WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Bonsai Works 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:05.200 Hi, everyone, Welcome to a Saturday Selects episode. Charles W. 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:07.640 Chuck Bryant here, and this is my week to pick, 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:11.520 and I'm going with how Bonsai Works. We love those 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.720 little trees, we love the karate Kid, all those things 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.680 wrapped up make bonsai. May sixteen, two thousand sixteen is 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.119 when we first recorded this, and I think Josh and 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:24.360 I both promised to get into bondsai since then. Speaking 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:28.040 for myself, I have not, but you never know. I 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:30.040 did get tiny scissors from my nose here, so maybe 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:35.280 I'll use those. Check it out right now, Welcome to 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:37.960 Stuff you should know, a production of my Heart Radios 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:46.400 How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:50.320 Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. I've decided to 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:57.200 talk about speed right now. Oh yeah, how's it going. Well? 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:58.920 You know there are some weirdos that listened to us 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.480 on double Speed. Well they just are like, hurry up 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.160 and get to the point, you idiot. Yeah, because you know, 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.319 busy lives. They can't listen to forty minutes of content straight. 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.680 It always it's funny to somebody tweets to us or 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:14.520 takes the time to write an email say like, I 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:18.080 love your your podcast, but I'm really displeased with the 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:20.400 tangents you go on. You seem to talk about a 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:22.720 lot of stuff that's unrelated. Can you stop doing that? 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:26.880 And um, I always think I don't think Sevy should 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.840 notice for you, buddy, if you're if you're being driven 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:33.640 crazy by that, then well yeah, like we would welcome 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:36.399 you to stay. But the tangents are They're part of 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:38.560 the fabric of the show at this point, there's the glue. 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.399 Like it or not. I think the whole thing would 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:46.920 be decidedly less enjoyable if we were just like vomiting. Yeah, 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:50.400 just business like you know. Yeah, or maybe after eight 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:53.400 fifty shows we should just completely change how we do it. Yeah, 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.840 there you go. That's a great idea. Hey, before we 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.880 get started, though, we do want to thank Sam for 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.400 gypsums m lord. Oh yeah, yeah, thank you. Sam. We 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:11.560 mentioned the unique Liqueur Chicago brand Liqueur on our PR 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:14.840 show Live in Chicago because you tried it like before 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:16.799 the show. Yeah, well, I've tried it a few times 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:21.480 and it's, uh, it's you know, it's as John Hodgman said, 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:25.760 it tastes like a pencil shavings and Heartbreak as his descriptor. 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:30.160 But Sam heard is talking about Crown Brown Royal. It 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.720 was like, wait a minute. They talked about my lord 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:35.880 and I didn't send him anything. Yeah, attention all of 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:40.160 their distillers in America, you can get in on this too. Yeah. 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:44.000 If the makers of Plymouth Gin or Leopold's Gin, or 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:48.040 Knob Creek or Peppy Van Winkle St. George's, they're a 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:51.760 great distillery out of San Francisco. Yeah, Peppy van Winkle. Wow, 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:55.000 we that's the stuff that gets like hijacked and sold 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.440 for like twenty dollars on the internet. Yeah. So I'm 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.680 just throwing it out there. I'm picking it back up, 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.880 bringing it back here, throwing it again. We're happy to 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.920 drink your booze and talk about it at nauseam. Uh 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:10.840 you know what else we're happy to talk about, big boy? 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:14.440 What's that bonza? Yes, which you I don't know if 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:16.640 I was saying it wrong, but right before we press record, 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.400 you said it's not bonsai, it's bonsai, and I was like, 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:24.200 what's it's not bonsai? Z? Right? That means heads up? 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:32.440 Right right? Right? Bonsai? Or right? Uh? Is? It basically 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.560 means plant in tiny container. Yeah, those are the cute 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:41.160 toy trees that Mr Miya made a plastic it depends 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.640 target has some definitely have plastic ones. Yeah, if you 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.240 search bonsa, it's one of the things that comes up immediately. 