Style forms12 style forms defined

Style form glossary — the twelve bonsai forms

The style-form glossary: the twelve forms the atlas is sorted into, each with the one thing that actually distinguishes it from the eleven others. Terms are defined once here and linked from every record that uses them.

直幹 Formal upright 直干 1

A dead-straight trunk with even taper from base to apex; the root flare must be visible and radially even.

Recorded in：Black pine, chokkan: eleven years to a straight trunk

模様木 Informal upright 模様木 1

The trunk moves through a series of curves and returns over the base; the apex finishes above the nebari.

Recorded in：Trident maple, moyogi: the first structural wiring

斜幹 Slanting 斜幹 1

The trunk leaves the soil at 20 to 45 degrees from vertical, anchored by a visibly heavier root mass on the opposite side.

Recorded in：Crabapple, shakan: getting fruit to hold past November

懸崖 Cascade 懸崖 1

The trunk descends below the base of the pot; the container is tall and works as an anchor rather than as a pot.

Recorded in：Trident maple in full cascade: growing against gravity

半懸崖 Semi-cascade 半懸崖 1

The trunk descends to about the level of the pot base and no further; anything lower becomes a full cascade.

Recorded in：Semi-cascade Chinese elm: the angle that decides the style

文人木 Literati 文人木 1

A tall, thin, often irregular trunk with all foliage confined to the upper quarter of the height.

Recorded in：Itoigawa juniper, bunjin: carving shari without losing the tree

吹流し Windswept 吹流し 1

Every branch is trained to one side and the other side is kept completely bare, so the wind direction is unambiguous.

Recorded in：Windswept black pine: training a tree to lean into one wind

双幹 Double trunk 双幹 1

Two trunks from one root mass, the second clearly subordinate at between half and two thirds of the main height.

Recorded in：Double-trunk larch: making two trunks read as one tree

株立ち Clump 株立ち 1

Three or more trunks diverging from the same stump below the soil line, so the base reads as one tree.

Recorded in：Clump-style Japanese maple: five trunks from one root

根上り Exposed root 根上り 1

The root mass is lifted above the soil line and forms the lower third of the design rather than being hidden.

Recorded in：Dwarf pomegranate, neagari: exposing roots 8 mm at a time

石上 Root over rock 石上 1

Roots run over and into the fissures of a rock, gripping it rather than resting alongside it.

Recorded in：Scots pine on rock: twelve years for roots to take hold

寄せ植え Forest planting 寄せ植え 1

An odd number of separate trees in one shallow container, grouped in twos and threes rather than evenly spaced.

Recorded in：Zelkova forest planting: spacing five trunks on a 42 cm slab