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Articles
Modern colours at the Koju-en Shohin-bonsai nursery
in Kyoto 2011.
Shohin-bonsai pots
Size and colour
Sometimes a Shohin-bonsai
is planted in a pot that might seem too big for the tree in
the pot.
Normally the pots must fit
the size of the tree if exhibition is the issue.
In training periods it is
though very acceptable to let the small trees grow in bigger
containers than the ones used for exhibitions. This will
give the Shohin-bonsai time to regain strength, and keep
them healthy. Therefore it is absolute advisable to use
oversized containers in development periods, as well as for
pre-bonsai (Potensai).
Before an exhibition, one
can prepare a tree settled in a too big container by
repotting it into a qualified exhibition pot, and this
includes a pot having the right size. This must of course be
done at the right time in spring, securing the tree will not
suffer from the repotting, and with good timing so that the
tree will be at highest level when the exhibition runs.
It is essential that there
is perfect harmony between pot and tree, when exhibiting a
Shohin-bonsai, as it is the case for the bigger trees in
pots. Therefore size of tree and pot must be in harmony.
The bright or colourful
pots used in some Shohin set-ups must be in balance with the
tree, and the overall expression. The pots must not take
away the harmony of the set-up and the trees exhibited. Each
Shohin-bonsai are individually judged at exhibitions,
together with the very important overall expression of the
display.
The chosen pots can in the
overall expression help to underline the theme of the
display, where the main focus is on the time of year. Mood
is added to the display by the use of hanging scroll, small
display tables and by the use of pots. Pots can be
underlining the mood when the artist uses clearer colours in
a summer exhibition with more flowering species used than in
a winter display, where too coloured pots could be
disturbing the feeling of wintertime.
In a winter display darker
colours will be appropriate to give the audience the feeling
of wintertime together with the choice of scroll, trees and
accent plants.
It is also important to
mention, that the suggested landscape or area of the display
has a role in displaying Shohin-bonsai.
Therefore a low land
presentation can use brighter colours to suggest the
brightness of a low land setting with grasses and maybe a
lake nearby, including the hanging scroll, that is a part of
a traditional Shohin display, furthermore supporting this.
In the end it all depends
on the expression that the artist wants to add, and
therefore the above is primarily guidelines to help
presenting Shohin-bonsai at a display set-up.
Antique pot
at the Kinbon Magazine shop in Kyoto.
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