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.920 It's fake trees. I think it's called like nearly real 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:55.920 for nearly natural something like that. And uh, it does 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.560 not look nearly natural. It's like near beer. Do you 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:02.440 ever heard people called non alcoholic beer near beer. I 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:05.280 think it's kind of funny. I used to Um, I 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:10.000 probably shuldn't tell this story. So with bonds I, um, chuck, 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.840 we're talking, like you said, the little toy trees. And yeah, 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:14.880 there's plenty of fake bonds I out there, but they're 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.479 just kind of it's the same thing as fake flowers. 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:20.160 You know. Well it sort of flies in the face 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.800 of what's special about bonsai, which is that it's a 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.400 living work of art. Right it does. And a lot 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:27.520 of people are like, well, that's just a weird, freakish 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.320 tree that you've been abusing for the last several decades. 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.400 Some people actually do criticize bonsai because it is Yeah, 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.560 it's it's like docking a dog's tail or. Um, it's 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:40.440 nothing like, but depending on how you feel about plants, 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:44.440 it's it's the same thing. You're taking something that's natural 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.440 and literally bending it to your will. So there's an 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:50.480 anti pruning movement going on around the world. Maybe I 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:52.120 don't know if I would go that far to say it, 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.320 but um, if you are invested in bonds I, if 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:57.839 you do appreciate bonds eye part of the whole point 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.440 of bonds eye as you are taking your creating a 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:07.960 tableau that is a a living depiction of nature rather 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:12.520 than a painting, you're creating a living version of basically 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:15.440 a painting. It's well sculpture, living sculpture. Yeah, yeah, that's 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.080 even better, Like you can make it out of sculpie clay. 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.400 You could, but then you've you've totally missed the point 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:23.760 of bonding side Well, they'd been fun too, but but 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:28.240 it's something different, right, absolutely, So, um, we're going to 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.479 talk about how did how do bonds? I? I have 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:34.039 to say, um is that a verb as well? It is? 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:38.039 Now okay, we're gonna Jerry's is cracking up this episode. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:44.840 She's she's reading, Uh, what is the guy from Crack's name? 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.919 Alfredy Newman's like kind of Oh yeah, he had like 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:53.679 this blond yeah counterpart. Yeah, is that still around because 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.599 they're sort of a different thing than they totally. Yeah. Yeah. 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.800 There's this great story behind Cracked, Like Cracked was a 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.080 round for you know, decades, and it just got left 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.640 to languish. And I guess some fan came along and 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:08.920 was like, hey, I noticed, like you're basically just waiting 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:12.080 around for Crack to die. Can I have a stab 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.880 at it? A crack at it? I specifically didn't say that, 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.520 but yes, and um they're like whatever, kid, go ahead. 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.520 And the guy basically resurrected crack Cracked in his basement, 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.440 brought it back from the dead, and now it's like huge, 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.520 sold for boatload of money. Oh yeah, good for them. 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:33.479 I hope it went to that dude who resurrected it. 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:38.760 That's great. Um, I don't remember how we got onto Cracked. 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.600 Jerry was laughing. Oh she was reading Cracked. That's right. Um. 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.760 So back to Bonds. I like I said, we're gonna 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.440 talk about how two bonds I which like they said 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.000 as a verb. Now, um, but let's talk about the 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.440 history of it first. Yeah, Like, uh, like many things 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.560 in the world, and especially many things that you might 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.680 associate with Japan. It started earlier in China before it 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:02.760 made its way to Japan. And in China it was 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.359 called well in Japan, did you already say what the 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:07.640 what it literally means? I think you did. Yeah, it 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.320 means plant in a tray, plant in a tray. In 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.560 China it was punsai, which means tray plant. Not too 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.200 far off. And if you go all the way back 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:21.880 to the Tang dynasty, um, they there is evidence, you know, 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:25.200 in tomb paintings that they have these little little prune 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.440 trees in shallow pots. Yeah, it's just like part of 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:32.800 the painting in the tomb. It's not like featured, it's 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:36.160 just part of it, kind of depicting regular life. They're like, okay, well, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.800 at least by seven oh six um CE that there 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:45.680 were people doing bonzai in China. Ponies, right, Uh, it 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.760 