|
Bonsai Styles
Bonsai is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of ''penjing'' from which the art originated, and the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese ''hòn non bộ'', but this article describes the Japanese tradition. The Japanese art of bonsai dates back over a thousand years, and has evolved its own unique aesthetics and terminology. A key design practice in bonsai is a set of commonly understood, named styles that describe canonical tree and setting designs. These well-known styles provide a convenient shorthand means for communicating about existing bonsai and for designing new ones. Concept of styles Styles can be grouped based on different criteria, such as the trunk orientation or the number of trunks in the bonsai specimen. Some of the major style groupings include: * Trunk orientation. A frequently used set of styles describe the orientation of the bonsai tree's main t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saikei
literally translates as "planted landscape". Saikei is a descendant of the Japanese arts of bonsai, bonseki, and bonkei, and is related less directly to similar miniature-landscape arts like the Chinese ''penjing'' and the Vietnamese ''hòn non bộ''. It is the art of creating tray landscapes that combine miniature living trees with soil, rocks, water, and related vegetation (like ground cover) in a single tray or similar container. A saikei landscape will remind the viewer of a natural location through its overall topography, choice of ground materials, and the species used in its plantings. A typical saikei is contained in a large ceramic tray with low sides. Within the tray, rocks and soil are arranged to suggest a natural landscape, often modeled on a specific type of real landscape like a seaside or a mountain path. Small living trees are planted in the soil and may be arranged to emphasize perspective, for example, with smaller trees to the rear of the display. The trees ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penjing
''Penjing'', also known as ''penzai'', is the ancient Chinese art of depicting artistically formed trees, other plants, and landscapes in miniature. Penjing generally fall into one of three categories: * Shumu penjing (樹木盆景): Tree penjing that focuses on the depiction of one or more trees and optionally other plants in a container, with the composition's dominant elements shaped by the creator through trimming, pruning, and wiring. * Shanshui penjing (山水盆景): Landscape penjing that depicts a miniature landscape by carefully selecting and shaping rocks, which are usually placed in a container in contact with water. Small live plants are placed within the composition to complete the depiction. * Shuihan penjing (水旱盆景): A water and land penjing style that effectively combines the first two, including miniature trees and optionally miniature figures and structures to portray a landscape in detail. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Japanes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bonsai Cultivation And Care
Bonsai cultivation and care involves the long-term cultivation of small trees in containers, called ''bonsai'' in the Japanese tradition of this art form. Similar practices exist in other Japanese art forms and in other cultures, including ''saikei'' (Japanese), ''penjing'' (Chinese), and ''hòn non bộ'' (Vietnamese). Trees are difficult to cultivate in containers, which restrict root growth, nutrition uptake, and resources for transpiration (primarily soil moisture). In addition to the root constraints of containers, bonsai trunks, branches, and foliage are extensively shaped and manipulated to meet aesthetic goals. Specialized tools and techniques are used to protect the health and vigor of the subject tree. Over time, the artistic manipulation of small trees in containers has led to a number of cultivation and care approaches that successfully meet the practical and the artistic requirements of bonsai and similar traditions. The term ''bonsai'' is generally used in English a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bonsai Aesthetics
Bonsai aesthetics are the aesthetic goals and characteristics of the Japanese tradition of the art of bonsai, the growing of a miniature tree in a container. Many Japanese cultural characteristics, particularly the influence of Zen Buddhism and the expression wabi-sabi inform the bonsai tradition in that culture. A lengthy catalog of conventional tree shapes and styles also helps provide cohesion to the Japanese styling tradition. A number of other cultures around the world have adopted the Japanese approach to bonsai, and while some variations have begun to appear, most hew closely to the rules and design philosophies of the Japanese tradition. Penjing, a Chinese form of container-grown tree, predates and is the origin of bonsai. It has a distinct aesthetic, however, as does the art of saikei, Japanese miniature multi-tree landscapes in a container. Over centuries of practice, the Japanese bonsai aesthetic has encoded some important methods and aesthetic guidelines. Like the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mustard Seed Garden Manual Of Painting
''Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden'' (, ), sometimes known as (), is a printed manual of Chinese painting compiled during the early-Qing Dynasty. Many renowned later Chinese painters, like Qi Baishi, began their drawing lessons with the manual. It is an important early example of colour printing. The work was commissioned by Shen Xinyou (), son-in-law of the famous playwright Li Yu, whose mansion in Lanxi, Zhejiang province was known as Jieziyuan, or Mustard Seed Garden. Shen possessed the teaching materials of Li Liufang (李流芳), a painter of the late-Ming dynasty, and commissioned Wáng Gài (), Wáng Shī (), Wáng Niè () and Zhū Shēng () to edit and expand those materials with the aim of producing a manual for landscape painting. The result was the first part of , which, published in 1679 in five colours, comprises five () or fascicles. Li Yu, as the publisher, wrote a preface for this part. The first fascicle deals with the general principles of landscape paintin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scholar-bureaucrats
The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class. Scholar-officials were politicians and government officials appointed by the emperor of China to perform day-to-day political duties from the Han dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912, China's last imperial dynasty. After the Sui dynasty these officials mostly came from the scholar-gentry (紳士 ''shēnshì'') who had earned academic degrees (such as ''xiucai'', ''juren'', or ''jinshi'') by passing the imperial examinations. Scholar-officials were the elite class of imperial China. They were highly educated, especially in literature and the arts, including calligraphy and Confucian texts. They dominated the government administration and local life of China until the early 20th century. Origins and formations Origins of ''Shi'' (士) and ''Da fu'' (大夫) as a concept and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saikei
literally translates as "planted landscape". Saikei is a descendant of the Japanese arts of bonsai, bonseki, and bonkei, and is related less directly to similar miniature-landscape arts like the Chinese ''penjing'' and the Vietnamese ''hòn non bộ''. It is the art of creating tray landscapes that combine miniature living trees with soil, rocks, water, and related vegetation (like ground cover) in a single tray or similar container. A saikei landscape will remind the viewer of a natural location through its overall topography, choice of ground materials, and the species used in its plantings. A typical saikei is contained in a large ceramic tray with low sides. Within the tray, rocks and soil are arranged to suggest a natural landscape, often modeled on a specific type of real landscape like a seaside or a mountain path. Small living trees are planted in the soil and may be arranged to emphasize perspective, for example, with smaller trees to the rear of the display. The trees ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deadwood Bonsai Techniques
Deadwood bonsai techniques are methods in the Japanese art of bonsai (cultivation of miniature trees in containers) that create, shape, and preserve dead wood on a living bonsai tree. They enhance the illusion of age and the portrayal of austerity that mark a successful bonsai. Rationale and application Deadwood techniques are used for reasons both practical and aesthetic. Practically, collected specimens of aged trees often have dead wood present. Dead wood can also appear on a bonsai under cultivation for many reasons, including branch die-back, pest infestation, or disease. It can be partially or completely removed by the bonsai artist, but doing so may damage the tree's overall shape or the illusion of age. If deadwood is retained, however, it must be chemically treated to preserve it and to produce the coloration of weathered wood. In addition, the dead wood usually needs to be shaped to fit the aesthetic plan for the bonsai. Deadwood can also be an aesthetic choice for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bonsai
Bonsai ( ja, 盆栽, , tray planting, ) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of ''penjing''. Unlike ''penjing'', which utilizes traditional techniques to produce entirely natural scenery in small pots that mimic the grandiose shapes of real life scenery, the Japanese "bonsai" only attempts to produce small trees that mimic the shape of real life trees. Similar versions of the art exist in other cultures, including the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese . It was during the Tang dynasty, when ''penjing'' was at its height, that the art was first introduced in Japan. The loanword "bonsai" (a Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese term ''penzai'') has become an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term in English, attached to many forms of diminutive potted plants, and also on occasion to other living and non-living things. According to Stephen Orr in ''The New York Times'', "the term should be rese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
