The Art of Bonsai Project

'Bonsai Today Master Series - Pines
Growing & Styling Japanese Black and White Pines'

Compiled and edited by Wayne Schoech and Michael Persiano and the Staff of Bonsai Today
Stone Lantern Publishing: 184 pp., $29.95
Reviewed by Will Heath*

When I first received this book and settled back to read it, I felt some slight regret that I had ordered it. A compilation of articles from previous issues of Bonsai Today did not seem very exciting to me, as I already have every back issue available and I use them often for reference or inspiration.

However, my reservations quickly disappeared when I realized that the book had been edited to include information not in the original articles. This work is aimed at the intermediate to advanced bonsaist, though it is easily absorbed, owing to the clarity of expression to be found in these pages. The layout, organization, photographs and illustrations all combine to make this book a great reference and informational tool for anyone growing Japanese White Pine (Pinus parviflora) or Japanese Black Pine (Pinus thunbergii) bonsai.

In particular, the article on developing shorter needles was of particular practical importance. Originally from Bonsai Today issue #2, the eight pages of this section covers balancing energy, shoot pruning, needle thinning, and bud removal among other techniques. It also included a real life example, with pictures of the techniques being used on a pine over the course of a year. Pines are the hardest species to learn how to style and maintain, but the easiest to look after, once you have learned the necessary techniques.



The book is divided into 16 comprehensive chapters on all aspects of the necessary skills for preparation and maintenance of pine bonsai, from needle and candle reduction methods to seed stratification, showing, superfeeding and shari. If there is an aspect of pine bonsai not covered in this manual then it's possible it doesn't deserve to be here. It's also nice to see some of the stilted language and jerkiness due to translation of the articles in the older, original material has been smoothed out, so the content flows much more readily.

The 300 color photographs and illustrations fill in where the text leaves off, helping to show the techniques used and to further explain the authors' thoughts. Although each article assumes a certain degree of basic knowledge, as did the original articles, the articles were obviously selected to cover complementary aspects of pine bonsai. Overall, it is a comprehensive guide and reference for the intermediate or advanced bonsai artist or for very daring beginners.



Articles were contributed by such luminaries as Masahiko Kimura, Takashita Yosiaki, Michael Persiano and several other masters of pine bonsai. It also presents several galleries of both Japanese White and Black Pine bonsai.

For the artist in us looking to appreciate bonsai mastery or for those seeking inspiration, this book has galleries of both black and white pines filled with quality photographs of master class bonsai. Unlike many books that seem to showcase poorly designed bonsai or none at all, this book has the proof to go with the text.

In my opinion it is indeed "the definitive book on Japanese black and white pine bonsai." I certainly hope the other additions to the "Master Series" are as educational and informative as this one. This book is definitely worth the purchase price.

My only criticism is of the paperback cover. A hard cover, bound nicely, would be far more fitting for a work of this value.



*

[size=9]** Pictures used with permission of Stone Lantern Publishing

Popular review, Will. Something remarkably similar has turned up at another online forum, in the last 24 hours.
Nice to see AoB setting the pace for the online bonsai community.

Great review Will! I received my copy as a Christmas gift. As a novice not having read the entire Bonsai Today Collection, I was pleased that nonetheless someone took the time to compiled the information under one cover. It is unfortunate to see that information may be loss because of the snobery of some artist at times. The book was indeed posted on several sites, with reviews similar to the one Will provided us. Some folks chose to trash the book as merely a repeat of previous articles.

I believe we all need to remember that for our beloved passion to grow and be passsed down through generations, we need to nurture and educate the novice. I found the book well written and descriptive, two extremely important criterias, for someone starting out. It is further my opinion, "Pines" is indeed a must have if one is to cultivate pines and render bonsai in years to come.

I have almost the whole collection of BT magazines, but I wouldn't have the time and determination to try to go through thousands of pages and find the pertinent articles. This book saves me all that trouble.

And, how many of the newer bonsai enthusiasts have all the BT collection anyway. I suspect, very few. For them, the book can be a source of information that they otherwise could't get anywhere.

Japanese black pine, like any tree, doesn't grow everywhere, but here in Southern California where I live it grows like weed. And the growing season here is so long that I constantly have to keep an eye on them. The techniques described in the book apply to them very well and after reading the book I didn't think for a minute that this is information useful only to the Japanese.

If we were to follow Eric's opinion about writing only original content, there would be very few new books on the market today. Pretty much everything that I've read in the past 5 years has been written about or shown somewhere else before. Bonsai, unlike the information technology, isn't loaded with new discoveries every day. The body of information is slowly growing and improving, but does it at a snail's pace. People need this information to be presented to them in accord with a contemporary, practical, and common sense approach to bonsai. And this is where a new book can bring value to the reader.

I also think that the area having the best future in bonsai literature is the one introducing new species in the group of traditional bonsai species. I would like to see books specialized on certain promising species, written by people with a long experience with those species. Ponderosa pine, Coast redwood, or Bald cypress are just a few coming to mind. Each of these have particular characteristics that need to be taken into consideration when training for bonsai. And they are not necessarily found in the Japanese-centered literature. Here, as Eric said, there is room for new content.