Bonsai styles

Included inside the list beneath would be the Japanese words for each and every bonsai style. Should you are a newbie, there is certainly no need to have to memorize them. Even so, you'll regularly see them employed in numerous bonsai exhibits, demonstrations and literature.

	1. Broom style Bonsai (Hokidachi) Trees in this style have an upright trunk with branches and foliage radiating outwards in the shape of a Japanese fan or an umbrella.
	2. Formal upright Bonsai style (Chokkan) Chokkan style Bonsai has straight, tapering, upright trunks with the branches being thickest and broadest at the bottom and thinnest and shortest at the top.
	3. Informal upright Bonsai style (Moyogi) Moyogi or informal upright-style Bonsai is quite similar to Chokkan (formal upright) style Bonsai in that the tree has a tapering, upright trunks with the branches being thickest and broadest at the bottom and thinnest and shortest at the top.
	4. Slanting Bonsai style (Shakan) As the name suggests, the trunk slants dramatically to the left or right. The branch arrangement is quite similar to that of informal Bonsai with the thickest and broadest at the base, gradually shortening and thinning as they near the apex.
	5. Cascade Bonsai style (Kengai) A Cascade bonsai is one in which the trunk begins growing upwards but abruptly turns downward and cascades to a point below the bottom of the container. Bonsai created in the cascade style should resemble trees growing on steep slopes in mountainous areas, ravines, or drainage areas.
	6. Semi-cascade Bonsai style (Han-kengai) This shape is similar to cascade bonsai but the tree never grows below the pot including branches.
	7. Literati Bonsai style (Bunjingi) Literati bonsai is an “approach” or “interpretation” within bonsai and not a specific style in and of itself. It is somewhat difficult to describe.
	8. Windswept Bonsai style (Fukinagashi) This style describes a tree that seems affected by strong winds twisting and shaping from one direction, this style is based on trees found high on a mountain top or on an ocean shoreline,
	9. Double trunk style Bonsai (Sokan) A double trunk occurs if a tree develops two trunks out of a single root base. The junction of the trunks at the base must be sharp “V”-shaped and not “U”-shaped.
	10. Multitrunk Bonsai style (Kabudachi) This shape expresses the tree growing with many trunks from one root at the bottom. Usually, the number of trunks must be at least more than 5.
	11. Forest Bonsai style (Yose-ue) In Forest bonsai style, we have a planting of many trees, typically an odd number unless there are too many to count easily, in a bonsai pot. The goal is to portray a view into a forest.
	12. Growing on a rock Bonsai style (Seki-joju) In this bonsai style, the rock is at the base of the trunk, with the roots exposed to varying degrees as they traverse the rock and then descend into the soil below.
	13. Growing in a rock Bonsai style (Ishisuki) In this bonsai style, the roots of the tree are growing in the cracks and holes of the rock.
	14. Raft Bonsai style (Ikadabuki) Raft bonsai style mimic a natural occurrence when a tree topples onto its side due to heavy winds, a flood, or soil eroding beneath the tree. Branches along the top side of the trunk continue to grow as a group of new trees.
	15. Shari Bonsai style (Sharimiki) This bonsai style portrays a tree with most of its trunk bare of bark; at least one strip of live bark must connect the leaves and living branches to the root system to transport water and nutrients. The bared trunk areas give a strong impression of age regardless of the tree’s conformation, so driftwood bonsai often fall outside of the conventional styles in shape and foliage.