At Gafu-ten, Japan’s premier shohin exhibit, there are a number of different judging categories. This allows the judges to recognize the best contributions for a particular type of tree or display. Some of the key categories include: Over 70 cm (the box stand for the display is 80 cm wide) 70 cm (the box stand […]
Shohin
Anatomy of a shohin display
One of the first displays to catch my attention at this year’s Gafu-ten exhibit featured six trees and an accent plant. Award-winning display at the 2019 Gafu-ten held in Kyoto, Japan Unlike the display of larger bonsai, shohin display entails complex relationships among all of the trees in the composition. As the number of trees […]
Follow-up – defoliating a shohin Japanese maple
I fully defoliated a shohin Japanese maple about six weeks ago. Here’s what the tree looked like after removing all of the leaves. Shohin Japanese maple – April 30 After a week, small buds started to appear along the branches. May 10 – new buds appear Tiny back buds The first new leaves waited almost […]
Defoliating a shohin Japanese maple
I started working on a shohin Japanese maple about a year and a half ago. Here’s what it looked like at the end of 2016. Shohin Japanese maple The first order of business was repotting. I found the tree didn’t have a lot of roots so I was expecting it to grow slowly. And as […]
Alternative approach to creating shohin pine bonsai
I’ve been following the same approach to creating pine bonsai for the past few years now. It’s time for a change! I outlined the basic approach for starting informal upright pines five years ago (see “Wiring 3-year-old black pines“). Sometimes, instead of removing the lowest needles before wiring, I leave all of the needles on […]