You can often tell the species of a tree by its shape. The tree below could be one of three different species – needle juniper, cryptomeria, or hinoki cypress. Looking closer at the foliage,we can see this is a hinoki, a species that’s commonly styled as formal upright bonsai with highly refined branch pads. Formal […]
Search Results for: pine
“Bonsai: Quest for Beauty” at the Omiya Bonsai Museum
The Omiya Bonsai Museum held an exhibit this winter featuring the work of Tomio Yamada of Seiko-en. “Bonsai: Quest for Beauty,” is the third exhibit in a series featuring the work of contemporary bonsai masters. From Yamada: It’s been over fifty years since the way of bonsai first called to me and I started creating […]
A visit to Kimura’s bonsai garden
I’m glad I made it to Masahiko Kimura’s garden this year. I had an hour before the sun went down which was just enough time to visit some of my favorite trees and take a few photos. Posing with a Japanese black pine Looking closely at the trees in Kimura’s garden reveals the characteristics we […]
Onuma’s mini-bonsai growing techniques
A number of you wrote with questions about the techniques Kazuo Onuma uses to create his mini-bonsai last week. Here are some answers! Chojubai Onuma grows chojubai by starting young cuttings in round, plastic containers. After several years, he removes the containers and lets the soil – red lava in this case – fall away […]
Onuma’s mini-sized bonsai
After spending two days in the Tokyo area to see the Kokufu exhibit, I took a day trip to Shizuoka to visit Kazuo Onuma. Onuma is a grower who specializes in mini-sized bonsai. He’s been working with trees for twenty-five years and has been serious about it for the last fifteen. The effort has paid […]