Dongxiq｜Kunio Kobayashi, a Japanese bonsai master: How does a "small bonsai" contain a "big world"

　　China News Agency, Beijing, December 26th, title: How does the "small potted plant" contain the "big world"

　　——Interview with Japanese bonsai master Kunio Kobayashi

　　Author Lu Shaowei Zhu Chenxi

　　The art of bonsai originated in China and was introduced to Japan during the Tang Dynasty.

The bonsai culture of the two countries has developed independently and has its own characteristics in the long historical evolution. It enjoys a high reputation in the world and has become a part of the cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and Japan.

"One flower, one world, one leaf, one Bodhi", the small potted plants reflect the awe and love of nature in Eastern philosophy, and it is also a unique embodiment of the outlook on life and the universe in Eastern culture.

　　In recent years, Bonsai, a unique oriental art form, has gradually moved from Asia to the world, and more and more people have begun to fall in love with it.

Why are so many people attracted to potted plants?

How does a small potted plant contain a grand spiritual world?

China News Agency's "East and West Question" recently interviewed Japanese bonsai master Kunio Kobayashi to discuss related topics.

Video: [Dongxiq] Japanese bonsai master Kunio Kobayashi: How does a "small bonsai" contain a "big world"

　　The interview transcript is summarized as follows:

China News Agency reporter: How did the Japanese bonsai art develop?

What kind of influence does Chinese traditional culture have on it?

Kunio Kobayashi: The

bonsai art was born in China. It was introduced to Japan during the Tang Dynasty and then incorporated the unique aesthetic and delicate feelings of the Japanese into the creation, forming the current Japanese bonsai technique.

　　Many Japanese cultural prototypes came from China with a long history, and the Japanese "localized" it and evolved it to adapt to the habits of the local people.

Tea culture is like this. For example, after Zen Master Yinyuan from Fujian, China brought the sencha technique to Japan, sencha became very popular in Japan and has been further developed.

The same is true for bonsai art, which came from China and has a deep imprint of traditional Chinese culture. It is an artistic expression of ancient Chinese's understanding of nature, and it is "a silent poem and a three-dimensional painting."

A real cypress bonsai created by Kunio Kobayashi.

Photo by Takeshi Taketa

China News Agency reporter: What is the charm of potted plants?

Kobayashi Kunio:

"Small in shape but big in size" and "Heaven and man in one" are the greatest charms of bonsai art.

Potted plants can be regarded as the epitome of nature, fully showing that "there is a world between square inches", and can also integrate the aesthetic taste of craftsmen, reflecting their views on nature and the world, and it is an artistic expression that entrusts the creator's emotions.

A potted plant, initially move the plant to be cultivated into the pot, let it take root and germinate, and trim the excess part to make it grow into the ideal and beautiful appearance in the creator's mind.

Plants will experience seasonal changes, bloom, bear fruit, and shed leaves. In the process, people can also feel the change of seasons and reincarnation.

　　Bonsai is heavily influenced by Chinese Taoism, especially the concepts of "qi" and "immortality".

Craftsmen cultivate potted plants in order to get close to nature, cultivate themselves, integrate themselves with nature, and finally achieve the state of "unity of man and nature".

Unlike other art forms, potted plants are living and "living" art.

Some potted trees are even as old as 500 or 1,000 years old.

Life is only a hundred years, but these plants have been living for hundreds of years. From them, you can feel the "qi" of "immortality and immortality", which is also the attraction of bonsai art.

　　Another characteristic of potted plants is "both refined and popular".

From ancient times to the present, both rich and noble families and ordinary people can enjoy the fun brought by potted plants.

This joy is the joy of plant growth.

Whether it is a potted plant worth 10 million yen or a potted plant worth 1,000 yen, this kind of happiness should be shared.

Bonsai created by Kunio Kobayashi.

Photo courtesy of Spring Garden

Reporter from China News Agency: You have been engaged in bonsai art for decades, what insights do you have?

Kunio Kobayashi:

Potted plants are plants, which need suitable water, light and temperature, all of which are indispensable.

At the same time, pour emotion into it.

If you have done everything and it is still withered, you need to reflect on what went wrong.

Ashamed to say it, there are quite a few potted plants that withered in my hands.

Some are because I simply want to satisfy my desires, and I just want to make them more perfect, some are sick and withered, and the reasons for some withered are not clear to me.

After nearly 50 years in the industry, I still have a lot to learn.

　　In addition, I recommend that young people get more in touch with potted plants, so that they can understand life and promote spiritual growth through potted plants.

