Piece 2: Harry Hirao

California Juniper, Harry Hirao. California Juniper. National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. Photo by Atlas Obscura.

    Hirao was famous for his California junipers (Juniperus californica) that he collected out of the desert by himself. This is one of them. Most have deadwood features that dominate the overall form of these bonsai. He continued to collect these plants until his passing. There are many stories of 80-something-year-old Hirao hopping from cliff to cliff and finding these plants in the wild.

    Technically, this bonsai is considered a deadwood style bonsai, but it could also be considered a semi-cascade style bonsai, as its foliage is about even, or slightly below the pot. It has a large deadwood "fin," which forms because the living vein of tissue grows on one side of the branch or trunk, without growing on the other. California juniper has very soft deadwood in comparison to other species of juniper, often showing termite damage or dry rot. Care must be taken to preserve these features, since they can rot right off the tree in more humid conditions.

    Like most deadwood trees, this bonsai has a relatively weak base. It has a truly fantastic deadwood fin that has many minuscule ridges along it, a great indicator of natural deadwood. The foliage works to bring the eye back to the base of the tree, which causes the eye to travel along the deadwood to the top again. Many bonsai that are considered fantastic often lead the eye around.

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