I follow the work of mostly western bonsaika, be it beginners or intermediaries or pro or pro in disguise.
The Japanese scene is still a bit blurry for me, and even if I do follow a few names here and there that I found on the net or in conversations, the Japanese bonsaika influence that marked my mind is still Mr. Masahiko Kimura (the bonsaika, not the judoka).
Some time ago I stumbled on this video of a bonsai exposition of Bonsai Master, Mr. Tomio Yamada.
From the youtube description:
Mr. Tomio Yamada is running Bonsai Garden called " Seikou-en " at Bonsai Village in Saitama City. His reputation have been spredding not only in Japan but also all over the world. Year by year he is handing his techniqs and ideas over to his cute daughter Kaori. She is also breading bonsais, teaching bonsai and cultivating her own bonsai world.
I watched it at least 5 times, I went back and paused the videos on each individual tree over and over.
The trees are by all account styled in what some people would call the "traditional Japanese way",
but what caught my eye was the fact that some of those miniature trees looked twig like with no significant taper, yet still well balanced and in harmony with the overall design.
By twig like I mean that there is no apparent taper, but none the less when you look at them you see the tree in the pot. I have a few of those twig like materials, and I'm still struggling to draw out the tree in them.
I know that not all material can make good bonsai, but those were materials that I had started and trained to make them into bonsai... eventually... someday... maybe...
Another composition that caught my eye was the forest at 4:00.
It reminded me a lot of a Saika Bonsai for some reason, it looked like a mix of forest and floral composition.
The mixture of several tree species, 3 that I could make out, in the same composition made me smile when I try to think of the comments that it might generate on some forums if the suggestion was made.
Personally I don't like the Saika Bonsai that look more like a floral table piece, but for me this forest looks a lot like a Saika Bonsai style/composition. So I said why not look again into this Saika Bonsai school of though, maybe I missed something when I first stumbled on it.
I knew of Saika bonsai for some years, and always associated it as a recent trend but never really got the names of the artists doing it. But it turns out that this style was created by Mr. Tomio Yamada who started to advocate it 25 years or more ago, and now it is his daughter Ms. Kaori Yamada who is developping this style further more.
“Seika En” the shop with a wide variety of Bonsai products, from a 500-year old tree to a stylish modern one.
“Seika En” is an old and established Bonsai garden shop that was founded in Edo/Kaei period (1848-1854). The shop moved to Bonsai village from Negishi, Taito ku, Tokyo to escape war damage in the era of the shop’s third generation owner. The shop has seen continued success in the “Edomae” style. This focuses importance on spontaneous foliage, to form its foundation. At present Mr. Tomio Yamada, the fourth generation owns the shop and garden. At this store, in addition to traditional style (Bonsai), it advocates “Saika Bonsai (Flower decoration bonsai)” this is the form of group planting style in a free-thinking pot. This is the shop’s original style that the owner started to advocate 25 years ago. Now, Ms. Kaori Yamada, the 5th generation has made great efforts to develop the style. Its colorful style of group planting with young trees and grasses from the fields and mountains in pots of various shapes is especially popular among young women as it fits their modern life-style.
http://www.adventurejapan.net/english/saitama/bonsai.htmlThat's it for now, thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment