Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2015 - January 2016 -79 i Esprit Bonsai International

For its second year in its new location, Limburghal in Genk, the Noelanders Trophy returns January 23 and 24, 2016, for its 17th annual exhibition. The Noelanders Trophy is the biggest bonsai exhibition in Europe. The new location allows for a more spacious presentation of trees and easy traffic flow in the aisles despite the crowd that will be present from the time it opens on Saturday morning. This year’s three guests of honor will be Mauro Stemberger (Italy), Taiga Urushibata (Japan) and Koji Hiramatsu (Japan). If Mauro Stemberger is a regular visitor at the Noelanders Trophy, the two Japanese guests of honour are something else entirely. A mischievous sprig, Taiga Urushibata is a very talented young master anchored in the bonsai tradition, but also with a leaning towards modernity.…

“Two years ago I had a dream,” were the opening words of Tony Tickle’s speech at the Bonsai Europa 2015 prize-giving ceremony. We too were looking forward impatiently to an event that the organiser and professional bonsai artist promised would be exceptional. Indeed, those who attended – 1500 of us including exhibitors and traders – were thrilled. For two days, 10 and 11 October, Castle Armoury played host to “without a doubt, the best show we have ever had in the UK,” the organiser affirmed. No exaggeration there! Native broadleaf trees Castle Armoury, a 19th-century building, situated in the centre of town, housed the exhibition. The exhibitors’ stands in the entrance hall were attractively arranged in aisles; and the demonstration room on the first floor had with an adjoining bar…

BETWEEN SPRING AND AUTUMN • Pinching junipers All varieties of juniper (Juniperus communis, J. chinensis, J. phoenicea L., etc.), if well cultivated (with the necessary sunlight, water and fertiliser), bud continuously from spring to autumn. New shoots should be pinched back with the fingertips every 10 to 15 days, or trimmed with scissors two or three times during the season. If you choose to use scissors, then cut by inserting the scissor blades parallel to the stalk of the shoot. • Pinching firs As for firs, only large buds should be pinched, when they reach 2 to 3 centimetres (about an inch) long. Break them off with your fingers, halfway down. Leave small buds to develop, to balance the energy of the different areas of the tree. • Pinching broadleaves Plants have a…

This Chinese juniper, Juniperus chinensis, is a highly valuable tree, with complex forms to its trunk and beautiful deadwood at its apex – which are called “ten jin”, meaning “sky”. The tree is in the moyogi, or informal upright, style. In its current state, the foliage is not particularly interesting, and the pot is very deep and wide, which reduces the tree’s impact and general presence. Hiroki Miura, a Japanese shohin specialist, will remedy this situation. The juniper has been through a lot. A hobbyist brought the tree to one of Miura’s workshops about ten years ago. After that, the tree changed hands several times before Miura acquired it. Following a few seasons in the nursery with appropriate fertilisation, exposure and watering, the foliage is nice and dense – proof…

Pruning is a necessary evil in bonsai cultivation. As soon as the first flowers appear, it is crucial to keep an eye on the flowering, and the same for fruiting, so that neither puts the tree’s health or aesthetic appearance in danger. In fact, flowers can upset the balance of the whole plant: if there are too many, they cloud the perception of the tree, make the pads disappear, cover part of the pot or trunk … Flowering and fruiting can adversely affect the functioning of the plant. The energy requirements of flowers and fruit entail a permanent state of stress that leaves little margin for the unexpected. Flowering plants produce flower buds and blossom in different seasons. This variable temporality obliges bonsaists to bring forward or put off intervention,…

Ataste for nature and Eastern cultures unites this couple. For five years, Jurgen and Veerle Robyns-De Keersmaecker have been sharing daily life and love, but also a passion for ceramics. From their native Belgium, these two Flemish potters have even created Makisada Ceramics, a flourishing small business. At 40, Jurgen works as an analyst in a bank. When he isn’t playing with figures, he is manipulating clay and glazes, supervising firings of his bonsai pots, or setting new designs down on paper. “In the evening he just needs to put his fingers in the clay in order to find the balance in his daily life,” says his wife, with a smile. Veerle, 39, has recently decided to dedicate herself entirely to ceramics. This past summer, to live out their passion…

“It’s impressive. It is a totally new way,” Peter Warren, the British bonsai artist, summed up in a few words when commenting on the Artisans Cup presented at the bonsai exhibition held 25 to 27 September 1915 by the Portland Art Museum, Oregon, USA. Setting up bonsai in a museum as a living, changing art form, is to see bonsai in a new light, to question the nature of American bonsai and to pave the way for a new direction. It was this idea that guided and motivated Ryan and Chelsea Neil, the exhibition’s founders and organisers, to produce a groundbreaking event. “When you look at bonsai, you say bonsai started in China as penjing, and then they went to Japan. And you look at Chinese bonsai and Japanese bonsai,…

