The School of Bonsai (https://www.schoolofbonsai.com.au) recently hosted a visit to Sydney by Japanese bonsai master, Koji Hiramatsu. Despite torrential rain, members and guest flocked to see Koji in action and they weren’t disappointed. Koji, ably assisted by Evan Marsh and Sean Hood, gave a most interesting and informative demonstration working on an old material rarely seen in Australian demonstrations.
On an already old and well designed tree like this a lot of the structure is set and as it is already a beautiful tree, improving it was a challenge. Koji’s vision was to emphasise the twisting and snaky shape of the roots and the dramatic trunk movement by changing the tree’s angle dramatically..
While it seemed a big change, Koji was not concerned. The root system would be fine and fibrous and he believed the tree had been originally placed in this position. Of course, after-care would be important as watering at this angle is challenging.
The first branch was wired and the pads set. If a tree is not being shown, cutting needle is very common in Japan as it is a good way to balance the tree.
Old trees take a long to finish and typically a tree like this could take up to a hundred hours to wire. In this case a back branch was removed and other branches moved to expose the trunk and frame the top of the tree and compact the apex down a few centimetres. Koji pointed out that the basic principles here, were patience and wiring. ‘Just wiring and making pads.’
Like a jigsaw, the branches were moved from here to there and foliage placed, so there were no empty spaces and guy wires used to bring branches down and get gaps out of curves.
In a few short hours, Koji and ‘apprentices’ performed what seemed like a miracle.