What makes a World Class Tree?

chicago1980

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I always hear/read the term world class, especially from my years of Martial Arts involvement.

As I read about some of the wonderful trees of Bonsai across the world and view photos, I started to wonder what defines a world class tree.

Share photos, ideas, concepts, or if the idea of a world class tree is silly.
 

DougB

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A world class bonsai is one that is acclaimed as outstanding by a consensus of the top bonsai practitioners from around the world. The problem would be that there are several camps with different criteria -- traditional Japanese, modern Japanese, Chinese, European, USA natural..............................................(oh boy here we go)

As this is an art form determination of world class is the same criteria as a proclaimed painting or statue.
 

wireme

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Could imagine an international bonsai exhibition I guess, all the best trees worldwide you've ever seen pics of. Then imagine how good a tree would have to be to be accepted into the show with the rest.
Would have to be pretty damn good right?
The standard probably rises a bit every year, bar keeps on going up. I'll bet a lot of trees being called world class ten years ago are just national class now.
 

Adair M

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Could imagine an international bonsai exhibition I guess, all the best trees worldwide you've ever seen pics of. Then imagine how good a tree would have to be to be accepted into the show with the rest.
Would have to be pretty damn good right?
The standard probably rises a bit every year, bar keeps on going up. I'll bet a lot of trees being called world class ten years ago are just national class now.
And the trees change.

In Japan they have this honorary title for some trees: "Important Bonsai Masterpiece". The tree has a little medallion that always hangs on it. I don't know how many there are, maybe (probably!) Bill Valalvanis would know. Now, I've seen some pictures of these trees when they look pretty rough! Then someone comes along and styles it, and PRESTO! Awesomeness!!! I think one of Bjorn's videos documents him working on one.

Some trees are beautiful just because they're beautiful. Some because of the Provenance. (The Hiroshima Tree comes to mind).

There are a lot of really, really nice trees. This past year at Kokofu-ten, they had two shows. They do that every 10 years. So instead of the usual ~250 trees, they had ~500! And none were shown last year!

There are rules about how often a tree can be shown at Kokofu. And rules about if it has won before, it cant be considered for the top prize again! (Again, Bill V knows all the rules!)

Here's an interesting thing: you would think that a tree that recently won Kokofu would be extremely valuable, right? Well, not exactly! Sure, it's valuable, and it will always be famous for it, but here's the thing: the guys who own the trees want to win! Not necessarily own a winning tree! So they will pay MORE for a top contender that MIGHT win than they will for a tree that just won!

While we are on interesting Kokofu stuff, there a famous pot that gets used by a different tree every year. Said to be worth over a $1Million dollars. The owner rents it out for use in the show. $100,000!

Everyone always looks forward to see what tree gets to be shown in it each year!
 

chicago1980

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And the trees change.

In Japan they have this honorary title for some trees: "Important Bonsai Masterpiece". The tree has a little medallion that always hangs on it. I don't know how many there are, maybe (probably!) Bill Valalvanis would know. Now, I've seen some pictures of these trees when they look pretty rough! Then someone comes along and styles it, and PRESTO! Awesomeness!!! I think one of Bjorn's videos documents him working on one.

Some trees are beautiful just because they're beautiful. Some because of the Provenance. (The Hiroshima Tree comes to mind).

There are a lot of really, really nice trees. This past year at Kokofu-ten, they had two shows. They do that every 10 years. So instead of the usual ~250 trees, they had ~500! And none were shown last year!

There are rules about how often a tree can be shown at Kokofu. And rules about if it has won before, it cant be considered for the top prize again! (Again, Bill V knows all the rules!)

Here's an interesting thing: you would think that a tree that recently won Kokofu would be extremely valuable, right? Well, not exactly! Sure, it's valuable, and it will always be famous for it, but here's the thing: the guys who own the trees want to win! Not necessarily own a winning tree! So they will pay MORE for a top contender that MIGHT win than they will for a tree that just won!

While we are on interesting Kokofu stuff, there a famous pot that gets used by a different tree every year. Said to be worth over a $1Million dollars. The owner rents it out for use in the show. $100,000!

