A well-known root-over-rock Japanese flowering quince 'Chojubai'. 45 cm high

Fairly typical of the multiple-trunk old Chojubai now seen in Japan. 33 cm high

Chaenomeles japonica ‘Chojubai’ is a cultivar of the comparatively coarse Japanese flowering quince. Few plants for bonsai can match its contrasting qualities: Idiosyncratic, craggy branching and twigging, with rough older bark, adorned almost contradictorily with glowing ruby flowers. They flower mostly when out of leaf, in winter, so they lend a feeling of glowing life to the bonsai yard when all else is dull. The details are small, with glossy leaves about 1/2″ long and flowers under 1″ wide. There are several flower variations including white and red, although almost all Chojubai used for bonsai are red-flowered because that variety has the finest twigging.

Medium-sized ('chuhin') Chojubai. Fine old tree. 29 cm high

Quirky medium-sized raised-root Chojubai. 30 cm

The history of this tree in Japan is interesting… At first, Chojubai appeared commonly as a small accent plant in the Kokufu show forty years ago, as an unramified twig or two. Only rarely was it seen as a primary tree in the medium size category, and never in the large size. It was a second tier tree. Then something shifted. Around 1990 we began to see large size Chojubai in the Japanese shows. These were trees about 1-1.5 feet tall and twice as wide, multiple-trunked and highly ramified. Occasionally single-trunked trees, which are rare, were seen. In Kokufu book 80, about six years ago, two Chojubai won Kokufu prizes. Two years later in book 82 another won. Chojubai had come of age.

Most Chojubai are enjoyed out of leaf, although the small glossy leaves are perfectly in scale. As Chojubai often flowers nearly year-round there is nothing stopping you from putting them on the display tables any day of the year. 30 cm

You might wonder why I put this in...Well, it is a Chojubai accent plant in the Kokufu show 40 years ago. Interesting, isn't it, how tastes and techniques have changed? These days, this tree would be unlikely to even get accepted into a local Western show.

The vast majority of Chojubai grown for bonsai are the red-flowered variety; all the other photos in this gallery are of red-flowered trees. This is a white-flowered tree and it won a Kokufu prize. Very hard to ramify the white ones. 33 cm

Chojubai’s ease of ramification is enhanced with training, creating dense forms of intense complexity. Most unique to the Chojubai is the natural eccentricity and unexpected angles and directions in the branching, which are usually encouraged as they represent the special flavor of this variety. If this were a plant trained by music, that music would be jazz.

A red-flowered Kokufu prize winner. Very old. This is a good example of the extremes in technique used to create a very crystalized form. Impressive, and yet in some ways perhaps not showing the best of what Chojubai offers. Hmm, I wonder how long I will be in purgatory for that comment... 35 cm

One of the rarer single-trunked Chojubai. Another Kokufu prize winner. If you have a single-trunked tree, be very sure to cut all suckers that come from the root base. Beautiful old tree! The warty bark is evident only with great age. 38 cm

If you have a Chojubai, you’re lucky. Keep it moist. Plant in deeper containers to hold more water. If you have a young plant, put it in a big training pot with large size soil mix for a few years, so you have some energy to manipulate. Keep in the sun. Use a pesticide when shoots are elongating to control aphids. Wire main branches and shoots from the base for multiple trunks, and cut and grow following that. This is not so much to create branch taper, as there will be little of that, but for the short, zigzagging and erratic branching that is only created by many years of scissor work. Leave one to three internodes only. Always immediately remove shoots that come from the base that you are not intending to use as trunks—they will weaken the older areas. There’s more to it, but that will get you started.

Lovely loosely styled multiple-trunk Chojubai. Many years of careful scissor pruning created this natural form. 40 cm

Chojubai just beginning to grow in April at Shinji Suzuki's nursery.

Another Chojubai at Suzuki's a month later, in May, just before trimming the extensions.

Chojubai at my place in mid-December, showing tiny flower buds. Any strong tree, with timely trimming, will produce this many buds. It has already had a few flowers open, which are about 1" across, and will continue blooming for 3-4 months until late March when the leaves start coming out. After that the blooming is more sporadic.

After all those words and photos, there’s no hiding that I’m totally besotted with Chojubai. Ah well. Another personal secret offered to the globe. But I have a wondering curiosity if these images stirred—if any photograph CAN stir—the endearments that Chojubai have raised in myself and others lucky enough to have seen them in person. I imagine many of you have never seen Chojubai before. What do you think? Something you’d like to see more of?

And it appears to be happening: Matt Reel will also be joining us in a year or so, following his almost 5 years now with Shinji Suzuki. We will have several bonsai artists in one city who’ve done significant time in Japan under a couple of its finest masters, Masahiko Kimura and Shinji Suzuki, working together to create a viable professional community and outreach. We hope you’ll stay tuned for the events we will have in the near future! It’s going to be an exciting future here in Portland… and we hope you’ll come visit, and return—

Below are some photos of our ‘traveling’ version of the Portland Bonsai Village… I think Ryan and I figured out that the next three years has us headlining at a convention together at least once a year. Next one: PNBA in Seattle this September!

Left to Right: Peter Warren (our English bloke), Ryan Neil, and Michael Hagedorn at GSBF 2010.

GSBF 2010: Ryan Neil demonstrating on a Rocky Mountain juniper; Michael Hagedorn assisted by Peter Tea on an Ezo spruce.

Kokufu show #80 – 2006

Chochubai flowering quince (left), Ezo spruce (right)

Red pine. You may notice several different stylistic approaches in the bonsai on this page. Only about 20% of the branches on this tree were wired.

White pine—One of those stepping-stone trees for me. Mr. Suzuki wanted to be sure I could wire trees out cleanly—to this level of organization and absurdity—before letting me work with less artificiality. I detail the work on this tree in my book, Post-Dated: The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk.

Grafted Itoigawa juniper

White pine 

Kokufu show #79 – 2005

‘Shimpaku’ juniper

Black pine – Kokufu prize winner

‘Shimpaku’ juniper

Taikan Ten 2004

White pine

Sakufu Ten 2005

White pine—Prime Minister Award winner