Esprit Bonsai International- What does bonsai mean for you? Is there a deeply spiritual aspect to it that draws you to Japan? Michael Hagedorn - The Japanese have a very different understanding. Just at a very basic level, it’s about the understanding of human relation to nature. It comes partly from Shinto, and partly from Buddhism. The western background had a huge shift around 1850, in the USA at least. The transcendentalists Thoreau and Emerson were beginning to see nature not as something to dominate, but as something but as something that we could have reverence and respect for. That was the beginning of a lot of things: Aldo Leopold and the land ethic, taking care of things. Then on top of that, you build the meaning of four very…

As its name suggests, jin seal, an orange liquid with a characteristic odour of rotten eggs, is used primarily as a sealant in the care of jins and other deadwood. But it also has the virtues of bleaching wood and protecting it against fungi, algae and moss. A whitening effect Traditionally, the Japanese use jin seal or yokosai, as it is called, for the maintenance of deadwood. This is a lime and sulphur compound (calcium polysulphide) that should be applied twice during the hot season. With a paintbrush or similar type of brush, apply the liquid (diluted by 50%) to the debarked, intricately sculpted wood. Once bleached, the wood needs to dry rapidly, preferably in the hot midday sun. After a few weeks, the wood should recover its natural colouring.…

Plants are living beings. In their natural environment, they get by on their own. But in the case of bonsai, the tree depends exclusively on humans. Its organs are quite simple: roots, trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit develop from bottom to top. All that the plant needs to stay alive is water, mineral salts, air, warmth and light. Its life cycle is also dictated by the seasons. Plant biology, which is inseparable from the practice of bonsai, allows a better understanding of the various bonsai techniques, to master them and at the same time to avoid a whole host of mistakes and disappointments. People who have “green fingers” are ultimately those who know their plants – and the way they function – and who give them the attention they…

The origins of kokedama, also called “poor man’s bonsai”, stem back to an ancient technique: nearai, which consists of removing the pot from an arrangement with luxuriant roots to present it on a tray. It was in Fumiko Kato’s garden in Omiya (Japan) that I saw kusamono for the first time. That was just 20 years ago now. At the time, nobody in Europe was talking about kusamono or kokedama. These days, kusamono is a subject in its own right, like bonsai and suiseki. The “Kusamono” Facebook group has grown very large – even if the quality of the contributions can still leave something to be desired. Over the course of these last few years, there have also been various bonsai exhibitions in which an area has been set aside…

Frédéric Chenal, the organiser of the European Bonsai San Show, should be justifiably proud of the high praise received for his 2015 event. Visitors to the show were captivated by the quality of the trees, which came from the four corners of Europe, and by exponents of the art – Ryan Neil (USA), David Benavente (Spain), Mario Pavone (Italy), Matteo Martin (Italy) and the Spanish collective El Tim – who held them in thrall with their demonstrations. In addition, there was a specialist bonsai market of 50 stalls – indeed, between 17 and 18 October 2015, Saulieu, in Burgundy’s Côte d’Or was the place to be. Traditional displays The weekend’s fresh autumn weather did not cool the ardour of enthusiasts who appreciate a beautiful exhibition – there were too few…

When you want to bend a trunk, it is not always effective or sufficient to use bracing wires. To avoid putting the tree’s life – a mugo pine in this case – in danger, I scoop out the trunk so that I can bend it afterwards. If carried out properly, this exercise bears no risk for the future bonsai. This mugo pine, which was collected in 2004, presents promise for being shaped as a bonsai. It would be interesting in the moyogi style. However, it has one blatant flaw : the upper part of its trunk is too straight. The work therefore consists of bringing down this straight part, to draw it as close as possible to the nebari. This rigid section comprises a live vein on the lower part…

For the 25 years of its existence, the Bonsaï Club d’Anjou, based in Angers in the Maine-et-Loire department of western France, has always managed to give its members a desire to progress, most notably by setting up a bonsai school. Established in 1990 by Guy Floch, “The club was born in the wake of the development of bonsai in France. We are lucky that it has worked from the outset, with between twenty and thirty members every year,” explains Joël Maussion, the club’s president, who joined seven years ago. A school for starting out The secret of the club’s longevity is undoubtedly linked to the school that it founded around ten years ago for new members: “In fact, it was thanks to that that I started, and these days I…