Bonsai aesthetics: Information from Answers.com

A trident maple on display at the Chinese Penjing Collection of National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, Washington. The tree displays several aesthetic qualities common to bonsai including miniaturization, leaf reduction, lignification, ramification and curvature. As this tree is grown in the "root over rock" style, its nebari (i.e. root buttressing) is greatly exaggerated. The pot in which this tree rests would be considered too garish by practitioners of the traditional Japanese art of bonsai but would be acceptable to practitioners of the Chinese art of container growing known as "penjing" (of which this illustration is an example).

Bonsai Aesthetics vary according to the style of bonsai which is sought and according to individual tastes. The discussion of bonsai characteristics may be discussed in two parts: general aesthetics and aesthetic schools.

1 General Aesthetics
2 Aesthetic schools
3 External links
4 References

General Aesthetics

A bald cypress in the formal upright style.

A Japanese Black Pine in an informal style.

John Naka's famous bonsai Goshin, showing some deadwood effects.

The following characteristics are desirable in many Japanese bonsai and other styles of container-grown trees, whatever the style:

Miniaturization

By definition, a bonsai is a tree which is kept small enough to be container-grown while otherwise fostered to have a mature appearance. One way in which bonsai are classified is according to size. Mame are ideally less than 10 cm (4 inches) tall and can be held in the palm of the hand. Shohin are about 25 cm (10 inches) tall, while other bonsai are larger and can not be easily moved.^[1]

Gravitas

This is the trait which all of the remaining points of aesthetics seek to create. It is a sense of physical weight, the illusion of mass, the appearance of maturity or advanced age, and the elusive quality of dignity.

Leaf Reduction

Leaf reduction is related to the general miniaturization described above but is something which varies over the life cycle of a particular bonsai. For example, a bonsai’s leaves might be allowed to attain full-size for many years in order to encourage vigor and growth of some other aspect of the bonsai. It is usually desirable to attain a degree of leaf reduction prior to exhibiting a bonsai. Leaf reduction may be encouraged by pruning and is sometimes achieved by the total exfoliation of a bonsai during one part of its growing season. Conifer needles may be more difficult to reduce than other sorts of foliage.

Lignification

This refers to the “woody-ness” of a bonsai’s trunk and branches so that they have a mature appearance. This typically means the surface is encouraged to become rough and brown. In some cases this aesthete will vary, such as in a birch tree bonsai attaining the white colour and exfoliating bark of a mature specimen.

Nebari

Also known as "buttressing", nebari is the visible spread of roots above the growing medium at the base of a bonsai. Nebari helps a bonsai seem grounded and well-anchored and helps a tree look old, mature, and more akin to a full-sized tree.^[1]

Ramification

Ramification is the splitting of branches and twigs into smaller ones. It is encouraged by pruning and may be integrated with practices that promote leaf reduction.

Deadwood

Bonsai artists sometimes foster certain types of deadwood to be produced by and remain on a bonsai tree, just as such things as bare, dead branches may occur on full-sized trees. Two specific types of deadwood are jin and shari. The presence of deadwood is more optional and less typical than most of the other points mentioned here.^[1]

See Deadwood Bonsai Techniques

Curvature

Like deadwood, curvature is optional. Bonsai that achieve a sense of age while remaining straight and upright can be especially impressive, but many bonsai (including the stereotypical bonsai illustrated above) rely upon curvature of the trunk to give it the illusion of weight and age. Curvature of the trunk that occurs between the roots and the lowest branch is known as tachiagari.^[1]

Aesthetic schools

The art of artistically growing small trees in containers may be divided into two primary "schools" of practice:

Japanese (bonsai)

The term bonsai refers only to the Japanese tradition in the art of growing miniature trees. The Japanese aesthetic is centered on the principle of "heaven and earth in one container". Many Japanese cultural characteristics, particularly the influence of Zen Buddhism, inform the bonsai tradition in that country. A number of other cultures around the globe have adopted the Japanese approach, and while some variations have begun to appear, most hew closely to the rules and design philosophies of the Japanese tradition.

The Japanese bonsai are meant to evoke the essential spirit of the plant being used. In all cases, it must look natural and not show the grower's interventions. However, the art of bonsai also has design rules which can rarely be broken without reducing the impact of the bonsai specimen. Example practices include^[2]:

an air of age should be palpable in the tree's overall shape, proportions, and details
the trunk should bow slightly forward, never lean back ^[3]
the trunk should taper significantly from base to top
the tree's rootage should be exposed at the base of the trunk and should flare wider than the trunk as it enters the ground
no visible roots should cross each other
branch size should diminish from the base to the top of the tree
tree branches should never cross
branch ramification (particularly in deciduous trees) should increase towards the tip of each branch
branch shape should reflect the weight of age, particularly in conifers, and branches may be shaped to tend downwards toward the tip in support of this practice

Many of the formal rules of bonsai help the grower create a tree that expresses wabi or sabi, or portrays an aspect of mono no aware. The larger the bonsai, the more strictly these guidelines should be applied. Very small bonsai are generally created with few or none of these strictures, although they do lose much of the gravitas of the larger trees.

In some cases, however, the accepted rules can be bent or broken for a particular tree without destroying its fundamental aesthetic and artistic impact. Going beyond the prescribed rules allows aesthetic growth in the bonsai art, as seen in many of the masterpieces created by Masahiko Kimura ^[4] and Kunio Kobayashi ^[5] .

Chinese (penjing)

The Chinese art of growing miniature trees, properly called penjing, seeks to capture the essence and spirit of nature through contrasts. Philosophically, this craft is influenced by the principle of Taoism, specifically the concept of Yin and Yang: the conceptualization of the universe as governed by two primal opposing but complementary forces. Inspiration is not limited to nature, but also from poetry and visual art, of which factor similar aesthetic considerations. Common themes include dragons and the strokes of fortuitous characters. At its highest level, the artistic value of penjing is on par with that of poetry, calligraphy, brush painting and garden art.^[3]

Penjing has less emphasis on technical perfection, and the art is not as rigidly categorized as the art of bonsai. Tangled roots or pruning scars (which are against the bonsai aesthetic) are allowed if they fit the overall design. Miniature items placed next to a miniature tree (such as miniature pagodas and tiny men with fishing rods) belong strictly to the realm of penjing and are anathema to the realm of bonsai.^[3]

External links

The Art of Bonsai Project

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bonsai Terms
^ Adams, Peter D. (1981). The Art of Bonsai. Ward Lock Ltd.. ISBN 0-7063-7116.
^ ^a ^b ^c Chinese Potted Landscapes
^ A visit to Masahiko Kimura's garden
^ About the artist Kunio Kobayashi

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Bonsai aesthetics

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