The Bonsai Style Everyone Wants to Learn

In the mountains north of Kyoto lies the tiny town of Kurama. Perhaps most famous for its buddhist temple, Kuramadera, the area is also known for its mountain vistas and cryptomeria forests. A natural oasis just minutes from the bustling city below. Buried within these forests are streams emanating from further north in the prefecture. These natural waterways are lined with rather unique boulders known as Kurama Ishi. These stones are unusual in that vast iron deposits in the area produce in them a reddish hue. Something not found in other locations near Kyoto, nor much anywhere else in Japan. Kurama Ishi have been harvested for centuries and utilized throughout Japan and gardens as stepping stones, water features, and stone lanterns. Today this industry is still in operation, with several companies operating within a few dozen meters of one another along Kurama's main road. In fact, Kuramadera temple features a towering carved Kurama Ishi at its entrance. An homage to the industry that popularized the area centuries ago. As with anything, trends come and go, and this is certainly true in bonsai art. Species move in and out of vogue, container preferences change, and styles grow more or less popular over the decades. One particularly potent example of this is the shift in stylistic preferences of the Japanese towards Ishitsuki or rock planting bonsai. Back in the 1970s and 80s, when the popularity of bonsai was on the upswing in Japan, in consonance with its economy, the Japanese bonsai godfather, Saburo Kato, recognized the tendency in the general public to gravitate towards naturalistic styles of bonsai. In particular to forests and rock plantings. In an effort to further promote bonsai to a global audience, Master Kato began focusing his efforts on building quality examples of these styles, and eventually consolidated this information into his most well-known book, Forests, Rock Plantings, and Ezospruce Bonsai. A large number of these bonsai were in fact planted on the aforementioned Kurama stones, sourced from Kyoto and brought to Omiya just outside of Tokyo. Many of these plantings are still on display today at the Kato family nursery, Mansei-en, in the Omiya Bonsai Village. In addition to the use of flat Kurama stones, Master Kato also began utilizing larger Ibi river stones, sourced from Gifu Prefecture near Nagoya. These stones are typically darker in coloration and feature sections of whitish quartz, giving them the appearance of having been dusted with light snowfall. Ibigawa stones had long been utilized by local bonsai nurseries in Nagoya, such as Aichi-en Garden for unique vertical root-over-rock bonsai featuring mostly trident maples. Many of these specimens, created prior to World War II, are still in existence today and often feature at the annual Kokufu-ten National Bonsai Exhibition in Tokyo. In the 1970s and 80s, as Saburo Kato began utilizing these Ibigawa stones, their popularity exploded and collectors began raiding the Ibi river and flooding the market. And as the market became saturated in the 90s, by the early 2000s, Ibigawa stones had lost much of their luster and are viewed today in Japan as rather undesirable for use in new bonsai creations. On the other hand, Kurama stones have largely maintained their popular status in the Japanese bonsai world, at least insofar as their usage as containers for bonsai. Perhaps here it's best to speak about the language of rock planting bonsai. In Japanese, the term ishitsuki or ishizuki can be broken into two words, ishi meaning stone and tsuki or zuki meaning attached. The combined term ishitsuki bonsai refers to trees planted on stones, as well as trees with their roots grasping the stone, what we in the west refer to as root-over-rock bonsai. In other words, there is no real delineation between the two styles in Japanese. Both are referred to as ishitsuki. However, there are some distinct stylistic preferences in Japan depending on which way the bonsai is created. For example, bonsai planted on stones in Japan are often built using relatively colorful rocks, such as the Kurama stones, while bonsai created as root-over-rock plantings are largely built using very dark, smooth river stones, such as those from the Setagawa River or the famous Kamogawa River in Kyoto. In fact, quite often these stones are repurposed suiseki, as is the case with this trident maple bonsai. Many of these suiseki stones are collected from rivers like the Setagawa, for example, and this river right behind me here, which is the Kamogawa River, which runs from northern Kyoto all the way down through the city and exits from the south. This is probably the most famous river in all of Japan when it comes to suiseki collection. A lot of the stones that come out of this river are very dark in coloration, making them perfect for both suiseki and for ishitsuki bonsai. Problem is, nowadays the river doesn't really have that many great stones left in it that's been raided over the