Everyone always looks forward to see what tree gets to be shown in it each year!

Thank you Adair, very interesting information on Bonsai and the concept the shows and honors play in a world class Bonsai.
 

Eric Group

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And the trees change.

In Japan they have this honorary title for some trees: "Important Bonsai Masterpiece". The tree has a little medallion that always hangs on it. I don't know how many there are, maybe (probably!) Bill Valalvanis would know. Now, I've seen some pictures of these trees when they look pretty rough! Then someone comes along and styles it, and PRESTO! Awesomeness!!! I think one of Bjorn's videos documents him working on one.

Some trees are beautiful just because they're beautiful. Some because of the Provenance. (The Hiroshima Tree comes to mind).

There are a lot of really, really nice trees. This past year at Kokofu-ten, they had two shows. They do that every 10 years. So instead of the usual ~250 trees, they had ~500! And none were shown last year!

There are rules about how often a tree can be shown at Kokofu. And rules about if it has won before, it cant be considered for the top prize again! (Again, Bill V knows all the rules!)

Here's an interesting thing: you would think that a tree that recently won Kokofu would be extremely valuable, right? Well, not exactly! Sure, it's valuable, and it will always be famous for it, but here's the thing: the guys who own the trees want to win! Not necessarily own a winning tree! So they will pay MORE for a top contender that MIGHT win than they will for a tree that just won!

While we are on interesting Kokofu stuff, there a famous pot that gets used by a different tree every year. Said to be worth over a $1Million dollars. The owner rents it out for use in the show. $100,000!

Everyone always looks forward to see what tree gets to be shown in it each year!
Great info Adair- very interesting stuff! Do you or @William N. Valavanis have any info on this pot- pics perhaps?

Bill would you be willing/able to add anything to Adair's info on the rules? I am intrigued. Not something I will likely experience in my lifetime. I think this gives some interesting potential ideas to US National shows!

It seems reasonable that tree who won may not be able to win again FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, but wouldn't it make sense that a tree could evolve and be better later on? Perhaps a time limit would make more sense for that rule?
 

Vance Wood

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Could imagine an international bonsai exhibition I guess, all the best trees worldwide you've ever seen pics of. Then imagine how good a tree would have to be to be accepted into the show with the rest.
Would have to be pretty damn good right?
The standard probably rises a bit every year, bar keeps on going up. I'll bet a lot of trees being called world class ten years ago are just national class now.
You left out size. I was shocked by the National Show in how large many of these trees are/were. Small (by comparison) trees were fairly rare. The winners were fairly large.
 

Eric Group

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To answer the OP's question in images- which may well be the best/ most entertaining method to answer this question- this my friend is a world class Bonsai (according to Google, which is how we define things in modern society!):IMG_0095.PNG
 

wireme

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And the trees change.

In Japan they have this honorary title for some trees: "Important Bonsai Masterpiece". The tree has a little medallion that always hangs on it. I don't know how many there are, maybe (probably!) Bill Valalvanis would know. Now, I've seen some pictures of these trees when they look pretty rough! Then someone comes along and styles it, and PRESTO! Awesomeness!!! I think one of Bjorn's videos documents him working on one.

Some trees are beautiful just because they're beautiful. Some because of the Provenance. (The Hiroshima Tree comes to mind).

There are a lot of really, really nice trees. This past year at Kokofu-ten, they had two shows. They do that every 10 years. So instead of the usual ~250 trees, they had ~500! And none were shown last year!

There are rules about how often a tree can be shown at Kokofu. And rules about if it has won before, it cant be considered for the top prize again! (Again, Bill V knows all the rules!)

Here's an interesting thing: you would think that a tree that recently won Kokofu would be extremely valuable, right? Well, not exactly! Sure, it's valuable, and it will always be famous for it, but here's the thing: the guys who own the trees want to win! Not necessarily own a winning tree! So they will pay MORE for a top contender that MIGHT win than they will for a tree that just won!

While we are on interesting Kokofu stuff, there a famous pot that gets used by a different tree every year. Said to be worth over a $1Million dollars. The owner rents it out for use in the show. $100,000!

Everyone always looks forward to see what tree gets to be shown in it each year!

