Literati or Bunjin

Vijaya Chamundeswari

   Style is something very individual. Some men drool over seeing well endowed women while there may be others who can’t take their eyes off a slender size zero.  What seems to be nice and bold and clear might please some while a little off beat and abstract appease others. It is the ‘literate’ who are artistically inclined, that usually have an eye for this kind of an art, which is why the name ‘Literati’. A simpleton might not want to twist his brains to understand the abstract beauty that is not very obvious to the mind. Going off the usual track too has to have a balance or else it would be a confused mess. Nature takes care of this beautifully in giving a touch of class to the survival journey of a few trees/plants. We can find a few of these by the sea side which take the battering of the wind and manage to bend twice over to just stay alive. Some trees that are caught up between other trees or buildings too, take a Bunjin form by going or rather growing in search of light. Imitating this aspect of Nature is what we do in Bunjin as the Japanese call it.

   While picking a plant for Bunjin, as far as possible try to see if it already has a long slender trunk which gives in to bends and twists. Some might already have it in them naturally and all we have to do then is remove the lower branches and keep the apex alone. Using our imagination we can wire it with a design we would have already construed in our minds. If we are not able to get an idea on our own there are enough and more available in the net. While creating the bends we have to keep in mind the centre of gravity. This gives better stability for the plant and a balance in appearance too. 

   As a rule (up to you to follow or not) we have branches only in the top 1/3 of the plant or may be further beyond. Let’s keep it tall in stature which adds up to its elegance. Some of the words akin to this style are - ‘elegant, simple, clean, tall, slender and flowing’. We try to achieve all of this keeping in mind ‘symmetry in asymmetry’. Confused! Good. Only when we are confused we get innovative and our mind wriggles out creatively. Rules block our creative flow. So just let the main trunk grow and grow and grow until you feel enough is enough and start chopping off the lower branches to about 2/3. Style it the way your mind reads it. It can have curves or angles. All the basic bonsai styles like formal upright, informal upright, cascade, semi cascade etc; work well. Taking it a notch further would be a forest or a twin trunk too. Thick trunk or dense foliage doesn’t matter here. Less foliage highlights the trunk line which is the main focus.

   Maintenance is the same as any Bonsai. The tall beauty needs to sit pretty in a cozy little pot which preferably is round or oval. Even a shallow plate with an accent of rock or a figurine would add up to its looks. The plant might need to be wired firmly to the pot base usually off centre. Since the small pot holds little soil we might have to fertilize and water with more frequency, again this goes with the plant species. Casuarina, bougainvillea, caecalpinia, tamarind are a few of the indigenous varieties that suit this style. No rules means more responsibility. So let’s get responsibly unruly in creating this style like a true literate of Bonsai.