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as the Tooryuunomai Dragon, which is immeasurable, that is to say the maximum of aesthetic possibilities, a real rarity. Class B bonsai are the Kokufu prizes, masterpieces with great potential. As they get older, they can become Class A if you can really eliminate all the faults. Class C bonsai are those that can go into big shows, subjects of great work over many years, but they are not so beautiful that they can win first prizes and they can not become Class B bonsai.
To understand the ABCs of bonsai, Japanese bonsai can be grouped into three periods.
1) The classic bonsai, the old one, feudal and especially of the EDO period that lasted more than half a millennium, today survive only in the imperial collections. Here the protagonists are the trunk and the branches, technically they were mostly from yamadori where the concept was to collect a good material and keep it with minimal wiring and pruning, the result is a sparse shape, with beautiful branches. Actually seen live are wonderful!
2) Modern bonsai, of the 1900s, where the trunk and the foliage are the protagonists. Here the wiring is total and the shape is perfect, the flat branch pads are covered by foliage, even if the branches are not perfect. It is a period from the early 1900s to the post-war period, about a half a century long, a line of perfectionism that begins with the SORERU wiring technique, perfect and total, of the mansei-en of Saburo Kato. This line continues to evolve in authors such as Stemberger and Bjorholm.
3) The avant-garde bonsai that begins in the years of Hamano, and then, Kimura and Suzuki, where on the one hand there is a look to the future for techniques (e.g. wood fiber stripping, incredible grafts, extreme bends, advanced carving, etc., and on the other hand, a return to the past with regard to the refined beauty of the branches of ancient bonsai, those of Sumi-e paintings. Here the protagonists are again the trunk and the branches, they exalt the beautiful branches, often raising them and not completely wired. The result is the maximum because they are bonsai that have a contemporary beauty and the refinement of antique bonsai. This is the context for the categorization of Class A and B bonsai mentioned by Kimura. The authors are Kimura with his 14 disciples, and Shinji Suzuki.
To complete the presentation of this Class A bonsai, il Pellegrino was placed in a Chinese Kowatari Toukadei container and displayed on a Japanese table made of urushi lacquered Persimmon wood (Diospyros kaki) with feet capped in silver. The top dressing is HI-GokeTM white moss, with lichens of the genera Cetraria, Parmelia, Cetrelia, Hypogymnia, Candelariella, Cladonia, Stereocaulon, and Heterodermia.
The white moss, in reality comprises lichens that are fruticose, foliose, and moss-like. This Japanese prepara- tion aesthetically enhances the value of SABI, with its particularly antique appearance and timeless patina.
Then in 2017, il Pellegrino was ready to exhibit at the Crespi Cup.
To complete the presentation of this Class A bonsai, il Pellegrino was placed in a Chinese Kowatari Toukadei container and displayed
on a Japanese table
made of urushi lacquered Persimon wood (Diospyros kaki) with feet capped in silver. The top dressing
is HI-GokeTM white moss, with lichens of the genera Cetraria, Parmelia, Cetrelia, Hypogymnia, Candelariella, Cladonia, Stereocaulon, and Heterodermia.
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