The Bonsai Kid
craftsmanship.net
craftsmanship.net
"For a skill as rarified as bonsai, these services can be lucrative. On the teaching front, for example, Neil typically has about 80 students who pay between $1600 and $2400 a year for the privilege of spending several days at Mirai during periods when the trees need a lot of work. Then there are Mirai’s sales, which average 20 to 30 trees a year, with prices ranging from about $1,200 to tens of thousands. On the other side of the ledger, Neil admits, “our overhead is very high. We’ve already spent about $45,000 on pots this year. I think we showed a profit for the first time last year, our fourth year in a business.”"
"Another tree, which some sources have estimated to be up to 800 years old, has reportedly commanded the highest price ever paid for a bonsai: $1.3 million."
All of the photos of those trees? They are art.
it's interesting to me that you mention photos of the trees, it seems like an easy and effective source of revenue to sell prints/photos of the trees (for those who appreciate them but can't handle or afford the upkeep on an actual bonsai), but there's none on his website.
It's refreshing to feel the scale of slower-paced rewards compared to today's expectations of near-instantaneous rewards.
If you want a relaxing way to get a grasp on the hobby, this YouTube series is awesome. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8VbKcOcYctk
There are many schools of thought with bonsai. Very many people use "clip and grow" techniques. Wiring techniques are more popular in Japan than in China from what I have heard. I'm not that experienced with bonsai, but the people I have talked to are not so keen on the production of artificial "jin" (bleached dead wood). If there are dead parts of your tree, you need to do it to keep the tree healthy. An abundance of jin seems to be more of an American style than Japanese in my limited experience.
In any case, I don't think the treatment that bonsai trees undergo is harmful to them. In fact, they are arguably much healthier and "happier" than a tree that's left to grow. The pruning of the roots makes them incredibly vigorous because they have many more feeding roots for their size than normal. You have to baby these trees too (i.e., water it every day) because the soil can dry out very quickly (there isn't much of it). So inevitably they are free of disease and insect infestations.
If you spend some time around well cared for bonsai it's pretty obvious how healthy they are. I see no evidence at all that the trees suffer. Quite the opposite. I recommend learning more about it if you are interested in the welfare of the trees (something that I won't criticize anyone for).
Also, I had thought these trees were grown from relatively normal saplings, not from already unusual wild trees. I see such trees growing in extreme conditions, usually at the windswept treeline of a mountain while hiking. I would not be happy to see some "artist" digging them up.
Comparisons to other human activity are only going to make it seem comparatively innocuous and there's a gulf of difference between the relative and the absolute.
[1] honestly the alive/not alive bit isn't even strictly that important. People are often fairly opposed to destroying various rock features, even when it's for the purpose of a very practical and utilitarian dam. Somethings resonate with people in a way that they want that something to be allowed to just be
So the difference is purely about aesthetics, which brings us back to why people do bonsai...
Though it's worth pointing that most people care about the difference between killing something and controlling every aspect of that things life.
I read your full comment, and I don't really care what you care about, my point was to point out that your point was inconsistent, whether you were expressing it as your "own" point of view or a "friend of a friends" I don't care, the point is still inconsistent.
As I said previously, bonsai trees are not starved of resources. Quite the opposite. They are specifically pruned in a way so that the tree is able to absorb nutrients much, much better than they would if left unpruned.
You are probably wondering why they trees are small if they aren't being deprived of something. I invite you to spend some time learning about horticulture if you are truly interested in the answer.
ME, personally, yeah I contribute to a lot of ethically horrifying things through my economic choices. Mostly because I'm lazy, also not sufficiently rich that I could afford to consume only things I find ethical even if I was less lazy.
Even if I could control my reactions before I even knew I was going to have them I don't see my lack of action with regards to some feelings of revulsion (I eat eggs despite egg farms being horrifying) as a reason not be uncomfortable about stuff.
I forget a lot of the details, but I do remember that there were some bonsai styles, perhaps more modern than others (I am not sure about this), that focused on limiting what tools one was allowed to use to shape the tree's growth, and letting the plant grow naturally.
Perhaps others who know better can comment on what these bonsai styles are called.
Anyway, even if I could recognize that bonsai were beautiful, I was way too impatient to stick with it!
Everything is controlled, there are even techniques for which buds to pick out so that the tree will direct resources to the proper parts for growth.
The way he talks about the dance between manipulating and not killing the thing, about walking the line of live and death for art's sake, while at the same time pushing his desk full of pliers, chisels and wires to his "victim".