Bonsai and Penjing

The arrival of the Japanese bonsai in 1975 galvanized the interest of the burgeoning group of bonsai enthusiasts and practitioners in the United States and focused their attention on the U.S. National Arboretum. Some were bonsai masters in their own right, others were students of John Naka on the west coast or of Yuji Yoshimura on the east coast or of other bonsai teachers in America. Wherever they were, they were united in their desire to encourage interest in bonsai in North America.

John Naka was among the first to express interest in the bonsai in the Bicentennial Gift. He traveled regularly from California to Washington, D.C. to make sure the trees were cared for properly. He also served as a facilitator for the curator, Robert “Bonsai Bob” Drechsler, with representatives of the Nippon Bonsai Association. They would visit annually from Japan, nod approvingly when they were at the U.S. National Arboretum, then stop in California on their way home to Japan and tell John Naka what they really thought was going on. He would convey their comments to Drechsler, who was grateful for the experts’ advice.

The impetus to start a North American collection at the museum came from the Philadelphia Flower Show in 1984 when its theme was “A Trip to the Orient.” John Naka came from California for the show, bringing Goshin, his prize forest planting of Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Femina’) to display. Encouraged by Chase Rosade, Naka was convinced to leave Goshin at the U.S. National Arboretum’s museum, and soon other American bonsai artists offered their work to be considered for inclusion in the national collection.

Goshin was the first of several works Naka gave to the museum. Its name means “Protector or Guardian of the Spirit” and its eleven trees represent his eleven grandchildren. Goshin is quite large and it is easy for viewers to lose themselves in the forest glade Naka created, using their mind’s eye. In 1990, he also gave a Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica), a single tree in a straightforward pot, in training since 1948. He named it Gimpo or “Silver Phoenix” because he believed that even a homely tree could become a splendid bonsai, renewed like the mythical phoenix, rising to new life over and over again.

A Thorny Elaeagnus (Elaeagnus pungens) was a more recent gift from Naka, arriving at the Museum in 2004. It has been in training since 1960 and has several distinctive features. Its split and gnarly trunk gives the illusion of an ancient tree found in nature. Its front view seems to come forward in space toward the viewer. The back view is equally interesting, revealing more intricacies of its wizened trunk, proof of John Naka’s belief that the best bonsai look great from both sides.

Bonsai artists prize Pomegranates (Punica granatum) for their twisted trunks, distinctive foliage and twigs. John Naka gave one to his wife Alice, who in turn gave it to the museum in 1990. It has been in training since 1943 and is an excellent example of a bonsai appearing older than it actually is. By severely tapering the trunk, Naka created the illusion of a superb ancient tree.

The Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) is often on display in the spring when the wisteria and other plantings come to life in the museum’s gardens.

A native plant of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts and southern California, this California Juniper (Juniperus californica) bonsai was created by Harry Hirao in 1964.

A Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa), styled by Dan Robinson and in training since 1966, evokes the rigors of a tree’s life in the American west.

Government entities also added to the museum’s North American collection. The U.S. Forest Service commemorated its 75th anniversary by giving a Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) to the museum in 1980. The Ponderosa Pine grows widely in the American west and is the state tree of Montana. The gift to the museum was collected and styled by Dan Robinson, a west coast bonsai artist. In training since 1966, its dynamic shape evokes the adverse weather conditions these trees typically experience in the wild.

Vaughn Banting (1947–2008) was a student of John Naka and an ardent museum supporter. A native of Saskatchewan, Canada, he moved with his family to New Orleans, Louisiana, where they operated a plant nursery. Banting wanted to embark on a career in ornamental horticulture and landscape architecture but his studies were interrupted by service in the Vietnam War, for which he was awarded a Purple Heart. He returned to civilian life in Louisiana and his love of bonsai, and worked with Yuji Yoshimura.

Among his contributions to the museum was a Bald-cypress (Taxodium distichum). The Bald-cypress is a deciduous conifer, meaning it loses its feathery needles for the winter. As an immature tree, Bald-cypresses have a Christmas tree-like shape, but as they age they shed their lower branches and their crowns spread, creating an unmistakable flat-top silhouette familiar to anyone who has visited the swamps of America’s southeastern states. Banting’s bonsai version even features a protruding root known as a “knee,” common to Bald-cypresses in the wild.

