Last fall I had a standard sized tokonoma built into my living room. It's helped me grasp the concepts of proportion, color,design and white space. I prefer this type of display as opposed to those at most bonsai shows, where the trees are too crowded and even the best display can easily be overlooked. my point, besides reading...doing,practice,where you can see cause and affect.
The book I would recommend is David De Groot's principles of bonsai design...recently released...and covers many such topics well.
What the toko has caused me to delve into is, understanding japanese cultural things so i can begin to understand the refinements to toko display. Once grased, I've begun to translate them into amricn mindsets so visitors can begin to grasp what is deing said. I'm also in the process of acquiring more american trees to use for display. For example, here in the pacific Northwest
native americans have a deep reverence for yellow cedar. Their homes, baskets etc were made from this tree and makes for an interesting display.
I have more scrolls and tables then I have room to store them, yet in many circumstances I'd wish i had something in a different topic, size,width,color etc
It's been a fun journey, And like the japanese i try and make improvements daily.....
One last point.....is what I've learned being an apprentice to a japanese teacher. In both japanese garden design and Koi. The power of observation. Americans i think want things handed to them. apprentices with japanese trachers are expected to get things themselves by watching, seeing ...etc ( example: where i volunteer at the bonsai museum, many expect the curator to teach them how to wire. In Japan your given a pair of wire clippers and a tree with wire biting in that the master had wired. An american would be insulted to do such meanial work, japanese would be honored and would really study how the master's wiring was done. Go to as many bonsai shows as you can and see what they did that worked for that display. Observe.....hopefully you can find another to accompany you
to bounce things off of and get another way of looking at things.....In Zen thought, things are always changing, as sudents of japanese hobbies, culture, we should be open to the concept.
apologise for the long ramble, hopefully someone might pick up something helpful.