may go back even further than that. There's a legend 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.960 that an emperor round about two oh six BC wanted 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:57.760 his entire empire China recreated a miniature in his backyard, 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.240 and um, they think they suspect that's possible that that 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:05.560 may have given rise to pontai. That makes sense. You're 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:10.720 like we gotta make tiny trees now because the emperor wants. Yeah. Yeah, 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:15.800 but then either through trade or through gifts, exchanges of 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:20.520 state departments and stuff like that. Right. Um, Japan does 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.680 what it always did, and it got its handed on 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:25.720 something and then took it to the nth degree and 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:28.560 perfected and made it awesome. That's what Japan does. That's 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:32.720 what they do. Uh. There's an ancient Japanese scroll that 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.440 I found, not literally in my backyard and you're adding 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.000 u that I found on the internet. Uh. And it 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:44.839 says this is around the Kamakura period, which was totty 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.720 three um. And it says to appreciate and find pleasure 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:53.920 and curiously curved potted trees is to love deformity, which 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.360 I thought was interesting. And the article I read said it, 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:58.400 you know, we don't know whether it's positive or negative. 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.199 I think it means positive. Maybe the writer was passive aggressive. 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:04.960 I thought it was a pretty interesting quote though. Oh 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.960 yeah for sure, because I mean, again, you're training trees 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.880 to to be little freaks of nature basically. Yeah. And um, 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.880 like a lot of other works of art at the time, Um, 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.640 it starts out with like monks and Buddhists, and then 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.120 eventually it becomes like part of the rich elite and 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.160 then eventually works its way to the to the common folk. Right. 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:33.319 So by the I think the thirteenth fifteen, sixteenth century, 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:37.600 it was, it was, it was, it would become like 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.760 a pretty well established hobby in Japan. Um, I don't 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:44.160 I got the impression that wasn't necessarily thought of as 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:47.000 an art form until the West saw it for the 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:50.760 first time. So in the seventeenth century, Japan was getting 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:54.480 really tired of Westerners trying to convert them to Christianity 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:58.520 and um basically exploiting them in unfair trade practices. So 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:01.120 they said, you know what Westerners, get out, We are 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:04.000 isolating ourselves, were closing ourselves off the trade with the 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:07.240 West except for a few Dutch and Spaniards, and then 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.559 the Chinese did everybody else go away? And they stayed 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.280 like that for a couple hundred years. And um, I 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:18.000 believe it was Millard Fillmore who sent Matthew Perry Chandler 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:22.240 being over there with the squadron of navy freighters and 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.760 huge cannons and guns, saying you're gonna trade with us. 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:30.240 He said, could you guys be any cooler. You have 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.200 all kinds of cool stuff. That's my chandler. So Japan 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:37.520 opened up basically at the barrel of America's guns. Yeah, 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:39.160 we should do a show on that. We've talked about 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:43.080 it enough. It's really interesting the isolationist period, like what 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:47.240 was what went on there? And then uh, a lot 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:51.520 of bonds, a lot of goldfish tending. Remember Mr Burns 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:57.439 was famous quote those sandal wearing goldfish tenders. I don't 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.880 remember that. That's good though. But as far as coming 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:02.839 to the West, there are a couple of big fairs 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.400 where it kind of exploded, the Paris World Exhibition of 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.880 eighteen seventy eight, in the London Exhibition of nineteen o nine, 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:14.240 where you know, of course people in the West just 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.400 probably flipped for it. Yeah, because it's so cool. Yeah, 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:20.800 it is like, oh man, researching this, I I just 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.320 every time I would come across a new term for 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:26.240 like a style or something, I go look it up 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.520 and I end up spending half an hour just looking 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.920 at Bond's eye pictures. You know, it's really engrossing. Yeah. 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.079 I was gonna be like, all right, I'm doing this. 