Bonsai as art

"In order to create art of your own time, there's no simple formula. You just have to keep working at it while you are doing it. You feel you must make something quite different from anything you have ever seen. This does not mean that you malign the past; you perpetuate the good points of the old style and in addition you try to produce something even better. That is the mission of those who respect their era. Bonsai, which is a legacy for the generations to come, must not be a mere repetition of the past. Then the achievement of the generation before us will be meaningless... Bonsai is a very difficult art and if someone asks for a simple formula for it, you cannot give it. In the case of a painting, when the picture is finished it is completed and stabilized. But in the case of bonsai, it will always be changing. It's a perpetual motion. How skilfully you can manage this changing object is the problem. Of course, this very problem provides us with a challenge and enjoyment as well. I always strive to free myself of a set bonsai style. To express it radically, even opposite or wheel formation branches should be made into a pleasing form without undue stress. Yet there are no set rules for doing it. Nature creates far more mysterious things than man's imagination can come up with. So if you take in interesting forms of nature into the world of bonsai, it will be a great help to those who aspire to learn the technique."

Saichi Suzuki, Daiju-en (Okazaki, Japan)
Quote brought with the permission of John Romano, Rhode Island, USA