Intelligent conversation of the Literati

[Smoke]

From Art of Bonsai:

Traditionally Literati bonsai have trunks that twist and turn in multiple, often dramatic curves, usually have slender trunks which have no lower branches to speak of, and have an obvious lack of Nebari in most cases. Closer to an informal upright than any other style, it escapes from classification as such because of the lack of Nebari and lower branches. But there is something else, the foliage of a Literati often is purposely sparse, just enough to sustain the tree and keep it healthy. John Naka once said of this style, "It is a dream, an abstract. It is an extremely advanced, significant bonsai design." These words of John's capture the essence of the Literati Style Bonsai.

John Naka wrote an article titled, "Characteristics of Bunjin Style" which was published in the Golden Statements Magazine (March/April 1993) and quoted recently by Eric Schrader at the Bonsai Society of San Francisco's web site. In this article about Literati, John made some other interesting definitions of the style, some of which are listed below.

• It has shape or form but there is no definite pattern.
• It has no pattern, it is irregular and seems disfigured.
• It is like food that has no taste at the beginning but the more you chew the more flavor comes out. When you first look at Bunjin style there is nothing exciting about it, it is so skimpy and lonely. But the more you observe it the more the tree quality and natural traits will come out. You will feel something from inside of your mind, and not only through the surface eyes.
• It looks like it is struggling for its survival, or a form of agony. The tree itself should not be in this condition, in reality it should be healthy. The shape or form may indicate struggle but not health. It seems to be a very cruel method but it is only concept. Its appearance should not be too serious nor easy, it should be free, unconstrained, witty, clever, humorous and unconventional. A good example for this is a study of any of nature's tree that has survived some sort of problem or disaster.
• To avoid uselessness, the ultimate final form or shape is a very important technique.
• It should portray a simple abstract painting, Senryu, Haiku, poem, music and song.
• Shape or form is from wind, weather, not too rugged but more graceful.

Above we have a starting place, some guidelines to define the form. It is here that we can start a discussion. I used these two quotes from Judy as the basis for my discussion.

Seems to me like you may just be ready to move on from this one. I don't see a literati here, so option 2 is what you have. Maybe time to sell it and let someone else have a go.

OK, I can go for that image. Seems a bit heavy for literati, we should call it Al-literati. An alliteration if you must...

My question is what is too heavy for literati? In the paragraph from Art of Bonsai we read "slender trunks".
Slender compared to what? Do we have a mental model of what a Literati is supposed to be? Is it based on trees seen in a exhibit or pictures from the internet? I use the word "mental model" because in many cases, the name of a bonsai form seems to mean different things to different people. We could call this a sub conscience feeling of a certain tree you may have seen that moved you and your mind has developed a mental model for that tree within that form and compares every tree you see to that image. Every time you see a tree at an exhibit, your mind is comparing the tree you see to the mental model of the one tree that has moved you.

What each artist must do is make a tree better than your previous mental model and replace that with the old image. For me, Literati is more about a feeling than anything else. I must be moved in some way to decide if the tree I'm looking at has filled the bill on basic requirements of the Literati feeling. The height, nor size of the trunk contributes to that feeling. It's like porn, I know it when I see it. For me there is no "sort of" Literati. It either hits the mark or does not.

In comparing these two trees, one has a rather heavy trunk and one has a very slender trunk.
Slender trunk


Heavy trunk


While both of these trees make me feel Literati, I feel that the canopies are still mush too heavy for a good representation of Literati. I would need much more sparseness.

 

[Smoke]

Here are some examples of Literati with heavy trunks and way too much foliage for a true representation of the Literati form. Most of these tree are probably considered slanting forms, but the trunks though heavy would probably benefit from a more sparse canopy.

 

[Smoke]

In these photos the trees once again have the heavy trunks (which I have purposely chosen for this thread due to the context) but much better proportioned canopies. More in line of the mental model of a Literati tree.