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.520 I definitely, but I'm gonna wait for what old age, 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.840 So like three or four years from now. Yeah, I 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:43.960 think I'm going to get into it. Yeah, I think 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.040 it's just for me. I've got too much going on 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.720 right now to do. But it's going to be a 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:53.120 great retirement past time for me. I could just I 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:56.240 could see myself really like spending days and days. I 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.960 can see it's caring for these little guys because I like, 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:03.360 oh yeah, and I like, uh like tiny things and miniatures. Oh, 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:07.160 you're gonna love Bond's eye. Yeah, like the little tiny 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.559 Tabasco bottles that you get in room service and stuff 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.400 like that. Plus you're crazy for it your doll houses 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:16.920 that you've built on my doll houses. Yeah, I just 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.440 I don't know. I think you read the doll Heinrich 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:24.480 Gibson play. Yeah, sure, great. Um, all right, well, I 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:26.520 guess we should talk about some of those styles and huh, 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:28.480 well you want to take a break first, Yeah, let's 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:52.960 do that. Okay, Okay, Josh, you mentioned styles, and I 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:54.920 did the same thing you did, Buddy. I went and 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:58.000 looked at pictures and I put little marks next to 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:00.680 my favorite ones, like your art to what I'm going 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.439 to try and emulate in the future. I'm very curious 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:05.840 if if we're going to do the same one. Okay, 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:11.720 you start so upright choken and it's the most formal 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:17.319 traditional style where it is basically emulates a strong, healthy, 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:19.920 upright growing tree. Yeah. I love that we take this 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.800 like ancient, amazing art form and the most formal style 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:28.400 we go right, Yeah, but I agree, didn't delight me. Uh. 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.880 And again, what you're doing is emulating nature, but you're 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.480 doing it in miniature and part of bonsai um is 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.360 using like tricks of the eye, forced perspective, that kind 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.520 of stuff. And um, the upright the choken style UM 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:47.000 does that by tapering the trunk so it's much wider 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.200 at the bottom than it is that that's the top, 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:51.200 to kind of give you the idea that you're looking 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:54.640 up towards a very tall tree. Yeah, and we'll sprinkle 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.840 in bits of the uh sort of philosophical art behind it. 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:03.000 But the idea is you you sort of imagine a 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.640 scene in your head and then you try and make 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:07.640 it look like that. Maybe it's something from your past, 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.120 maybe it's a great tree you saw one time on 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.719 a vacation, but just something that makes you feel good. Um. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.280 You're usually not like, you know, let me just make 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.920 some crazy, weird looking thing because you know I'm drunk, right, 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.680 I'm gonna make the I'm gonna make that tree that 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.640 was next to the place where my friend got hit 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.280 and killed on his bike. No, it's all about harmony. Yes, 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.200 that would be the opposite of Bond's eye. Yes, that's right. 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.080 Uh So moving on to another style, which I did 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.440 not put a check martin next to. But it's okay, 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:40.520 um a yogi. I like this one. It's okay. It's 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:46.080 a little like the choke on. Um it's the informal upright, Okay, 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:48.920 so a little more style maybe. Yeah. So the choke 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:53.040 on is very formal, very straight. Um, the mayogi is 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.280 it's overall the shape is upright, but it can like 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.240 bend and twist to get to that point. See what 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.080 I'm saying. It's neat. Yeah, I think it's neat. I 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.960 wouldn't mind doing a moyogi at some point in the future, 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:07.720 but it definitely won't be the first one I try. 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:10.560 All right, it's it's down the list of it. Uh 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:18.080 the slanting shakan or or fukanagashi. Fukagashi. Yeah, nice, it's 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:20.840 that good. Um, these are pretty cool. I have to 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:22.760 say that has the leaning trunk at a forty five 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:28.400 degree angle and the branches follow the angle of the trunk. Yeah, 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.960 they're they're parallel to it, right, yes, basically parallel essentially, 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:36.680 so they're neat looking. Yeah, and that trunk is slanted, uh. 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:42.520 In in reference to the the pot, the lip the 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:47.240 lip of the pot, right, um? Right, yes, And we 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:49.640 should say we haven't said it, so we're talking mostly 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:51.600 about the trees and that's what gets the most attention. 