After reviewing my score sheet from my recent bonsai show, I realized how few of the Japanese bonsai terms I really knew. I had always been familiar with the more common ones like jin, shari, nebari, shohin, and so on, but there were a number that I had never heard of before. Not wanting to find myself in a conversation and not know what the other person means, I decided to do a bit of research and learn more of them.
- CHOKKAN formal upright form
- MOYOGI informal upright form
- SHAKAN slanting form
- FUKINAGASHI windswept form
- SABAMIKI split-trunk
- SHARIMIKI driftwood
- TANUKI ‘cheats’/form where sapling is attached to deadwood/ also known as a ‘Pheonix Graft’.
- HOKIDACHI broom form
- KENGAI cascade
- HAN KENGAI semi-cascade
- SHIDARE-ZUKURI weeping
- BUNJIN literati form
- NEGARI exposed root form
- SEKJOJU root over rock
- ISHI SEKI planted on rock
- SOKAN twin-trunk
- SANKAN triple-trunk
- KABUDACHI multiple-trunk
- NETSUNAGARI root connected
- YOSE UE group planting
- SAI-KEI landscape planting
- PEN-JING landscape planting
- SHARI deadwood on trunk
- JIN deadwood branch
- NEBARI trunkbase/ surface roots
- YAMADORI collected material
- SUIBAN shallow water tray for display rock plantings
- TOKONOMA traditional Japanese display area
- BONKEI tray landscape containing rocks and small accent plants as well as trees.
Size classifications: exact sizes for each individual class varies from one authority to another; those below are taken from the 20th Grand View Bonsai Exhibition / Nippon Bonsai Taikan-ten.
- MAME bonsai less than 7cm in height
- SHOHIN bonsai upto 20cm in height
- KIFU bonsai between 20 and 40cm in height
- CHU bonsai between 40 and 60 cm in height
- DAI bonsai over 60cm in height
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on Friday, October 28th, 2005 at 11:24 am and is filed under Et cetera.
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