3 minute read
EXPERIENCE JAPAN: The Ancient Art of Bonsai
A nation steeped in ancient history, even predating the Roman empire, Japan’s heritage coexists with a radically modern, high-tech, innovative culture too. Walking down a Japanese street, you will always be reminded of the symbiotic relationship between past and present, between tradition and progression. Wooden houses and quaint shrines sit modestly next to earthquake proof skyscrapers. Jam-packed overhead power cables run chaotically through the streets next to show stopping fluorescent billboards. Everywhere you look you see how intertwined and deeply connected history is with the present day, a dichotomy unlike anywhere else.
One element of history and tradition that has been preserved for centuries is bonsai. Hailing from China and introduced into Japan a thousand years ago, the ancient Japanese believed the shadow a tree creates under the sun is beautiful, enhanced as the wind sails through the branches. This belief, known as ‘wabi sabi’, requires bonsai professionals to clip the branches to ensure they are delicate enough to move in the wind. This incredible tradition has been carried down through generations.
Today, Yoshikawa Masakazu, a Japanese landscape gardener and master of bonsai gardening based in Osaka works on trees that are over a century old, but whose sizes never change. It is said the original creator of this style of bonsai sought to make a portable piece of natural art.
Like many elements of Japanese culture, bonsai is incredibly intricate and methodical and requires a very particular set of tools. But just like the art of bonsai itself, the scissors or shears used by the bonsai masters are steeped in history.
A few blocks away from Yoshikawa Masakazu’s landscape gardening workshop is the atelier Sasuke, which specialises in knives and scissors and dates back to 1867.
A fifth-generation blacksmith, Hirakawa Yasuhiro is a true artist and master of his craft. His family first began blacksmithing after transitioning from trading in the Edo period, and soon recognized that producing kitchen knives and shears was very profitable. After learning the trade at a young age from his own father and honing his skills, Hirakawa went on to become a swordsmith apprentice as an adult to absorb new ideas and techniques, which today help him to produce the highest-quality knives and shears for which Sasuke is known.
Renowned bonsai professionals, such as Yoshikawa Masakazu, use custom, handmade shears by Sasuke for the shaping and maintenance of their bonsai trees. It is thanks to skills mastered by Hirakawa during his apprenticeship, that he is able to add a curve to the blades of the shears so they act more like propellers creating a smooth, frictionless approach that is reflected in the quality of the bonsai pruning.
Thanks to dedicated masters of specialist crafts like Yoshikawa Masakazu and Hirakawa Yasuhiro, the ancient Japanese arts of scissor craftmanship and bonsai, which depend so heavily on each other for survival, continue to flourish today. Treasuring and securing these unique traditions by passing them down in families will ensure Japan’s history remains very much intertwined with the present, which it is known and loved for.
How to create a Japanese garden
Yoshikawa’s top tips:
1. Avoid even numbers
For example, if using stones, use three instead of two or four
2. No crosses
When placing stones, make sure to not create spaces in the shape of a cross
3. Think carefully about shadows
You mustn’t overlap elements and create a difference in the darkness of the shadows. All should be uniform.
Going against these rules is believed to bring bad luck!
Words by Rachel Garlick