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.800 But um, classically and at its heart, bonsai is a 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.920 it's a balance, it's a harmony between the plant and 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:02.040 the pot. Like when you're talking about it bonsai, the 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:04.720 pot is included in that, it's very part of the 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:10.080 sculpture itself. Almost Yeah, agreed. Uh. And also with that 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:14.120 slanting style. Um. Supposedly, even though I saw many examples 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.840 to the contrary, the first branch is supposed to go 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:23.120 opposite of the angle of the trunk for to provide balance. Right, 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:30.880 I think that's in the shotgun style, it goes the opposite. Yeah, gotcha. Yeah, alright, alright, chuck, 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:35.080 next cascade pretty neat and you just lit up like 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:39.480 a Christmas tree, it's yours. So the semi casscade, the 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.480 han Ken guy is mine. That's the one I'm going 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:44.520 to try first. All right, well, go ahead and describe 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.840 it then. So basically, and you need a deeper pot. 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:51.800 So most pots for um uh bonsai are shallow. Um 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:54.400 this you need like a pretty deep pot forward because 0:16:54.480 --> 0:17:00.120 the plant is basically mostly overhanging. It's outside and hanging 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:03.720 down from the pot. That's a full on cascade. And 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.880 these are meant to really emulate like a tree that's 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:09.679 just barely hanging on and like a rocky outcrop on 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:13.399 a mountain. Interesting. And so the cascade is full on, 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.160 like basically the whole plant has been below the lip 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:23.119 of the pot. The semi cascade is where right where 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:26.520 the there's a substantial amount of the plant is still 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.359 in the pot, but it's growing over and down the 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.520 side something that's right or really off to the side, 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:36.960 wind swept. This semi cascade, I think is another term 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:39.560 for it. Yeah, now I'm trying to apply psychology to 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.840 why that's your favorite. It's just just the look of it. 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.679 Just aesthetically speaking, I think it's it's great. Next up, 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:56.040 we have the literati or the bungen or bungeniing bunging guy. Yeah, 0:17:56.240 --> 0:18:01.480 I think that's way better. Probably bujingi one of those. 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.080 So I think I would ask my wife, sure, you know, 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:06.679 we should just have you me in here with like 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:12.480 a ruler smacking knuckles. Nope. Um. This is the one 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:16.400 that's really uh, focuses on perspective. So the idea here 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:21.399 here is that you're you're looking uh from below to 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:23.480 a tree that is above, like if you're at the 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:26.040 base of a mountain looking up. Okay, then you tailor 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.520 the tree to make it look as if And we 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.040 should also mention that you should look at eye level 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:35.320 is traditionally where you're when you talk about perspective. You know, 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:38.159 if you're standing four ft above it, right, that's different. 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.480 You should look at bonsai eye level. Yeah, that's why 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:43.560 they're so frequently displayed at eye level. That's right. And 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.400 there's also it is probably worth mentioning here that there's 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.800 a definite front and a definite back to a bond's eye. 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:55.000 We'll get into that. Uh. This one is one of 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.879 my favorites. Broom. Yes, we're at the broom. So this 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.480 is this the one that you marked the hokey duchy yes, um, 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.760 and you might look it up people and say, huh interesting. 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:09.320 Not the most flashy tree. But there's something about it. Man. 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:13.359 It has this like really full kind of half dome 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.440 with a just a single trunk jutting up. Yeah, it's 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:19.919 just beautiful to me. It's like it takes the shape 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:23.439 of like an idealized like maple or oak tree. Yeah 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.240 you know, it reminded me of a like a grand oak. Yeah. 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.120 Well yeah, I wouldn't call you flashy. You've never been 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:31.480 known to where like I d bracelets or pinky rings 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:33.360 or I don't know what either one of those things are. 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.600 You know what a pinky ring is? Nope, yes you do. 