Bonsai Styles

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Bonsai Styles

• Claude Sciberras

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Why Styles?

• There are several reasons for identifying a
  bonsai by a named style
• Naming a style provides a graphic description of
  the tree.
• When one person is talking to another about a
  bonsai and identifies its style, a mental-visual
  image of that style is evoked in the mind of the
  listener.
• A style provides a direction of purpose when
  structuring a bonsai.
• It is a shortcut to understanding.

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Bonsai Styles

• Upright Styles
• Cascade Styles
• Multiple Tree/Trunk Styles
• Bonsai With Special Characteristics

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Upright Styles

• Formal Upright
• Informal Upright
• Slanting
• Straight
• Curved
• Windswept
• Broom

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Cascade Styles

• Cascade
• Semi-Cascade

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Multiple Tree or Multiple Trunk Styles

• Two-Trunk or Twin Tree
• Multiple Trunk / Clump
• Forest
• Raft
• Straight Raft
• Sinouous Raft

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Bonsai With Special Characteristics

• Miniature Bonsai
• Literati
• Driftwood
• Weeping
• Exposed Roots
• Root on Rock /
  Root in Rock

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Upright Styles - Formal

• The essential attribute in the formal upright
  bonsai is the use of straight lines within the
  design. It has a straight trunk with clear taper
  from base to apex. The apex is directly above its
  base. It is a style of bonsai which presents an
  image of strength and power.

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Upright Styles - Formal
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Upright Styles - Informal

• The informal upright style bonsai is the most
  common style in which trees are designed. It
  imparts gentle rhythmic movement, balance and
  grace.
• The trunk emerges from the soil at an angle,
  curves one or more times between the base and the
  apex, and has an apex which is above its base
  when viewed from the front.

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Upright Styles - Informal
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Upright Styles - Slanting

• The slanting style bonsai is one having either a
  straight or curved trunk with the apex above and
  to the left or right of the base of the trunk.
• The slanting style bonsai depicts a tree in
  nature which
• May have been pushed by a fallen tree, by a snow
  or rock slide, or by other environmental factors.
• May have grown in a harsh environment of windtorn
  shorelines or rugged mountains where the winds
  generally come from a single direction.
• May have grown away from shade, toward the light.
• Slanting objects are inherently off balance. The
  slanting style bonsai achieves asymmetrical
  balance through branch placement.

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Upright Styles - Slanting
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Upright Styles - Broom

• A broom style bonsai
• Has a straight, vertical trunk with a foliage
  mass like an upturned broom.
• In both bonsai and in nature, this style is
  usually created from deciduous trees. Zelkova and
  Chinese elm species make good broom style bonsai.

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Upright Styles - Broom
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Cascade Styles

• A cascade style bonsai is one in which a major
  feature extends below the lower rim of the pot.
• A semi-cascade style bonsai is one in which the
  major cascading feature extends below the top rim
  of the pot but does not extend below the bottom
  of the pot.
• What determines whether a cascade or semi-cascade
  is Formal or Informal is the part above the rim
  of the pot.
• It depicts a tree in nature growing on a mountain
  top with all or a part of it hanging over the
  edge.

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Cascade
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Semi Cascade
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Multiple Tree / Trunk Styles

• The difference between multi-trunk and multi-tree
  is in the roots
• Trees must always be of the same species
• They may be created in most any primary style
  formal upright, informal upright, windswept,
  literati however all trees must have a single
  rhythm or style
• It is very important to keep all trunks and trees
  in harmony and balance paying special attention
  to the height and girth ratios

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Two Trunk
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Twin Tree
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Multiple Trunk
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Forest
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Raft
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Special Characteristics

• Miniature, Literati, Driftwood, Weeping, Exposed
  Roots, Root on Rock and Root in Rock are not
  styles but characteristics as you can have a
  windswept literati or an informal upright with
  exposed roots

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Miniature
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Literati
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Driftwood
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Weeping
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Exposed Roots
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Root on Rock
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Root in Rock
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Inspiration from Nature
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SUNRISE AT BUSKETT - Charles Sammut
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WINTER MORNING - Marthese Cassar
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Japanese Nomenclature

• Classical Styles
• Formal Upright Chokkan
• Informal Upright Moyogi
• Slanting Shakan
• Broom Hokidachi
• Semi-Cascade Han-Kengai
• Cascade Kengai

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Japanese Nomenclature

• Non-Classical Styles
• Windswept Fukinagashi
• Literati Bunjingi
• Exposed Root Neagari
• Root on Rock Sekijoju
• Root in Rock Ishitsuki
• Driftwood Sharimiki, Sabamiki
• Spiral Trunk - Bankan

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Japanese Nomenclature

• Non-Classical Styles
• Forest Yose-ue
• Raft Netsunagari, Ikadabuki
• Twin-Trunk - Soju
• Clump - Kabudachi