 

[Smoke]

Please feel free to make comments about any of the trees and your feelings about these selections. Feel free to add other pictures of Literati trees as you see fit. Please make a few comments about why the tree you post has the Literati feel for you.

I do understand that not every ones mental model of Literati will be like mine, and keep in mind that I have selected trees with heavier trunks than is probably normally seen on masterpiece Literati trees.

What say you?

 

[Smoke]

A few trees that really fit the form.

 

[milehigh_7]

Lots to chew on Al... I will admit I have never understood what a Literati is "supposed" to look like and reading the quotes from Mr. Naka, maybe that's the point. So reading his words and looking at these pictures, tree 4 on post #3 has a look about it like it's laughing at all enemies that have tried to conquer it. The lightning strike faded, the fire went out, even the beetles died but the tree lives on... Maybe that's what literati is... I still don't know.

 

[Coach]

Smoke you are a great teacher and this is a well designed lesson. I enjoy your "classes". I'm off work for a few days so I have time to attend.

Literati is working best (for me) when I see a highly emotional action or trait in the tree. By that I mean the trees image is acting like a person/animal

"Personification" if you will.

Most of the ones that truly draw me in are either "bowing" or "attacking"...some are merely preparing for either of the above.

In your last 3 pics you have the following in order

1) a boxer standing his/her ground (many Literati of this type...this one included, look like Sea Horses with their dukes up in my opinion

2) A warrior who has more bow than fight in him/her

3) and another boxer/fighter

Whether or not you see the canopies as heads and the drop branches as arms doesn't matter that much (that may just be the juvenile in me)...what matters is do you feel the tree is "attacking" or "bowing" or something else/any thing else?

A few get away with "flirting" and some do other things like "scold smaller trees" or "rock out in a hair band" or just be "socially/biologically awkward"

I see these trees capturing both proud and vulnerable moments in our lives, snapshots of our existence, shared by the artist who, through a tree, expressed the concious and subconscious wins and loses

I found some samples via Google

1) bowing with an innocent look
2) poised for attack
3) youthful hiding/shy (like a child on a mother's leg)
4) very old but still willing helping hands
5) a very heavy burden being carried
6) undressing/bearing all (like the alien scene in Cocoon
7) flirting
8) a beautiful clothed mother and daughter
9) physically awkward, unlike the others

Or maybe they are just "cool trees" with accidentally awesome stories to tell

Just some thoughts about what makes Literati special to me. Thank you again for the "online class"

 

[sorce]

Nice Coach.

Very well felt!

Sorce

 

[Random User]

The only literati we get around here are the trees that the deer make rubs on during rutting season... once they grow up, they typically have the 3-4 ft of top, a 3-5 section of barren trunk, then 20-40 ft of natural growth... so I'm not partial to them personally. However, there are a few trees here, that there would be few other styles for... like bougainvilleas because they are not native, have a short growing season, and "rarely" do we see anything near 1" stalk at the base. I suppose a person could even ad Saskatoons to the list because they are always a leggy shrub type plant too.

 

[jacob letoile]

I am very new to bonsai, and new to expressive art as well so even though I will be reading this thread carefully, I don't think I will have much to contribute. I wanted to use this opportunity to try to get my thoughts out though.

I love literati. It is, so far my favorite form. I want to try to verbalize why. For me it is similar to plastic surgery. We all know what lips look like, and in general people respond better to fuller lips. In the beginning, just a little plumping could go a long way. Now there is an aesthetic of plumped lips, and its affects are grotesque. The same thing happened to boobs. The human brain seems to get stuck in a trap where more is always better.

I look at an upright style with a trunk diamater a third its height and while I sometimes find the overall effect pleasing, and it is definitely beyond my skill, it looks so wrong to me I can't enjoy it. I have The same response to ancient yamadori. Here is this amazing trunk, carved and weathered by 'centuries' of hardship supporting hothouse foliage tamed by a team of hair dressers and make up artists and plastic surgons. It reads to me as incoherent and dishonest. It is not celebrating hardship, it's a rich kid slumming for the evening, then going back to daddys.

