Restyling a Japanese Black Pine 1

I purchased this pine at Brussel's Bonsai Rendezvous in 1999. At that time I had been interested in bonsai for about six years, but had had no formal training. My wiring abilities and knowledge of the species were woefully inadequate at that time. The tree quickly became one of my favorites. Roy Nagatoshi was the teacher in that class, and since then, the tree has only been repotted and pinched for ramification. Now the tree is very healthy but disordered and is ready for another styling.

Pros and cons of this tree

This is a very healthy specimen of Japanese black pine, imported from Korea. It is estimated at about 20 years old. Its bark is beginning to show the roughness that indicates age, and it has extreme movement to the trunk. Ramification has been developing nicely.

On the negative side, the trunk is really far too long to be a truly fine exposed-root bonsai. A fine neagari makes the roots the entire focal point, thus the trunk should be minimal. There is no taper from the top of the roots to near the apex of the tree. Ramification tends to begin a littler farther from the trunk than is optimal, but this can be fixed with more aggressive cutting back and grafting buds where needed.

The plan for the tree

It is imperative that any styling of this tree minimize the trunk. The plan is to lower the apex and style the branches to hide the trunk and shorten the image of the tree. With this in mind, the upper trunk and apex branch will be wrapped with raffia. A spline of two lengths of #8 copper wire will be wrapped my more raffia, and the whole thing will be wired with two more lengths of #8 copper. The central hanging branch is unneeded and will be jinned. The entire tree will be wired and the branches arranged.

A new front

The first image is the original front of the tree. After examining the tree, (and on the advice of learned counsel) I decided to rotate it approximately 45 degrees clockwise, for a new front. The advantage was to make use of the best movement of the roots and foreshorten the nearly horizontal aspect of the upper trunk. Coupled with the placement of the main branches, I have high hopes for the success of the operation.  Working by myself, (and unfortunately without benefit of a sensei guiding my every move) I will be doing the work in stages.

Beginning the work

I started by removing the unnecessary branch hanging from the underside of the trunk, jinning it for future removal. I then wired the two lowest branches to make room for the more intense work. The following two photos show the tree with this work completed. As you can see, the trunk turns to the right almost horizontally just above the first branches from the old front. From the new front, the foreshortening can be seen. I am hoping to take full advantage of that aspect of the trunk. After opening up the lower trunk like this, I certainly hope the rest of the operation goes well!

I then wrapped the upper tree with raffia and applied the wire splines and coils. This process is certainly made easier if another pair of hands is available, but it can be done without help. The key is to protect the bark with the first wrap. Wrap tightly, as this will be supporting the outside of the bend, and can help prevent too much cracking of the bark. It also helps prevent dislodging of the fragile plates of bark forming on the tree. The splines are then placed on the outside of the bend, and the trunk is wrapped again with raffia. Loose ends are snipped and the copper coils are placed. I will continue wiring all the branches.

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