Hell of a pot!

I was thinking more about trees from developing bonsai countries as no longer making the cut. I think I've seen European trees years ago on blogs or whatever being called world class or world class material. I think if you asked their owners today about some of the same trees they would have to say well, no not quite, too many better trees out there now. But most of those Japanese masterpieces were there the whole time.
Some countries of course will have way more than others. Can a tree be world class by being among the best in its own country? Were the Jamaican bobsledders world class? They were in the Olympics.
 

chicago1980

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To answer the OP's question in images- which may well be the best/ most entertaining method to answer this question- this my friend is a world class Bonsai (according to Google, which is how we define things in modern society!):View attachment 120195
Ahh ok trusty Google. The wisest of them all.
 

chicago1980

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You left out size. I was shocked by the National Show in how large many of these trees are/were. Small (by comparison) trees were fairly rare. The winners were fairly large.
In the ABS video of a show critique by Bjorn he stated how large Bonsai are at the highest level in Japan. I'll look for the link k.
 

Adair M

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Do you have a photo of this you could post please?
Judy:

I think this might be it. The blue pot. This display won the Kokofu prize that year.

I am not absolutely certain. When Boon told us the story about the pot, we were all sitting around a table, going thru Kokofu books, and Boon pointed it out in the book he was looking at, so I saw it from upside down! But, I believe this may be it. It was blue.

However, my memory was it was a lighter blue and had more variation of color. If I remember, I will ask Boon when I go go there next month.

IMG_0418.JPG

Sorry about the poor photo. It hard to take a picture... the page won't lay flat and the paper is very glossy!
 

chicago1980

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Judy:

I think this might be it. The blue pot. This display won the Kokofu prize that year.

I am not absolutely certain. When Boon told us the story about the pot, we were all sitting around a table, going thru Kokofu books, and Boon pointed it out in the book he was looking at, so I saw it from upside down! But, I believe this may be it. It was blue.

However, my memory was it was a lighter blue and had more variation of color. If I remember, I will ask Boon when I go go there next month.

View attachment 120211

Sorry about the poor photo. It hard to take a picture... the page won't lay flat and the paper is very glossy!
That is a 1 million US pot? Or 1 million yen?
 

Adair M

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That is a 1 million US pot? Or 1 million yen?
The way I heard it, it was in Dollars. Again, I'm not positive it was this one. I had an image in my minds eye, and this came closest that I could find in my Kokofu books. But I only have a couple.

This pot did win! So, there's that!
 

Vance Wood

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This subject is open to opinion. With many artists in many countries producing really beautiful bonsai the term "World Class" may be truly a world wide definition that can only be determined by a world wide jury of sorts. For better or worse the art has become bigger than just any one country.
 

chicago1980

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The way I heard it, it was in Dollars. Again, I'm not positive it was this one. I had an image in my minds eye, and this came closest that I could find in my Kokofu books. But I only have a couple.

This pot did win! So, there's that!
Wowzers!
 

Dan W.

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Hello Chicago, just thought I'd point out that I think the tree you posted from Branded Bonsai has the potential to be a "world class" bonsai. This may not be the most popular opinion amongst many hobbyists... but that tree is deserving of being worked on by the very best artists in the country. If you're able to, I'd suggest you take it to someone like Bjorn, Ryan or one of the others artists who spent years, day after day, mastering their artistry. :)
 

chicago1980

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Hello Chicago, just thought I'd point out that I think the tree you posted from Branded Bonsai has the potential to be a "world class" bonsai. This may not be the most popular opinion amongst many hobbyists... but that tree is deserving of being worked on by the very best artists in the country. If you're able to, I'd suggest you take it to someone like Bjorn, Ryan or one of the others artists who spent years, day after day, mastering their artistry. :)
One can only hope to learn as much as possible with a great artist. I am on the wait list for a 2 year study group with Peter Tea, and if all goes well I will start Ryan Neils program in 2018. Till then I'll keep on practicing, growing and attending workshops. Three weeks till Mauro Stembergers 2 day intensive! I 100% agree that working on that particular tree with the best artist possible is my goal. I hope to work with as many great artist as possible with all my trees.
 
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