Literati, being an honestly abstract, as opposed to an abstracted, form is more honest and coherent. I guess that is what I love about literati, it is not trying to be anything it's not. It is pure expression and as such doesn't suffer from the same incoherence that I am so often bothered by in other forms.

I hope that made sense, and I'm really looking forward to hearing what other people have to say.

 

[JudyB]

Literati is one of my favorite forms. I have tried to execute, and come up short every single time. It's the hardest thing to do well I believe. I still have one JRP I'm trying with...

You are so right that it's more about conveying a feeling, for me it's an emotional feeling. Depending on the tree it can be loneliness or strength, grace, contentment, joy, sorrow, or any emotional feeling. It can also feel like nature personified. Flowing river, or wind...

I have tried to be a good student of literati, but I think it's a hard thing to study, as it's not at all like a thing you can learn to place this branch here, this one there, and voila! - literati.

I enjoy your examples Al, and the top ones to me are lovely, but don't speak literati to me. It is probably primarily the fullness of the foliage, but also in most of the examples, there are not enough oddities of motion that in their movement convey a feeling. And the heaviness of the trunk is part of that for me too.
On your elm, you will notice I never said the trunk was too heavy for literati, I did say that the tree felt a bit heavy for literati. I think this is an important differentiation. I guess my mental model is more ephemeral and lighter. But motion can go a long way towards bringing that feeling even with a thicker trunk.

I appreciate this conversation, I would love to understand this discipline better. For anyone who would like a good book on the subject, I'd recommend "Literati Style Penjing" by Zhao Qingquan.

 

[Anthony]

Actually Bonsai Today has a whole issue dedicated to Literati.
Just look it up.
Happy New Year /Xmas
Anthony

 

[Smoke]

I guess my mental model is more ephemeral and lighter. But motion can go a long way towards bringing that feeling even with a thicker trunk.

That's a very intelligent statement, and pretty boiled down.

 

[crust]

I have had this one for a while. A funny tree--kind of literati. My wife calls it Lacy. A collected BRJ. I look at it in photo and realize with harder thinning it could become more.

 

[JudyB]

I love the idea when less is more.

 

[crust]

A small and old larch with a very small canopy and really nice bark. Maybe it has overbearing DW, yet I never shorten them. Literati?

 

[aml1014]

I have The same response to ancient yamadori. Here is this amazing trunk, carved and weathered by 'centuries' of hardship supporting hothouse foliage tamed by a team of hair dressers and make up artists and plastic surgons. It reads to me as incoherent and dishonest. It is not celebrating hardship, it's a rich kid slumming for the evening, then going back to daddys.

I take a little offense to this. It seems your putting everybody who owns ancient yamadori in this group. I'll just say straight forward, I only make about 13k a year, I have rent and utilitie bills, phone payments, car payments, food, gas, everything we all need right? 13k isn't much, I'm only 22 and work full time at a landscape nursery as the tree lot manager. Yet, I still own several trees that can be put into the 200+ YO realm. Do I pay a team to manicure and style and all that crap? No, I guarantee other then myself, my teacher Connie is the only person who touches my trees (and she won't even touch the yamadori.

On to the discussion of literati (or bunjin). I find it to be one of my favorite styles. It represents a struggle the tree has had to endure at a period of time, or throughout their entire lives. It gives character.
I've seen many literati type trees where I live, but they're all 10ft tall or under, most of these trees live in VERY high wind areas with little moisture or soil (rock outcrops). I'll keep my eye on this thread, literati is a very difficult style IMO.

Aaron

 

[Adair M]

Smoke, this is a very good thread. I know you have me on ignore, I hope you open it up to read this post, you can return me to ignore afterwards.

I do think that everyone has a mental image of what a literati or bunjin should look like. I suppose that depends on where each person first became aware of trees. Imprinting, I guess.

