in Taiwan this summer with my family, we had a great time, but unfortunately we didn't visit any nurseries. Those trees look amazing. Practically everything thrives in Taiwan, they have like 90% humidity year round and is almost never lower to 45F even in the winters.

My grandpa was a horticulturist in for the Taiwan Sugar Company in the 50s and 60s and he has stories about how everything just shot up in the rich volcanic soil. He told me that the ficuses that they used to collect for bonsai back then were from roof tops. The wind would blow volcanic dust onto rooftops which would receive fig seeds from birds droppings. Great dwarved trees would grow in the daily rains making for great trees.

We went to Tiruge National Park and other parks and the landscapes were so beautiful. Growing bonsai is so easy in Taiwan because you just look out the window and are inspired by the beautiful mountains or river valleys.

Oh yeah from the article...

The exchange rate is about NT$30-35:$1 so that means master yen has trees for 5 to 100 thousand dollars. In Taiwan this is a lot, as NT$50 (around a dollar fifty) will pay for a good meal from a street vendor.