Page 19 - BSAM 2018 Q2

The concept of bunjin is very deep and it is very difficult, but it is to be studied because it represents a very useful philosophy. Its history originates in China from the Lao Tse Taoist philosophy. The literati practicing the tea ceremony began to deal with it, then the bunjin became a way of thinking, and today it is wrong to consider it only a style. We can consider bonsai art as well as other Japanese arts in three main styles: shin, gyoo, and soo. In the shin style the taste is rigid, we are in formality and the corresponding bonsai style is the chokkan. The gyoo style, is soft of character, is considered of higher class, and from the bonsai point of view, it is represented by the moyogi and
the sakkan. The soo style is the freest and is character- ized by elegant and refined lines; the bunjin belongs to it. This way of classifying is based on personality, strength, softness and taste. Bunjin must therefore be light, slim, soft, not perfect, not apparent, but must conceal the invisible and mystical force, the power of nature—life. This force is not seen, it is not explicit but it is the foundation of nature. An example that clarifies this concept is the following: “...a field in winter is covered with snow, everything is frozen and motionless, the gray and white makes you shiver, everything looks dead. But actually, under the snow, in the earth, there is a seed and it is life!”
Top; Two views of il Pellegrino before the work, and a
close up of the very old and interesting trunk line where the live vein turns 5 times around the trunk.
Bottom left and right; Masahiko Kimura made two drawings, one a typical bunjin, the other very special, saying that for him it would be the best solution, a design suitable for such a special bunjin.
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