Share Your MAPLE LITERATIS

[Bananaman]

This is where the confusion was.....

Bonsai literati are related to these two arts.

 

[bonsaichile]

This is where the confusion was.....

I see that. Since the question was about the aesthetics of bunjin, I tried to point out some analogies.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Ha! That's the million dollar question!

I think there are some trees that you look and and it's obvious you would call them "literati", but there is a very broad transition from those to what might be called slanting or even informal upright in some cases. I often refer to those kinds trees as "literati-ish" when they have that simple/elegant/long/thin form because I have no idea where the line is.

Not really. Per Mirai Live Stream Literati creation. 1. Sparse foliage 2.Equates also sparse branching 3."Generally" branching high up long thin trunk. Can be most styles but generally expected to look as if years of privation/suffering. If memory is correct Ryan said Literati(bunjin?)means sparse foliage(or branching).
If wishing to argue study under master Kimura 6 years first. See Mirai video The apprenticeship. Very humbling. Then argue.

 

[Bananaman]

Not really. Per Mirai Live Stream Literati creation. 1. Sparse foliage 2.Equates also sparse branching 3."Generally" branching high up long thin trunk. Can be most styles but generally expected to look as if years of privation/suffering. If memory is correct Ryan said Literati(bunjin?)means sparse foliage(or branching).
If wishing to argue study under master Kimura 6 years first. See Mirai video The apprenticeship. Very humbling. Then argue.

I have known Ryan for over twenty years, personally. He works the trees here in Fresno at the collection. None of your jibberish above makes any sense. I'm not sure you even understand what we are arguing about cause your explanation is not even in context.

Believe it or not Ryan used to ask me how to shape his junipers before he went to Japan....

 

[Owen Reich]

Thanks for this thread - I’ve always been in love with the idea of maple literati without necessarily ever having seen one. The trees in the Kyoto moss gardens seem to be modeling for them. The challenge is maybe to make it a literati that still looks like a maple.

The maples in the Kyoto gardens are modeled after the maples in nearby valleys and river sides. The bonsai I make / want to make are also modeled after that wild maples in Japan. I’ll start a thread sometime with photos of Acer palmatum.

 

[Owen Reich]

@Owen Reich had a really beautiful one at the National Exhibition in 2014. I have this image on my computer - I didn't take it and unfortunately I don't remember where I got it. Maybe Owen can provide a better photo and some info about his design. It was one of my favorites from that show.

View attachment 219849

Container is by Sharon Edwards Russell of Lang Studio. Chosen for the gradation of color in the glaze. Wood slab by David Knittle. Scroll was a mountain scene. Supporting element was a freshwater mountain crab (known as sawagani). I dented the moss in the center to suggest a water edge. Planted the tree at 4 am before my local show that I was in charge of from a $1 seedling I picked out of a big batch a year before.

The important thing is not the cost of the tree or the fact that the design happened fast. I had the idea for this display years before and slowly acquired the display elements. There is intent in this display. The mountains north of Kyoto are in this design and hopefully, a little bit of the feelings they evoke.

 

[cockroach]

Your welcome.

*You're
lol
Sorry couldn't resist stirring the the pot with literati stick.

 

[Bananaman]

*You're
lol
Sorry couldn't resist stirring the the pot with literati stick.

I have the Trump Give Away computer. Not loaded with the best thesaurus.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

The maples in the Kyoto gardens are modeled after the maples in nearby valleys and river sides. The bonsai I make / want to make are also modeled after that wild maples in Japan. I’ll start a thread sometime with photos of Acer palmatum.

looking forward to this thread

 

[coh]

Believe it or not Ryan used to ask me how to shape his junipers before he went to Japan....

Ah, that must explain all the bad habits that Ryan said he had to unlearn during his apprenticeship! Makes sense now

 

[Paulpash]

I have known Ryan for over twenty years, personally.

Believe it or not Ryan used to ask me how to shape his junipers before he went to Japan....

OMFG and you have a pop @Adair M for supposedly mentioning Boon all the time - you name drop Ryan into the conversation wayyyyyyyyy too much. All we need now is you to tell us how you and him made wire horsies way back when and sang cum by ya....

 

[Velodog2]

When I picture “literati” deciduous I also think of east coast understory trees, often growing at the edge of a wood. Their trunks are long, relatively thin, and usually graceful, as a result of reaching out from under larger trees seeking light.

Nice full-sized examples are easy to find in my area. Japanese maples haven’t naturalized much here but Eastern redbud make outstanding ones and they have the bonus features of flakey craggy bark when they age, and branches that turn bright purple in spring.

These are what I’d try to reproduce if I were to attempt this. They are much like Owen’s show tree. Different from most evergreen literati and maybe they don’t qualify as that style depending on which of the many definitions you prefer, but I don’t know what else you would call it.

One way they would differ from a more traditional example of the style is a lack of descending branches. Like Owen’s these trees are reaching. Snow load is not one of the major hardships they endure. That’s the dissonance I perceive with the op picture. To me it’s conflicted in its branch movement and in comparison to the trunk movement.

 

[Sn0W]

I think this thread would benefit from people posting tree's from nature that they would consider deciduous literati

 

[Bananaman]

OMFG and you have a pop @Adair M for supposedly mentioning Boon all the time - you name drop Ryan into the conversation wayyyyyyyyy too much. All we need now is you to tell us how you and him made wire horsies way back when and sang cum by ya....

It must suck to be you. Never having anything to show and just taking personal jabs at people showing your envy. Cheer up it’s the holidays.

 

[Paulpash]

It must suck to be you. Never having anything to show and just taking personal jabs at people showing your envy. Cheer up it’s the holidays.

I posted in the Winter Silhouette thread less than an hour ago - check it out. You've taken unnecessary pops at many members on here in the past, myself included. It's not nice is it?

 

[Deleted member 21616]

This started off as a thread with a lot of potential. I think we should stick to the topic as much as possible.

Attached is a Japanese courtyard garden. The main tree is not a literati (or maybe it is?) but I could see how a literati could work in this kind a layout.

@Velodog2 mentioned literati as understory trees, and I think that the courtyard is an environment that can have that 'understory effect'.

I noticed that a lot of literati are in small round pots. I like this a lot, but maybe small round pots are not the best way to recall that 'understory' ethos. I think wide rectangular pots could be interesting, in so far as they offer the opportunity to create something more reminiscent (if not a fascimile) of the japanese courtyard.

I think that we all agree that Owen's tree-pot combo made great use of negative space. Perhaps a 'courtyard design' literati would play long those lines?

Thoughts?

 

[Velodog2]

I just pulled this twin trunk kiyohime air layer out of storage for a quick pic. It is in the direction we’ve been discussing, although I’ve just started work on it. I picture it trying to escape from surrounding foliage, one trunk going high, the other sneaking out below. This was part of a clump or octopus style tree until last spring when my cat decided otherwise. I like it better now.

 

[Owen Reich]

This is my favorite maple. Considered in the top 3 of all Japanese maple bunjin. Will look for some more photos of this tree as well.

Either Julian or Kaya just took this pic at Kouka-en. Got to keep those new apprentices in line!

 

[Deleted member 21616]

 

[Velodog2]

This is my favorite maple. Considered in the top 3 of all Japanese maple bunjin.

Well, that makes maple literati a real thing then! Although it’s different from what I was picturing it is amazing. Would love to see more pics and more examples. Thanks Owen!