Classroom Corner – Academy Six – Tanuki Bonsai

I must confess I have been really looking forward to the Academy Level Six sessions scheduled for 2013. The creation of these tanuki bonsai will be an ongoing project allowing the participants to follow their trees from an inhospitable start to a really splendid satisfactory conclusion.

Tanuki bonsai are also known as Phoenix grafts or quite simply a wraparound. Basically young live material is fixed to a dead stump or piece of driftwood to create a dramatic ancient looking tree or perhaps more extremely, a living sculpture.

The stump may be the remains of a dead tree or an interesting piece of wood you found in the woods or on the beach. It may be a piece you acquired from an aquarium shop.

 

This first session in January was really about preparation. Each piece was extensively discussed, possible fronts and alternative planting angles were all considered.

Some branches were pruned back, any remaining bark had

to be removed, jins and old pruning scars were refined. This was followed by an intense period of general cleaning and shaping work.

This work involved a whole range of knives and chisels together with power tools having wire brush and sanding flapper bits.

  

One of the stumps had interesting tight curves but then a long straight section. It was decided to steam bend this section using kitchen towel/foil and a chef’s blow torch.

The initial preparation work is nearing completion. The bases of the stumps will be soaked in a wood preservative and the stumps themselves will be treated with lime sulphur.

A piece of live material was selected for each stump. This is Juniper Ittogawa and probably the best choice available. Junipers are good aesthetically for the driftwood style and Ittogawa is the most popular variety in Japan at the present time.

We  now grow our own Juniper Ittogawa grafting material and these trees were originally for grafting but have been allowed to grow unchecked for several seasons. They are ideal for this tanuki work.

  

Our next Academy Six session is scheduled for April which will be an ideal time to fix the living juniper to the driftwood and pot up the finished tree. I will let you know how we get on.