Pat's Blog

BONSAI AND THE FOREIGN APPROACH

Another rainy day in the Rainy Season. The rain peppered down on the office window. “Come in.” JC mumbled. “Leave the door open, don’t sit down you’ll be leaving soon.”


‘What’s the assignment this week boss’?


“Bonsai”


‘But we’ve already done bonsai’ ?


“I don’t care. Get on your bike, take your camera and get out there and get me a story.” “And make it readable and interesting too.”

‘OK I said. Putting on my damp cap, then rode my bicycle off into the rain towards Kinashi for the bonsai number two scoop. Life as an Ashita-Sanuki blogger can be tough … and the salary, don’t get me started about the salary. Someday I’ll look back on all this I thought? Then laugh nervously and change the subject.

But wait? Peddling in the rain, I had an idea! Why not a story on the bonsai cultivated and grown by foreigners? That’s it I thought! The perfect bonsai number two story and it’ll keep JC happy.

(bonsai by A. Naudi)



A ‘way’ that’s how a younger Australian Adrian Naudi described bonsai. ‘Do’ in Japanese (道) and a way it is for many young foreign bonsai artists studying and practicing here in Japan. In the Kinashi area of Takamatsu, there are people

(photo A. Naudi)
from Europe, Ireland, Australia, the UK and the States giving up a few years of their lives to pursue the art and I admire them for that. I’ll let Adrian speak for himself in the quote below about his experience in Kinashi and its bonsai.

“Pat,


What was I doing in these photos?
These photos were taken during my stay in Japan (2000-2002). During this time I volunteered at a bonsai nursery just outside of Takamatsu. During my two years there, I gained an appreciation of posture and flow in bonsai, and how to use wire-fixing techniques to accentuate the natural curves and flexibility in a range of different tree types.
The techniques?

The main skills and techniques I learned centered around feeding and repotting bonsai of various ages, trimming new shoots and branches, wiring and re-wiring trees to reinforce and assist in branch redirection. These were all done at different times of the year and with 100's of trees at the nursery, there was never a dull moment.


Ideas about the experience or thoughts on bonsai?
Bonsai, like shodo, like ikebana, like sado, like budo, like shakuhachi, like zen are all pathways to higher consciousness and are in essence one in the same. They each demand total immersion in the moment and in return provide the practitioner with the opportunity to harness clarity of mind. They each provide gateways through which one can come to understand the self (or the relative) and in turn the self (or the absolute). They each embody creation, the expression of life itself. They "are", bonsai "is". (A. Naudi)

We have our own ‘ways’ in the West of course, writing, dance, are all ways to a higher understand of the nature of ‘self’.

(photo Xavier Brusset)


Another interesting young man here is the Frenchman Xavier Brusset. After studying horticulture in France, Xavier came to Japan in 2004 and undertook an apprenticeship in Tokyo followed by another 3 years study in Kinashi. Xavier now has his own business and some of the bonsai I find particularly tasteful and creative. Please do take the time to look at these pictures, as they are remarkable.

http://www.lemidoridesign.com/

http://midoridesign3ki.blogspot.com/


Xavier explained to me that while he’s still interested in the traditional bonsai techniques, his focus is now on “modern” bonsai, which he says are more accessible in terms of size and cost.

“The same way of thinking, just with a different spirit”

“I still love the "classic" bonsai but now it's mainly a hobby. These days I try to do, what a lot of people call, modern bonsai.
Nowadays few people are still interested in classical bonsai, maybe cause of their size and certainly because of the price, "modern" bonsai is more accessible. In this case the rules are less strict, I work with smaller materials, and often use pots that are not normally made for bonsais. But for me it's nearly the same way of thinking, just with a different spirit. I'm also doing kokedama, in this case instead of a pot we create a moss ball, the plants species can be the same than the ones use in bonsais or just wild herbs or indoor plants.”

Xavier Brusset.