Front (top) and back (lower) views of John Naka’s Thorny Elaeagnus (Elaeagnus pungens), in training since 1960, show off its twisting, knotty trunk suggestive of great age.

John Naka’s Gimpo, meaning “Silver Phoenix,” is a Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica) in training since 1948, with an ancient-looking thick, fissured trunk.

A magnificent Pomegranate (Punica granatum), styled by John Naka and in training since 1963, appears to be ancient with or without foliage.

Other Cypress bonsai in the museum’s North American collections includes John Naka’s first bonsai, a Montezuma Cypress (Taxodium mucronatum). He chose it because of its natural “formal upright” shape, which the tree naturally has before its crown spreads, and because its foliage can change with the seasons depending on its geographical location. The Montezuma Cypress is Mexico’s national tree and one in Oaxaca is said to be more than a thousand years old. It can grow to a height of more than 100 feet when it is not being trained as a bonsai.

A forest planting of Bald-cypress and Pond-cypress trees (Taxodium distichum var. distichum and Taxodium distichum var. inbricarium) was created by Jim Fritchey and Dick Wild in 1988. They collected trees in southwest Florida, planting them on a natural rock slab weighing one ton. Unless they are side by side, the trees are difficult to tell apart. In nature, Bald-cypresses grow taller and in a wider range than Pond-cypresses, extending beyond the American southeast and Gulf Coast where both thrive west to Texas and north into Illinois and Indiana. Pond-cypresses are named for where they are found, on the edges of lakes and in other shallow waters. Bald-cypresses can live in deeper standing water and are often found in wetlands. This forest planting allows both to show off their changing foliage throughout the year.

Another member of the Cypress family is the Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Femina’), which California collectors James and Helen Barrett used to create a bonsai in 1975 that looks like a lone tree that has been hit by lightning, causing the top to die. This is the same type of tree that John Naka used in Goshin, and the Barretts chose to follow his style. Junipers are native to China, Korea and Japan where they can grow to 60 feet.

A Bald-cypress growing in the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana, the nation’s largest river swamp, shows the flat-top form these trees assume in old age.

Vaughn Banting styled this Bald-cypress (Taxodium distichum var. distichum) in the flat-top form of old Bald-cypress trees found in southeast U.S. wetlands.

A forest-style bonsai, in training since 1988, features Bald-cypress and Pond-cypress (Taxodium distichum var. distichum and Taxodium distichum var. inbricarium) from southwest Florida, planted together on a rock slab.

A Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia) is another tree that can grow to 60 feet or more in nature. A forest planting of Chinese Elms begun in 1970 by Marybel Balendonck, a student of John Naka in California, shows how the trees can be grouped together artfully, creating the illusion that strong winds have forced them to lean from right to left.

A Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica Glauca Group) also presents an illusion. It appears to be clinging to the side of a cliff, the trunk and branches pulled down by gravity instead of reaching up to the light. In nature, this evergreen conifer is a native of the Atlas Mountains that straddle Morocco and Algeria in North Africa. It can grow to a height of 60 feet and a width of 40 feet.

Created in 1960, the Blue Atlas cascade-style bonsai was a gift to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum from Frederic and Ernesta Drinker Ballard from Philadelphia. Mr. Ballard was the second president of the National Bonsai Foundation. Mrs. Ballard, a student of Yuji Yoshimura, served as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society from 1963 to 1981. Many credit her with turning the famous Philadelphia Flower Show into an internationally renowned event.

Autumn Moon at Ishiyama, circa 1857, by Ando Hiroshige, color ink on paper, 33.97 x 22.23 cm, features trees clinging to a cliff, like cascade-style bonsai.

In training since 1960, a Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica Glauca Group) given by Frederic and Ernesta Drinker Ballard is a dramatic cascade-style bonsai.

Reaching beyond the nation’s west coast, bonsai artistry is well established in Hawaii. A Hawaiian highlight in the museum’s collections is a Chinese Banyan (Ficus microcarpa ‘Kaneshiro’) trained by Haruo Kaneshiro (1907–1991) beginning in 1975. Haruo Kaneshiro earned his nickname “Papa” because he is considered by many to be the father of tropical bonsai in Hawaii, and because he was committed to encouraging bonsai for all.

