Studying Keido at Cascadia Bonsai-

Normal days in the bonsai garden involve a lot of time watering, worrying, and brushing spider webs off our bonsai. Taking a break from that to bring the bonsai inside for some display is refreshing, and brings a more relaxing dimension to this art. Spiders might join the event.

The room where we had a Keido (display) afternoon at Bobby Curttright’s place (Cascadia Bonsai), with Matt Reel, Andrew Robson, and students from a Seasonal Workshop. Bobby built the two tokonoma into his living room wall. Bobby provided about two dozen scrolls to chose from, and numerous stands, slabs, and companion pieces. Quite a bit of fun, we tried a lot of different options, discussing the merits and problems of each. And there was tea drinking, too.

Matt Reel placing a bronze hut to accompany a trident maple.

Older Chojubai on a scroll stand.

Discussing elements that might be used…

Pomegranite to the left, and Shore pine to the right. Shore pine is a coastal tree, so the sun is over the ocean, with a small seal as an accent.

Deer with a hut accompany a birch. Usually animals only accompany deciduous trees, not conifers. A hut suggests a retreat in the remote woods, where one might find birch trees which are uncultivated and wild.

Hemlock to the right on a jita (slab), with a hut on stilts, which suggests proximity to a waterway, scroll of a mountain (Mt. Fuji, which has a lot of surrounding water), and a trident maple.