Tokonoma in my garden

Mr. Bonsai

Yamadori
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WOW! :oops:

That display came out looking sweet!

Beautifully done, my congratulation's to you! 👍

Especially that unique and awesome stand that you created for the larger bonsai tree!

You should be proud of yourself for such a fine job well done and it's presentation. ;)
 

Marco B

Mame
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WOW! :oops:

That display came out looking sweet!

Beautifully done, my congratulation's to you! 👍

Especially that unique and awesome stand that you created for the larger bonsai tree!

You should be proud of yourself for such a fine job well done and it's presentation. ;)
Thanks! I am proud of it all for sure!
 

Toche

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Hello Marco,

Bravo for this wonderful realization of your tokonoma.

Without any destructive criticism, you should turn the jita (small wooden plate) under the shitakusa in the other direction.

DSC_0188 marco.JPG

DSC_0188 marco 1.jpg


You have beautiful trees, feel free to occupy more space in the tokonoma.

This is only my opinion. ;)

Congratulations again.

Michel
 
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Marco B

Mame
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Hello Marco,

Bravo for this wonderful realization of your tokonoma.

Without any destructive criticism, you should turn the jita (small wooden plate) under the shitakusa in the other direction.

View attachment 408471

View attachment 408472


You have beautiful trees, feel free to occupy more space in the tokonoma.

This is only my opinion. ;)

Congratulations again.

Michel
Thanks Micheal, I really appreciate your constructive feedback.
about the postion of the kusamono: why do you think it is better to turn the plate under it? Isn’t the tule that tree and kusamono ‘look’ go to each other?

btw, great pictures you posted from Japan!
 

Toche

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Hello Marco,

Thank you very much and thank you for understanding the meaning of my intervention.
It is always delicate to give an opinion in writing without giving the impression of being "aggressive".

The placement of your tree and shitakusa is good, I would move them a little more apart, but they go well together.

The shape of your Jita (generic term) gives it a meaning, a direction.
Depending on its placement, it further accentuates the meaning of the shitakusa (Ophiopogon).
 
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Marco B

Mame
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Hello Marco,

The shape of your Jita (generic term) gives it a meaning, a direction.
Depending on its placement, it further accentuates the meaning of the shitakusa (Ophiopogon).
Hi Toche, interesting! I would like to learn more about this, and exposition of bonsai in general....can you explain further what you mean with your last sentence? What does that have to do with the Jita? (Is a Jita always made of wood? If so, then this is not a Jita, because I made it from concrete)

What do you think about this composition? (Same tree, other shitakusa)
IMG_1770.jpeg
 

Toche

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Marco,

I risk to give you a strange answer. 🤔

Let me explain, I studied traditional bonsai, that is to say bonsai as it was exhibited in the past.
My old Japanese Master used to say this: "I teach you traditional bonsai, so when we work on the trees together, we follow my teaching, but at home, it will be according to your sensitivity."
He added, "If you open a catalog of the great Japanese exhibitions or visit them, you will see that things have changed over time and it's not quite the way I teach it."

Today, after all these years of training, I remain faithful to his teaching.
I spent hours and hours doing tree presentations with him.
He was very strict, for example, when I did a presentation in a tokonoma, he required me to wear white gloves because the tokonoma is a sacred place. (It was the place of the lord in the old days.)
Along with his rigor, he was always positive and incredibly open-minded.
He never gave destructive criticism of my presentations or my work on trees and kept no secrets from me.
He is a person I deeply admire and respect.
He taught me the rules (I hate this word "rule") of styles and presentation in tokonoma. He knew how to explain the logical or sometimes historical reasons so that it was easy not to forget them. For me, he is a real master.
I am 66 years old and I often laugh and say that I would like to be like him when I grow up. :)

Now let's talk about your tokonoma and your presentations.
Basically, it doesn't match what I was taught, BUT, that doesn't mean it's ugly or bad.
I think my previous few posts prove to you that I'm not criticizing what you're doing, quite the opposite. It's just different and you have the great merit of innovating. So it's interesting.
You use wonderfully materials like concrete to reproduce or give the illusion of rail or jita attachments, we don't use these materials in traditional bonsai, but you innovate and that's what makes it interesting.
After that, it's up to everyone to appreciate or not.
In the words of my dear master: "It's up to your sensibility." 🙂

All this to tell you that I could only give you an opinion about your tree, your accent plant, the presentation and the tokonoma according to the traditional bonsai.

Best regards

Michel
 
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Marco B

Mame
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Marco,

I risk to give you a strange answer. 🤔

Let me explain, I studied traditional bonsai, that is to say bonsai as it was exhibited in the past.
My old Japanese Master used to say this: "I teach you traditional bonsai, so when we work on the trees together, we follow my teaching, but at home, it will be according to your sensitivity."
He added, "If you open a catalog of the great Japanese exhibitions or visit them, you will see that things have changed over time and it's not quite the way I teach it."

Today, after all these years of training, I remain faithful to his teaching.
I spent hours and hours doing tree presentations with him.
He was very strict, for example, when I did a presentation in a tokonoma, he required me to wear white gloves because the tokonoma is a sacred place. (It was the place of the lord in the old days.)
Along with his rigor, he was always positive and incredibly open-minded.
He never gave destructive criticism of my presentations or my work on trees and kept no secrets from me.
He is a person I deeply admire and respect.
He taught me the rules (I hate this word "rule") of styles and presentation in tokonoma. He knew how to explain the logical or sometimes historical reasons so that it was easy not to forget them. For me, he is a real master.
I am 66 years old and I often laugh and say that I would like to be like him when I grow up. :)

Now let's talk about your tokonoma and your presentations.
Basically, it doesn't match what I was taught, BUT, that doesn't mean it's ugly or bad.
I think my previous few posts prove to you that I'm not criticizing what you're doing, quite the opposite. It's just different and you have the great merit of innovating. So it's interesting.
You use wonderfully materials like concrete to reproduce or give the illusion of rail or jita attachments, we don't use these materials in traditional bonsai, but you innovate and that's what makes it interesting.
After that, it's up to everyone to appreciate or not.
In the words of my dear master: "It's up to your sensibility." 🙂

All this to tell you that I could only give you an opinion about your tree, your accent plant, the presentation and the tokonoma according to the traditional bonsai.

Best regards

Michel
Thank you so much for you compliments Michel!

...Thats an interesting story you tell. May I ask who you master was? Just curious.. ;-)
I do bonsai for 28 years now, but only since 3 years I try to participate at some shows. Once at 'Bonsai van het Westen', where my tree, the Ulmus at my Avatar, won the second price in decidious trees. And 2 trees at the last Trophy. It was an honour to get selected for that show. I hope to get on there again some day with my Oak, also posted here in this topic, or another tree... So I'm not very experienced in making compositions, I just try to feel what fits and doesn't. I see the 'rules' in bonsai not as a 'must', but more as an easy tool to get balance in a tree of composition.... But I like to know much more about the traditional way of designing and exposing bonsai. Very interesting stuff!

When I look at your virtuals its absolutely clear for me what you said about more space. Much better! Thanks you for that! I also see that, you turned the rock under the grass, again, just like you advised to turn the jita. Can you explain that, why that should be better for traditional Japanese exhibition?
 
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