Potted plants will wither and die if they are not poured with love and care, so by cultivating bonsai, young people can learn to be considerate and caring for others.

At the same time, in the process of cultivation, it can also delight the body and mind, heal the soul, and obtain spiritual satisfaction.

Bonsai is an art of time. It takes ten to twenty years for a tree to grow, so the earlier young people get in touch with bonsai, the better.

Kobayashi Kunio created the bonsai art museum "Spring Garden".

Photo courtesy of Spring Garden

Reporter from China News Agency: Compared with when you first started bonsai art, how has your bonsai style changed now?

Kobayashi Kunio:

I think there has been a change that can be called "eathering into a butterfly".

I am constantly learning, introspecting, and seeking changes in my interactions with different people.

Initially, I created beautiful potted plants for the purpose of winning various awards.

During this process, I gradually had doubts about whether I pursued too much external beauty.

As time passed, my quest turned to creating potted plants that express the beauty of life, the beauty within.

I have grown from my bonsai creations and hope to pass this on to posterity.

　　The trip to China twenty years ago was an important opportunity for my creative style to change.

Different from the triangular-shaped potted plants that have formed a fixed pattern in Japan, Chinese potted plants are full of life and vitality.

"Abandon past success and seek new value from the world", with this belief, in 2015, I modified the famous real cypress potted plant "Qingfeng" in Japan, and designed the plane layout of the potted plant to show the branches. Curvaceous.

To this day, I am still not satisfied with my bonsai career, and the living art of bonsai is always in development.

I will continue to pursue the "individuality, harmony, and taste" of bonsai creation, and keep improving in the art of bonsai.

A real cypress bonsai created by Kunio Kobayashi.

Photo by Takeshi Taketa

China News Agency reporter: What is the difference between Chinese and Japanese bonsai art?

How should we learn from each other?

Kunio Kobayashi:

Japanese culture attaches great importance to "shrinking" and simplification by cutting out the complex.

"The secret is the flower", this is the words written by the Japanese Noh master Zeami in "Fengzi Hanaden".

After the art of bonsai was introduced to Japan, influenced by Zen Buddhism, it formed many characteristics such as "sadness", "sorrow" and "mystery", which also pushed a sense of Zen to the extreme.

Potted plants pay attention to the "trinity" of potting, planting and decoration.

The Japanese are delicate, thoughtful, and sensitive, and they may have something unique about the "Trinity".

It is this part that many Chinese bonsai creators want to learn from Japan today.

A real cypress bonsai created by Kunio Kobayashi.

Photo by Takeshi Taketa

　　However, Japanese bonsai are keen on triangular shapes, so they are somewhat rigid in shape.

However, due to China's vast territory, potted plants also have the atmosphere of a "mainland country". China prefers relatively large potted plants with a relatively stretched style.

The original intention of bonsai art is to reproduce nature, so that people can feel the wind, rain, snow, experience and tension of nature when they see bonsai, not just the beauty of artificial carvings.

The potted plants are deliberately made into a perfect shape. Although they are beautiful, easy to win awards and sell at high prices, they always feel that they lack some charm.

Potted plants are alive after all, not simple handicrafts.

Chinese potted plants are more dynamic and vigorous.

　　In terms of bonsai art exchanges, I think holding various forms of exchange conferences is still a better form of communication.

So far, I have visited more than 30 countries and regions around the world, participated in more than 200 exchange conferences, and visited China many times.

At the exchange conference, bonsai enthusiasts gather together to talk freely about creative skills, aesthetic appeal, spiritual thinking, etc.

Everyone is a friend of bonsai, just like the Olympic Games, the outcome is not critical, the important thing is to work together for a common goal, like-minded, it is gratifying.

(use up)

Respondent profile:

Photo by Guoxiong Kobayashi and Zhu Chenxi

　　Kunio Kobayashi, a famous bonsai master in Japan, is known as the "genius in the bonsai world". He has been engaged in the bonsai business since he was 28 years old and has been in the bonsai business for 46 years. Received the Prime Minister's Award at the Japan Bonsai Style Exhibition.

Its bonsai worth 100 million yen has been introduced and displayed on Japanese TV stations all the year round, and has attracted widespread attention.

In 2002, he founded the Spring Garden BONSAI Art Museum in Tokyo to show the art of bonsai to the world.

His main works include "The Art of Bonsai - Heaven, Earth and Man", "BONSAI", "Learning Bonsai from Zero", etc.