Category: Style

While penjing and bonsai share many characteristics, they are different in many ways. And we often can find many casual and sloppy cross reference of penjing and bonsai (me too, guilty as charged. Since many people know the meaning of bonsai but not the meaning of penjing, sometimes I will refer a penjing to bonsai.)

Today, I came across Robert Steven’s blog and read his thoughts about penjing and bonsai. It is really thought provoking. Not only he talks about the basic foundational difference and similarities between penjing and bonsai like I did in Chinese Penjing and Japanese Bonsai, but Robert Steven also shares his thoughts on the style of an artist as well as the appreciation of artwork.

In my opinion, the term “authentic” has no relevance to art. An artist should be able to make his own statement of character and identity. I am not trying to create my own style, but rather trying to find new, innovative possibilities based on my own applications of aesthetic concepts. There is no absolute in art and beauty. For appreciation of artistic creation to occur there should be an emotional interaction between the art object and the viewer. This requires communication between the art object and the viewer.

And I really like how Robert Steven says it is the joyful process that matters, but not the final destination. This concept it quite different from what I have been taught. Not that I am taught not to enjoy the process, but it is the final “product” that counts the most. This gives me quite some pressure sometimes, especially when I mistakenly make the wrong cut (oopps… there goes 5 years!). By focusing too much on the technical aspect and getting too nervous about doing the “right” thing, sometimes I find myself missing the joyful process of being with my trees.

In making bonsai, I am not too concerned with the final destination, but rather with the joyful process. I enjoy the slow process of revealing the character and identity of the tree — a process that brings my life into parallel with the tree’s life journey. This sort of endeavor is more of an active meditative process and the cultivation of a soulful relationship with the artistic medium, instead of simply a superficial exploration of the medium. The communication between my medium and me may not take place with verbal communication, but there is an echo of understanding, nonetheless.

I wish Robert Steven will take a tour to Hong Kong and share with us his techniques and thoughts on bonsai someday.

I would also suggest you to read Robert Steven’s Introduction. Very interesting 🙂

Photo taken from The Bonsai Blog of Robert Steven.

In Lingnan Penjing, there are three main ways to attach a tree to a rock for landscape penjing.

• Root-Attaching (附根)
• Stem-Attaching (附莖)
• Ride-on-Rock (騎石, similar to Sekijoju)

Since the first day I learned landscape penjing, I have been told that root-attaching method is the most challenging, yet, yields the most spectacular scenery in landscape penjing. And while stem-attaching comes second, ride-on-rock method comes last. Indeed, Teacher Wong tells us not to use ride-on-rock method, but encourages us to use root-attaching method and stem-attaching method when making our landscape penjing.

Root-Attaching (附根) and Stem-Attaching (附莖)

Root-Attaching is a method in which the roots of the bonsai tree grows along and attaches to the cracks of the rocks. The roots attach onto the rock firmly enough and can hold up the tree strongly on the rock. Root-Attaching method needs a small tree with very long roots to begin with. If there is no small tree with long roots on hand, we will retreat to using stem-attaching method which attach the stem on the rock while allowing the roots to grow in the soil of the bonsai pot.

Ride-on-Rock (騎石, similar to Sekijoju)

Similar to Japanese bonsai’s Sekijoju, ride-on-rock is a method in which the bonsai tree grows on top of the rock, and the roots of the tree wraps around a rock. The rock is the base of the trunk, with the roots exposed to different angles as they traverse the rock and then descend into the soil below.

It is said that Chinese penjing is a landscape painting in three dimensions. Unlike Japanese bonsai, Chinese penjing portrays and recreate a scene we find in nature.

Similar to Chinese poetry and landscape painting which rely on a very limited amount of content to portray a vast scene in the mind of listener/viewer, Chinese penjing uses only a limited number of elements to portray and relive the whole nature scene in the mind of the viewers. Chinese penjing artists adopt many of the principles encountered in traditional landscape painting. They observe the ways trees are rendered in these paintings, and then strive for similar effects in their work.

Landscape paintings of Zhang Da-qian (張大千) (1899～1983) – one of the best-known and most prodigious Chinese artists of the twentieth century

One of the most pleasing aspects of Chinese penjing is its impressionistic appearance. Penjing, or landscape bonsai, in particular, strongly resemble the brushstroke paintings of the literati and zen schools. The freedom and informality of these compositions have a freshness which is probably unique in the art of penjing. Although penjing artist follow some basic principles and guidelines, no strict rules apply.

