One of my weaknesses.. I have no mercy on the trees.
Finally; you said what I have always thought.
What do we all oooo and ahh over?
What do we all lust for? even if
only in the secrecy of our hearts?
Why are terms mis-used to "up" the price/legitimacy of a
particularly half assed tree? Though they are are spectacular; a
"yamadori" [to me] must be legitimately yamadori. It must be shaped
by the forces of nature. Some crap shrub you dug from your neigh-
bor's yard or curbside is not.
However, I am a force of nature too. As
are you, the nursery man who throws a bunch of rejects in a ditch,
the cat that knocks a plant off the bench, or the person with the
stones to walk up and "rip" an offending limb off a tree--all of them
are forces of nature. Quit being so absolutely uptight that it takes a
committee decision to even "nip the tips" of a maple.
It is a tree.
We put them in bondage; "wire/bend" their limbs; even steam the bones
and bend them; throw screen over them to crush them; hang weights
from their limbs; split their bodies; etc.; etc. All to
hopefully mimic some
other 'force of nature"s work. Mercy? I am not a judge; I am the prosecutor.
A lovely placid maple all alone in a field still "shows the signs" of age and
maturity.
So long as you worry about being "gentle/careful" with everything you do
you will never achieve that 'look' we all so deeply long for. Stir it up a bit.
Be a little rough sometimes. Otherwise? enjoy your cute cookie cutter
excuse for a bonsai.