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Terrific Tosho

November 20, 2012 by Jonas Dupuich

The bonsai museum at Shinpukuji Temple features some great tosho, or needle juniper. Here are some of my favorites.

Needle juniper

Boon and tosho

Many needle juniper bonsai are collected. Among the most prized features are knobby deadwood – ibo-jin, or wart-jin, in Japanese – and thin life lines with good movement.

Needle juniper deadwood

Ibo-jin

Needle juniper

Needle juniper

Formal upright specimens feature narrow life lines but often have less bumpy jin.

Needle juniper

Formal upright needle juniper

Developing needle juniper branch pads requires time. New shoots grow and are cut back once or twice a year – the exact shapes are a matter of style.

Needle juniper

Twin trunk needle juniper

Needle juniper

Needle juniper

I haven’t seen many developed needle junipers in the U.S., but I hope that will someday change.

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Filed Under: Excursions Tagged With: Japan, Needle Juniper, Tosho

Previous Post: « Shinpukuji Bonsai Museum
Next Post: Highlights from Shinpukuji Bonsai Museum »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. yenling29 says

    November 20, 2012 at 7:42 am

    I sure love ibo-jin on needle juniper. I also seem to find similar type of jin on some Sierra junipers. I feel like Sierra reminds me somewhat of a cross between Shimpaku and Tosho.

  2. Jose Luis says

    November 20, 2012 at 4:37 pm

    I thought ibo jin meant porcupine jin?

  3. Jose Luis says

    November 20, 2012 at 4:46 pm

    Anyhow, Great Tosho bonsai. I too feel they are a bit underrated as bonsai. Beautiful!

  4. Steve Moore says

    November 21, 2012 at 4:12 am

    Excellent — excellent — trees! Thanks for posting these pics.

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