Formal upright style
The trunk is straight and tapers toward the top. The branches of the bonsai must gradually become shorter and thinner from the bottom to the top, be horizontal compared with the trunk, or bent slightly downwards. The roots at the base of the trunk are nicely spread. The whole composition must be in balance with the trunk and the pot.
The trunk is straight and tapers toward the top. The branches of the bonsai must gradually become shorter and thinner from the bottom to the top, be horizontal compared with the trunk, or bent slightly downwards. The roots at the base of the trunk are nicely spread. The whole composition must be in balance with the trunk and the pot.
Literally, a form in which the trunk grows straight up to the sky. The orderly beauty of this form is a great attraction not found in other styles. It is said to be a form that cannot be faked, as all the basic elements of bonsai are required.
In nature, trees are forced into all kinds of shapes under the influences of weather, wind and placement. Consequently, bonsai trees can have many shapes and sizes and, depending on their way of growing, they are grouped into various styles and shapes.
Maybe some shapes seem strange and unnatural, but they are all based on the way trees grow in nature. Each tree, however, has its own character and within a certain style there is still an enormous variety. Usually a bonsai tree is given its name according to its shape or the number of trunks it has.
Examples
Bonsai classification
The Japanese devised the coded styles less than a hundred years ago. These styles make it possible to classify the trees according to the shape of their trunks, their branches, their roots. To know the styles is an obligatory base for amateurs. Though nowadays, without renouncing these styles, more importance is attached to the artistic values of movement, harmony and the coherence of the tree.
Bonsai classification by number of trunks on the same tree:
Tan-kan: 1trunk
So-kan: 2 trunks
San-kan: 3 trunks
Go-kan: 5 trunks
Nana-kan: 7 trunks
Kyu-kan: 9 trunks