I grew up in Georgia, at a time before the Interstates were built, and there were huge forests of loblolly pines surrounding Atlanta. These were second growth forests, the trees were telephone pole straight, bare of branches for the first 50 feet, no real jins evident, maybe little short stubs of Jin, more like snags. Each tree was fairly bushy up top, where the branches were fairly thin. They didn't extend very far from the trunk because if the did, they would then be in the canopy of the tree next to it, and get shaded out. These trees were then very top heavy, and when the wind blew strong, they would sway a lot! Being fairly closely packed together, all the pines' trunks were straight, very little taper, and there was a bit of spreading nebari, but not much.

None of these, obviously, had a literati feel even though they had long slender trunks.

But every now and then, there would be a "lone pine". Maybe a subdivision had been cleared, and they left one or two pines on a corner lot. Or along the highway... these pines had no close neighbors to out compete for height, so their branches could grow long. The thing is, these trees are genetically programmed to grow thin branches, and be rather short because in their natural state of a crowded forest, long branches don't give the tree an advantage, the neighbor tree shades them out. So the branches are thin. And weak. We get ice storms about every 5 years that cover the trees with ice. Many weak pine limbs break. Many others are so weighted down they crack and bend down, but not break off. Many pines fall. (Hell on the power lines!)

The solitary pines during these ice storms usually fair pretty well. Since they get more sun, their branches are usually stronger than the forest trees, thus they tend to bend rather than break.

Young pines (under 10 years old) can be so weighted down they can curve to the point where their apex touches the ground! Much of that curve can remain even after the ice has melted. I remember a row of pines on a Church's property from the ice storm of 1962. Bent the trees over double. Over the next 30 years they grew up straight. Crazy S curves! They've all been cut down now.

Anyway, my mind's eye of a literati is an old pine, with plated bark, hanging branches, some movement to the trunk.

Junipers are not native to my area, but pines are. Which, I suppose, why I prefer pine bonsai.

Back in the day, I had a nice Virginia Pine literati. They make good literati because they bark up, but don't put on heavy trunks. I wish I still had it, but that way before I knew about good soil. It was very weak, and wobbly (very little roots) and it's moving when the wind blew probably prevented it from developing new feeder roots.

I have a literati prospect, but it will be 10 years before it barks up:



This tree has a lot of literati features, but I consider it too lush and the trunk is a bit too heavy to be a literati:

 

[Coach]

I have had this one for a while. A funny tree--kind of literati. My wife calls it Lacy. A collected BRJ. I look at it in photo and realize with harder thinning it could become more.
View attachment 127140

Lucy is really cool. I like her jinned horns. I see her playfully bowing or possibly springing to scare someone from hiding behind a door. Thinning I'm sure will only make her cooler.

That pot is awesome...my favorite free-form kind. I'm wondering though that since Lucy has so much beautiful lean to her, if you potted her in a small cup of a pot, one that conveyed how young and graceful her bends are if you could you improve the image overall. Often I see Literati potted in something that gives a stretch the limits of gravity look that helps the viewer get emotionally involved.

Just a thought, tree is beautiful and speaks as is. That pot is one of the best I've ever seen.

Very nice work Crust.

 

[crust]

Lucy is really cool. I like her jinned horns. I see her playfully bowing or possibly springing to scare someone from hiding behind a door. Thinning I'm sure will only make her cooler.

That pot is awesome...my favorite free-form kind. I'm wondering though that since Lucy has so much beautiful lean to her, if you potted her in a small cup of a pot, one that conveyed how young and graceful her bends are if you could you improve the image overall. Often I see Literati potted in something that gives a stretch the limits of gravity look that helps the viewer get emotionally involved.

Just a thought, tree is beautiful and speaks as is. That pot is one of the best I've ever seen.

Very nice work Crust.

The pot, I actually made for the tree. Cultivating these Blue Rug Junipers is a challenge, root-wise, at least for me. Growing it in a super small pot would be untenable for me in my garden.