The shohin symposium was a real charge. I met many great bonsai friends and learned a lot of new (and old) techniques for beautifying our shohin bonsai. The exhibit was better than I expected. Folks are really progressing in the artform. Bill Valavanis always puts on a top notch show and this one was no exception. I did get a chance to spend some time with one of my teachers, Kenji Miyata, who now resides in California. When he first came to the US, he spent 6 months a year (for four consecutive years) on a work visa at New England Bonsai Gardens (where I work) until he was able to secure citizenship. Kenji apprenticed with Mr. Yashuo Mitsuya in Japan. Mitsuya, who is well known in the US – having worked at many conventions here, studied at Daiju en, the home of the famous Suzuki family of bonsai artists. Kenji still refers to Tosh Suzuki as his ‘father’ – many apprentices have this kind of relationship with their teachers.
We were discussing the styling of bonsai and how that styling relates to the long term health of a particular tree. The Suzuki family practices what may be termed the ‘old style’ bonsai tradition in Japan. Bonsai are styled slowly with the intention of making a beautiful tree with emphasis on correct branching, taper, movement, etc achieved by proper growing techniques. Basically it is a slower way to develop a beautiful bonsai but, in the long term, a healthier way. Kenji feels that some contemporary bonsai artists opt for a quicker way to achieve a nice design by wiring branches in dramatic fashion to create a nice canopy BUT, he feels that the long term overall health of the tree may be compromised and problems may thus arise over time. It is something to ponder. I have seen Kenji work trees in a more subtle manner and achieve a simpler beauty than might have been achieved with the ‘quicker’ methods that others use. I am not eschewing one version over another but it is hard to criticize Kenji’s approach. Besides impeccable credentials, working with him daily at the nursery convinced me of the value of his technique. He often spoke of the ‘future’ of a tree. By future, he was referring to 5, 10, 15 or 20 years in the future! How often do we think of that far ahead while working with a particular tree? It reminded me of a visit to Japan bonsai grower who was in his 40’s. He showed us a 3 acre field of beautiful black pines growing in the ground preparing to be bonsai. These trees were to die for! He explained that they were not quite ready. We asked how long they were in the ground. He said that they were planted over 30 years ago by his father! He was caring for these trees with proper seasonal trimming, root pruning, etc. as well as paying high taxes for the land, watering, etc. but waiting until they were ‘ready’.
Lets remember that our trees have a life to live and, though we want them to be beautiful and healthy, we can take our time doing it, following their natural rhythm and time. I have some little Japanese maples that I started from seed 6 years ago. They are growing slowly (trained in pots only) but I have been carefully developing them so as to avoid scars, etc. it will take longer to achieve something (hopefully) nice and maybe someone after me can finish the work I started…. the cycle will continue…
Here is one of my favorite quotes by Tosh Suzuki’s father (considered the father of the zuisho variety of japanese white pine)
“In order to create art of your own time, there’s no simple formula. You just have to keep working at it while you are doing it. You feel you must make something quite different from anything you have ever seen. This does not mean that you malign the past; you perpetuate the good points of the old style and in addition you try to produce something even better. That is the mission of those who respect their era. Bonsai, which is a legacy for the generations to come, must not be a mere repetition of the past. Then the achievement of the generation before us will be meaningless… Bonsai is a very difficult art and if someone asks for a simple formula for it, you cannot give it. In the case of a painting, when the picture is finished it is completed and stabilized. But in the case of bonsai, it will always be changing. It’s a perpetual motion. How skillfully you can manage this changing object is the problem. Of course, this very problem provides us with a challenge and enjoyment as well. I always strive to free myself of a set bonsai style. To express it radically, even opposite or wheel formation branches should be made into a pleasing form without undue stress. Yet there are no set rules for doing it. Nature creates far more mysterious things than man’s imagination can come up with. So if you take in interesting forms of nature into the world of bonsai, it will be a great help to those who aspire to learn the technique.”
~ Saichi Suzuki, Daiju-en (Okazaki, Japan)