centuries, so it's difficult to find something worthwhile in terms of using it for suiseki and or bonsai, but it's still fun to come down here, walk along the banks of the river, explore the area, and just enjoy the natural scenery here. So what makes a good ishitsuki bonsai? First, let's look at rudover rock bonsai. There are two key elements that make or break this style. The character of the stone and whether that complements the character of the tree. As previously mentioned, the stones chosen in Japan for this style of bonsai are often dark, smooth, and could be displayed on their own as suiseki. So where exactly does this stem from in Japan, this usage of dark stones, for example, when it comes to ishitsuki bonsai? Well, I think if you look at Japanese aesthetics in general, there's a tendency towards subtlety and suggestion. And you see this written about in books like In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki, who we've talked about on the Bonsai U platform before. This book discusses the nature of the way that architecture is built, for example, here in Japan to allow for shadows to interplay within the tokonoma alcove display setting, for example, or the way in which gardens are built so that shadows interplay and hide certain aspects of the garden in sort of a hide and reveal type format. When it comes to building out ishitsuki bonsai, the same ideals and aesthetics apply in that the idea isn't to make a loud presentation, it's to create something that's much more subtle, much more realistic, allows for those shadows to interplay with the root system and the rock of the tree, and therefore create a very naturalistic scene within a small container. While stone selection is very important in root over rock creation, equally as important is the quality and character of the bonsai to which it is adhered. As a more naturalistic style, root over rock bonsai should possess a largely realistic aesthetic rather than being built in a more stereotypical triangular shape. Randomized branch placement and movement, broader canopies, and foliage size selection all play important roles in building these compositions. In order to create a realistic representation of nature, the foliage must be quite small to balance proportionally with the stone. With the second category of bonsai planted on or in stones, the same aesthetic principles apply, although there is more headroom for variation in colors and size proportions. In fact, the stone should be viewed similarly to a ceramic pot in that the width, depth, and negative space should all be considered in creating balance, asymmetry, and directionality in the composition. In both categories, the tree should feel suitably attached to the stone, as if they are inseparable and emerge that way naturally. This is particularly true with root over rock bonsai. Gaps between the stone and the roots are certainly undesirable. However, in some instances, if the individual elements are of high enough quality, some forgiveness is possible. Take for example this trident maple. There is a slight gap between the stone and the tree, but both the stone and the tree are uniquely beautiful, and this flaw is less noticeable as a result. I think it goes without saying that Ishitsuki bonsai really are the truest representation of nature at large in miniature format. For me personally, when I see a well-built and beautiful Ishitsuki bonsai, I'm instantly transported back to a time when I was a kid exploring the mountains in East Tennessee, or visiting a nearby river close to my hometown in Knoxville. And I think for a lot of people, that's the case. It's one of those sort of natural scenes in miniature format where you're able to kind of shrink yourself down and put yourself beneath the tree. Again, sort of transporting you to a natural scene that you might have experienced in your local area. In modern-day Japan, Ishitsuki bonsai have largely dipped in popularity amongst collectors and professionals, simply because of their weight and size. However, they remain a huge draw for the general public, much like they were in the 1970s and 80s. I think this is a testament to their ability to remind people of our closeness to nature and to draw on our collective memories of hiking through mountains or trekking through forests as children. Ishitsuki bonsai truly are the closest we can get to recreating nature in miniature. So I hope that this episode of Bonsai U has allowed you to understand a bit more about the principles of Ishitsuki, or rock-planting bonsai, and that you'll be able to start sourcing stones from your local area that have unique character to them, as well as utilizing native flora in your area and combining those together to build out beautiful rock-planting bonsai, whether that be trees planted on stones or trees with their roots grasping the stones in the form of root-over-rock bonsai. So thank you so much for checking out this episode. Look forward to seeing all of you next time around, and until then, take care.