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:39.720 I don't know what you're talking about. A pinky ring, 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:43.600 a man's pinky ring. I don't know what a man is. Okay, 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:48.520 well I'll tell you later. Uh So next up is 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:54.520 my absolute favorite by far, the landscape. It's when you 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:58.919 create your little miniature scene. It's like a shadow box, 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.040 which I used to love doing those when I was 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:04.119 a kid. My my oldest sister was into this, um 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:06.679 years and years ago. Yeah, she would make more like 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.000 English gardens kind of in miniature. I love that with 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:12.360 like you know, with like those gazing balls, she would 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:14.760 make like, well tiny one of those is the focal 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.160 point of the place. And yeah, so this is when 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:18.880 you have your little nature scene. You've got moss, you've 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:21.119 got little rocks, you may even have a water feature. 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.360 And it's just uh, I just ever, I don't know, man, ever, 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:26.320 since I was a kid. I love little things like that. 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.200 So is that the first one you're gonna try? Well, 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.639 I think I'd probably have to work up to that. Okay, Um, 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:35.080 you're not gonna just do water features right out of 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.119 the game, you know, but I might have built my 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:39.320 own fountain once. It's not that hard. You need to 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:44.159 pump nice um. And this actually China is still into 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:47.879 um yeah, into bonsai. But this is the stuff that 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:51.840 they practice called pinging. Yeah, very landscape oriented. Yeah. I 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:53.960 might even put a little like a camping scene, a 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:56.080 little fire ring. Oh, that'd be great with some little 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:59.480 little guys with their acoustic guitars. Right, and then Jason 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.280 Vorhees is standing off to the side just watching them. 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:07.840 Maybe um, root over or root on rock. This is 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:09.919 the one I thought was going to be your favorite. Yeah, 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:12.840 so what's the deal here? Um. You you could definitely 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:16.240 combine this one with something like cascade or wind sweat. Yeah. 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:22.439 It's where you train the roots of the um the 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:25.040 tree to grow around or on top of a rock. 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:27.359 It's pretty neat, so it looks like it is really 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:31.520 clinging to a mountain side. Yeah. And what they're trying 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:33.320 to do in a lot of these cases is give 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:37.640 the appearance of like an old tree something has been 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:41.120 around for many years, um, When in fact it may 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:42.639 be a tree that's like a year old, but it 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:44.720 looks like some ancient oak or something. Yeah. And we'll 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:46.680 talk about some of the techniques for doing that later, 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:49.960 but that is largely the It seems like the initial 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:53.000 point if you're you're trying to make it look like 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:55.840 an old tree, or you're creating a tree that you 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.840 intend to live for a few hundred years and get old, 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:01.480 you know. Yeah. And the oldest one they have in 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:06.200 DC like four years old. That's not even close. Yeah, Yeah, 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:08.080 I mean that one's cool. You want to talk about that. 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:11.399 So there's a white pine at the National Banzai and 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:15.159 Penji Museum in d C. And it's almost four hundred 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:19.840 years old. But also notably it survived a pretty big event, 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:25.320 the bombing of Urashima, and then it was given as 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:30.119 a gift from Japan to UM the US. Why I 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:32.080 don't know. I guess they were like, you're don't ever 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:34.960 do that again. Just take this thing to remind you, 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:38.840 I think twice. So there are many many older ones, 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:40.560 and that that was what you're saying. Yeah, there's one 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:43.879 in uh Museum in Spain. It's a ficus. It's like 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:46.960 a thousand years old. There's another one that's like a thousand. 0:22:47.040 --> 0:22:49.240 There's a couple that are eight hundred years old. And 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:53.640 the ideas that many times these are passed within your family, correct, Yeah, yeah, 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:57.080 very frequently, they'll be handed down as heirlooms, right, UM. 0:22:57.240 --> 0:22:59.960 Now some of the disparity between ages where they're like 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:03.040 that one doesn't really count. It may have been like 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:05.919 a thousand year old ficus that somebody found out in 0:23:05.920 --> 0:23:08.320 the wild and collected and has been bond eying for 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:12.440 twenty years. So this one, I have the impression um 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:14.639 has been bonds eyed and in the same family for 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:18.199 like six or seven generations, so it's been like tended to. 0:23:18.800 --> 0:23:20.399 So it may have been kind of old when it 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:23.960 was when it was collected, um, but it's been bonds 0:23:24.000 --> 0:23:27.480 eyed for hundreds of years. Amazing. All right. To finish 0:23:27.560 --> 0:23:31.359 up the last category, which I think is pretty cool, 0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:38.159