My largest project to date. Surprisingly, it only took 3 days to finish. The leaves are a bit leggy, but it’s still an interesting tree. The trunk is actually completely hollow and the live vein turned a nice red color when the bark was removed. Mr. Fujikawa suggested I wire the branches into smaller pads to give the tree a softer look, which I think worked out pretty well and makes it a bit more unique.
This tree is one of my favorites that I’ve worked on so far. When Mr. Fujikawa brought it back from an auction, most of the main branches already had wire on them, but as you can see it had yet to be styled. The first step was removing the bottom branches and changing the planting angle. We then guy wired the right side of the trunk to the left to make the entire tree more compact. Once Mr. Fujikawa was content with the overall direction, he let me go at it alone. After about 7 hours of arranging the larger branches, wiring the secondary growth and repotting, the tree finally took shape and I think it turned out alright. In the future, the low-hanging jin that’s touching the soil will be cut shorter and the guy wires pulled tighter to make the tree even more compact. But for now, that particular jin is keeping the tree stable. Feel free to comment and critique, thanks!
Working on Hakuryuu (the “White Dragon”) at Fujikawa Kouka-en
The weather has started changing here in Japan so the bonsai scene is picking up rapidly. Exhibition season starts in the fall and runs through late spring so we’re beginning to prep trees for the various shows around Japan. I’ve somehow managed to get one of the trees I styled into the Taikan-ten in Kyoto this november and another into the Sakufu-ten in Tokyo this december. I’ve posted a few new trees in the Before/After section and will be putting up more in the near future. If anyone reading this is planning to be in Kyoto this november for the Taikan-ten, please contact me either through this site or at bjornb7@juno.com I would be happy to meet up with anyone visiting Japan at that time!