Category: Style

You probably know that bonsai are the miniaturized versions of the big, aged trees found in nature. But do you know that bonsai have their miniature versions as well? These bonsai trees are commonly known as shohin bonsai and mame bonsai.

“Shohin” is a Japanese word. It means “tiny thing” and in the bonsai world, shohin bonsai refers to trees that are within a certain size, 6” – 8” to be specific. As for “mame”, it is a Japanese word that literally means “bean”. In terms of bonsai, it is the mini bonsai between 3” – 6“. And because mame bonsai and shohin bonsai are so small, they can easily fit onto our palm.

Check out this articles for more details on Classification of Bonsai Tree Based on Size.

The Challenges of Training Shohin Bonsai and Mame Bonsai

Creating mini bonsai is surely an arduous task. While growing and training a normal bonsai tree is difficult enough, training a bonsai as incredibly small as a mame bonsai is definitely a challenge. One has to create the image of an aged tree with the extremely small amount of soil and foliage in mini bonsai. It becomes essential to fully understand the dynamics of plant growth in such a constricted environment. In addition, with the limited amount of branches and foliage in a shohin bonsai, or even smaller, in a mame bonsai, the bonsai artist has to use some imagination when she visualizes the bonsai tree.

The Lure of Mini Bonsai

While shohin bonsai and mame bonsai bonsai is very challenging and demand lots of time and attention, these little bonsai trees surely have their advantages that fascinate so many bonsai artists.  Mini  bonsai gives apartment dwellers the opportunity to grow bonsai and keep quite a large number of bonsai trees on their balcony or windowsills. With limited space, apartment dwellers can also enjoy the thrill of bonsai on a small scale. And without the use of a turn table, we can just pick up our shohin bonsai, twist and turn the trees easily to view the structure, roots, and trunk of the trees. We can easily bring our shohin bonsai to the living room, sit in a couch and study our shohin bonsai before pruning and trimming them.

Since my first bonsai class, I have learned that there are two distinct regional variations in Chinese bonsai (penjing) – the Southern style and the Northern style. My teacher kept telling us that the Southern style is the better one, and I always thought what he said was a bias statement that purely based on personal taste. Yet, after I learned more about bonsai, I have to agree with what my teacher said.

What Have Caused the Differences?

Cultural differences account for some of the variation, but the main factor, really, is the difference in the natural environment and climate. China’s South has high temperatures and high levels of humidity most of the year. Along the Yangtze River, the growing season is much shorter. There, establishing a tree’s shape without wiring would be difficult, if not impossible.

As said earlier in another post – Chinese Penjing & Japanese Bonsai, the main difference between bonsai and penjing (or Chinese bonsai) is one of scope. While Japanese bonsai is about perfecting a miniature tree in the container, Chinese penjing is about creating natural scenes using different elements of nature like rocks, stones, water, sand, and of course, trees.

Here, let me introduce you to three main categories of penjing.

Shumu Penjing (樹木盆景)

Shumu penjing (or tree penjing) depicts the image of one or several trees. Trees are the main material and form the dominant element in the composition. What’s called “shumu penjing” in China and “bonsai” in Japan and today in the west are actually rooted in the same concept. This concept has manifested itself in different styles, yet, the underlying idea remains the same. Here are some examples of bonsai styles: Informal Upright, Twin or Multi-Trunk, Slanting, Semi-Cascade, Cascade Literati, Driftwood.

Examples of Shumu Penjing (tree penjing) found in 2009 Guangzhou Penjing (Bonsai) Exhibition

Let’s start from the basic understanding of the words, “bonsai,” (Japanese) and “penjing” (Mandarin). “Bonsai” (盆栽) is a Japanese term meaning “tree in a pot “, and “penjing” (盆景) is a Chinese term meaning “landscape in a pot”. With the meanings of these two terms, we have a hint that the Chinese penjing is more of reproducing a miniature landscape than creating a perfect tree as Japanese are trying with their bonsai.