The influence of Chinese painting is perhaps most clearly seen in the cascade and literati style of Chinese penjing, which have the most unusual and refreshing quality. The sharp angular shape of the trunk and the sweeping curves of the branches resemble the brushstrokes peculiar to Chinese paintings.

Since Chinese penjing, landscape painting, and poetry are intimately linked, it is important for a penjing artist to study poetry and painting, especially landscape painting in order to create high quality penjing.

Landscape paintings of Tang Yin(唐寅)aka Tang Bohu (唐伯虎)(1470-1523)- a Chinese scholar, painter, calligrapher, and poet of the Ming Dynasty period

Landscape bonsai / penjing of Zhao Qing Quan (赵庆泉) – one of the best known penjing artists to Western audiences, pioneer of water-and-land penjing (Check out this post – Making My Water-and-Land Penjing (Part 1) to learn how to make a water-and-land penjing)

Put aside the argument of whether or not Saika Bonsai style is real bonsai, Saika Bonsai (彩花盆栽) has surely given the ancient bonsai art a refreshing look. And Kaori Yamada (山田香織) – the daughter of one of the most famous bonsai artists in Japan – definitely is one of the most prominent in Saika Bonsai art.

Kaori Yamada is famous not only as a bonsai artist, but also as a TV personality (she started to appear on TV hobby programs as a bonsai instructor in 2002), an author, and bonsai teacher, with her school based in her home in Omiya, Saitama Prefecture. All this exposure has made her the face of the new generation of bonsai artists in Japan.

Kaori Yamada is very different from the other famous bonsai artists in her country. For one thing, she is a woman, pursuing an art form that has been predominant by men for centuries. Maybe it is the bonsai style of Kaori Yamada and the ambiance of her bonsai workshops, Yamada’s workshops are proven popular, especially among young women. And since Kaori Yamada is young (32 years old), she understand very well the busy lifestyle and mentality of the younger generation today.

Many people find no interest in bonsai due to their perception that bonsai is a hobby of elderly man that requires tremendous skills and patience. But Saika Bonsai has made bonsai art more approachable, manageable, and hence, more appealing to the younger generation. Okay, Saika Bonsai may have twisted the ancient bonsai art a bit too far. But the attention on bonsai art that Kaori Yamada has gotten from the younger generation and the interests and involvement that Kaori Yamada has generated are awesome. For this, I would like to give Kaori Yamada a big round of applause.

Here are an interview with Kaori Yamada of Seikouen and a basic introduction of the make and care of bonsai (in both Japanese and English).

In this program, CBS Sunday Morning explains what bonsai is, the difference between Japanese bonsai and Chinese penjing, as well as how the art of bonsai is introduced to the United States. This program of bonsai is a short, yet, well explained one, giving the viewers a quick and clear idea of what bonsai really is.

I hope there will be more programs, like this one, introducing the art of bonsai to more people. One may get hooked onto a lifetime fascination by merely a short TV program, or a few words of a friend, or even just a whimsy idea while shopping in a mall. Who knows. A program like this one or a website like Happy Bonsai may get a few more people fall in love and get addicted to these small wonders of nature.

Bonsai can be classified into different groups by size. The size of bonsai is generally measured as the distance between the top of the soil and the apex of the bonsai tree. Below is the classification of bonsai of different sizes.

Keishi Bonsai (thumb size) – Up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) in height
Shito Bonsai (very small) – Up to 3 inch (7.5 cm) in height
Mame Bonsai (mini) – Up to 6 inch (15 cm) in height
Shohin Bonsai (small) – Up to 8 inch (20 cm) in height
Kifu Sho Bonsai (medium) – Up to 16 inch (40.5 cm) in height
Chu Bonsai (medium large) – Up to 24 (61 cm) inch in height
Dai Bonsai (large) – Up to 40 (101.5 cm) inch in height

These are some standard rules that become important and helpful in shows and competitions. Yet, often, these measures are not sharply outlined, and the exact height of the bonsai tree does not hold very strictly. For example, the majority of shohin bonsai at most bonsai shows are approximately 8 inches (20 cm) or less in height. Yet, an elegant, slim bonsai tree may easily override the limit in height but still be considered as a shohin. And this is same for mame bonsai.

Basically, the main “rule” is that we must be able to hold our shohin bonsai and mame bonsai in one hand, on our palm. They must express the beauty of a large aged tree in miniature.