Japan Maple Love

[Brian Van Fleet]

Thanks M5, truly inspirational. Happy 4th everyone!

 

[MACH5]

Great Stuff Mach! Glad to see I am not the only one that fights weeds in my trees
John

Thanks John. Indeed! I saw nurseries where weeds were rampant and others where you could eat off the floor like at Taisho-en. I suspect this may be due in part to the help they have at their disposal.

Great photos! Thanks for posting them. I could spend days there admiring those big Japanese Maples...

Yes I could too! I wished I could have taken even more photos and visited other places but time was limited and constant rain definitely made things difficult.

Thanks for staying up late and uploading all those sexy pictures to the internet.

I like all your maples too, I think I am developing a maple fetish.

Thanks Dirty! No problem, what are these photos for if not shared with people that I know will appreciate them

Wow, thank you for such a detailed set of pictures. I found a lot to love, but for me (and surprising to me) the best ones were the little guys. Maybe I'll have to look at doing more shohin...
Some cool stuff, I'll be browsing these photos for some time.

Yes I may have to agree with you Judy that at least in this set of photographs the better ones may be of the shohin. Most of those were from Mr. Urushibata (Taisho-en) who is known for his shohin work. Some of those are around 40 years old and all grown in pots for that length of time!

This is a fantastic post for all of the maple lovers. Inspiration indeed.

Thanks Gaitano! I have another trip planned for 2015 and I plan to visit the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum and the Green Club. I should be able to take some great and very inspiring photos there!!

Thanks for posting these pictures, Mach, wonderful trees! Fwiw, with only a few exceptions, I believe your personal trees would stand up favorably to any of the trees in the pics....

Thanks Dave. That is awfully kind of you! This may be one of those rare times that I will choose to respectfully disagree with you

 

[MACH5]

Thanks M5, truly inspirational. Happy 4th everyone!

Thanks Brian and you as well!

 

[lordy]

M5, the essence of awe inspiring. Thank you for taking and posting all these. No small feat, indeed.

 

[Dan W.]

Thanks M5!!! Incredibly inspiring. And it's nice to know that not every Japanese bonsai nursery is perfectly groomed and weed free... Makes me feel better. Lol

 

[Smoke]

Those are some great photo's to have. I have no idea if the meting cheese nebari is something you like, but for me, thanks for the many closeups, It has given me hope in the fact that I can see the evidence of how its done. Much like what Gary Wood has published and I am working on currently. Now if I can just live long enough to see the fruits....

 

[MACH5]

Those are some great photo's to have. I have no idea if the meting cheese nebari is something you like, but for me, thanks for the many closeups, It has given me hope in the fact that I can see the evidence of how its done. Much like what Gary Wood has published and I am working on currently. Now if I can just live long enough to see the fruits....

Al thanks! I am happy the pics are useful to you The close ups I took of the various "melting" nebari were ones I liked because they were within the limits of what you might see in nature. The extremely exaggerated melting nebari that we often see from Japan I personally don't love. They almost just look grotesque to me. With that said, I very much appreciate the skill and time that go into the creation of one. The Japanese have a tendency to exaggerate nature in bonsai and their expression of it are often highly stylized trees that sit outside of what might be deemed natural. It is their own particular artistic POV that I do respect and admire regardless of my own taste.

As always please do share any methods/techniques to better nebari development. I personally cannot ever know enough about proper nebari development methods!!

 

[KayaMooney]

Yep, zone envys kicking in pretty hard right now.

 

[Don Blackmond]

Al thanks! I am happy the pics are useful to you The close ups I took of the various "melting" nebari were ones I liked because they were within the limits of what you might see in nature. The extremely exaggerated melting nebari that we often see from Japan I personally don't love. They almost just look grotesque to me. With that said, I very much appreciate the skill and time that go into the creation of one. The Japanese have a tendency to exaggerate nature in bonsai and their expression of it are often highly stylized trees that sit outside of what might be deemed natural. It is their own particular artistic POV that I do respect and admire regardless of my own taste.

As always please do share any methods/techniques to better nebari development. I personally cannot ever know enough about proper nebari development methods!!

I rarely see a Japanese bonsai that looks natural. There are some maples, but even those look contrived. If the goal is to make a bonsai tree look like a miniature tree you'd find in nature, then the goal rarely gets met. If the goal is to make beautiful trees, then the goal gets met often. Most people think bonsai are supposed to look like miniature real trees. Nature does not follow bonsai rules. Branch structure, scale, taper, etc mean nothing to nature, but mean everything to bonsai rules.

 

[Smoke]

I rarely see a Japanese bonsai that looks natural. There are some maples, but even those look contrived. If the goal is to make a bonsai tree look like a miniature tree you'd find in nature, then the goal rarely gets met. If the goal is to make beautiful trees, then the goal gets met often. Most people think bonsai are supposed to look like miniature real trees. Nature does not follow bonsai rules. Branch structure, scale, taper, etc mean nothing to nature, but mean everything to bonsai rules.

That is the most tantalizing paragraph I have ever read. You know you are pretty deep, kind of the Paul Harvey of our day about bonsai. Thanks, Al