Kaneshiro was born in Okinawa and arrived as a young boy with his family on the Big Island of Hawaii, where they came to work on the sugar plantations. As a young man, Kaneshiro moved to Honolulu where he found work as a waiter, leading eventually to his successful career as a restaurateur there. He discovered bonsai after World War II, when a friend from his days on the Big Island showed Kaneshiro the bonsai trees he had rescued and kept hidden for safety during the war. The owners of anything Japanese found on American soil were regarded as traitors.

Kaneshiro helped his friend sell the secret bonsai and he became intrigued by the tiny trees. Because bonsai masters at the time were a closed group, Kaneshiro taught himself to create and care for bonsai by trial and error, evolving his own style. He did not adhere to strict Japanese styles, believing that each tree played a role in shaping itself.

In later years, Kaneshiro was a staunch advocate of bonsai as a living art form accessible to everyone everywhere. He was generous in sharing what he knew and was also instrumental in establishing the Hawaii Bonsai Association. He was honored in 1990 with a certificate of merit award from the Nippon Bonsai Association. In 1993, the Tropical Conserva-tory at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum was dedicated to him.

In training since 1975, this Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Femina’) appears as if struck by lightning, killing its top, a look made popular by John Naka’s Goshin.

Marybel Balendonck, a student of John Naka, created this dynamic windswept forest planting of Chinese Elms (Ulmus parvifolia) in 1970.

Haruo “Papa” Kaneshiro began training this Chinese Banyan (Ficus microcarpa ‘Kaneshiro’) in 1975 to imitate old tropical banyan trees with aerial roots seeming to add “trunks.”

A Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus) from the Florida swamps, notable for its curvy trunk, was styled by Mary Madison and has been in training since 1975.

Returning to the continental U.S., a Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus) is a native American tree found in the swamps of Florida. Its naturally twisted trunks create intriguing shapes prized by bonsai artists. The museum’s Buttonwood was styled by Mary Madison, a student of John Naka, and has been in training since 1975. Its common name was inspired by its brownish red fruits that resemble old leather buttons.

Like the continent and nation they represent, the bonsai of the North American Collection are a widely varying group, styled by a spectrum of artists, each expressing their own vision of nature in miniature.

SPOTLIGHT ON John Y. Naka

The contributions John Yoshio Naka (1914–2004) made to encourage the popularity of bonsai in the U.S. were extraordinary. Born in Colorado, he returned to Japan as a youngster with his family where his grandfather, Sadehei, introduced him to bonsai. Naka renewed his fascination with bonsai as an adult after he had returned to the U.S. following World War II and was raising his family in California.

Naka believed that bonsai should be accessible to all and he was one of the first to teach bonsai techniques and principles to English speakers. His two books, Bonsai Techniques I (1973) and Bonsai Techniques II (1982) are considered masterworks to this day. Naka was one of the founders of the California Bonsai Society and he assisted Saburo Kato in founding the World Bonsai Friendship Federation in 1989, affirming his stated belief that “There are no borders in bonsai. The dove of peace flies to palace as to humble house, to young as to old, to rich and poor. So does the spirit of bonsai.”

Naka was a well-regarded and sought-after bonsai teacher, using proverbs to make Japanese aesthetics and principles of Zen accessible to Westerners. One of the proverbs he used was “experience is better than learning.” By this he meant that we can understand Zen through personal experience of the life force in both animate and inanimate forms of nature, leading to the development of thought and language around the experience.

In 1984, Naka gave Goshin or “Guardian of the Spirit,” a forest planting of eleven Chinese Junipers (Juniperus chinensis ‘Femina’)—one for each of his grandchildren—as the first contribution to the North American Pavilion. His magnanimity inspired others to give important specimens and now the pavilion that is dedicated to John Naka is home to a distinguished collection of North American bonsai. Naka’s essential role in extending bonsai to the world was recognized by Emperor Hirohito in 1985 when Naka was awarded the 5th Class Order of the Rising Sun, the highest order Japan gives to non-citizens.

Marybel Balendonck watches as John Naka works on a Shimpaku Juniper (Juniperus chinensis, var. sargentii) in the museum’s Yuji Yoshimura Center.

In 2014, the museum commemorated the 100th anniversary of Naka’s birth with a special display of his works, including a portrait bust of him by Bonnie Kobert Harrison.

John Naka is shown with his forest planting Goshin, which means “Protector or Guardian of the Spirit.” Composed of Chinese Junipers (Juniperus chinensis), it has been in training since 1953.