GLOSSARY 

Understand the words and terms used in the practices of Bonsai, Suiseki and Bonsai ceramics and display.

We have included common terms used in bonsai and related arts, both English terms and Japanese terms are included, as many Japanese terms are commonly used in the West.. 

** Please bear with us .. this section is a new 'work in progress' - last updates 3.9.22
We hope it will serve as another resource to help bonsai enthusiasts. **
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Please feel free to suggest new words that we should add here! 

Main Terms

• Bonsai   盆栽                   Meaning of the constituent kanji:      盆  pronounced 'bon' means 'tray'      栽 pronounced 'sai'  means 'planting'.                                         

                                                     The word  盆栽  'Bonsai' however is the Japanese art of creating a miniature tree in a pot. 
                                                     Generally the art aims to re-create the feel of an aged or beautiful tree in nature, albeit in miniature. 
                                                     As an art form however, there are various accepted forms, including for example abstract concepts.

• Glaze                                 A vitreous substance fused to the surface of pottery to form an impervious decorative coating.

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• Kusamono                        Meaning 'grass thing', an arrangement (often naturally developing) of grasses and flowers

• ​Shitakusa   
• Suiban   水盤                    Ceramic dish for used suiseki display. Often hand made and usually glazed
• ​Suiseki   水石                    A viewing stone, or the appreciation of such stones. (Gongshi in Chinese). Suiseki, in the Japanese tradition are natural and uncut by man, and evoke a                                                    natural element, such as a mountain, animal, lake, 
• Tenpai                                Small, often handmade sculptures used as accents to a bonsai display, which are usually made of Bronze. They are often animals or buildings and can                                                    be used to confirm the season of display.

Bonsai Tree Terms

• Inverse Taper               The undesirable greater thickening of a trunk (/branch) towards the extremities. Trunks should become thinner in girth as they rise. (and branches thinner                                                towards the ends.)
• Jin                                  Refers to the deadwood sections of branches. 
  
• Shari / Sharimiki           Refers to the deadwood sections of the trunk. 
• Neagari                         Exposed roots (style). 
• ​Nebari                           A tree's visible surface root spread.
• Taper                             A desirable feature, whereby trunks are wider at the base and become progressively thinner up the tree, and along the branches.

Bonsai Tree Styles

Broom Style                             Hokidachi
Double Trunk                          Sokan
Literati Style                             Bunjin
Cascade                                   Kengai
Forest / Group                        Yose ue
Formal Upright                       Chokkan

Informal Upright                     Moyogi
Multi-trunk Style                     Kabudachi
Raft Style                                  Ikadabuki 
Rock planted Style                 Ishisuki
Root-over-Rock Style             Seki joju
Semi Cascade                         Han Kengai
Slanting Style                          Shakan 
Windswept                              Fukinagashi

Bonsai Pot Terms

• Hachi   鉢                                   Bowl (or pot)
• Wabachi   和鉢                         Literally ‘Japanese style pot’. This means Unknown maker (and is NOT a maker’s name)

​Bonsai Pot Shapes

 In order of 'Masculinity'

• Square                                   Masugata bachi  A pot with four sides of equal lengths.
• Rectangle                                                             A pot with four sides, of which 2 sides are longer than the other 2 sides. 
• Soft Rectangle                                                     A rectangle with curved or 'soft' corners. 

                                                                                          A very soft rectangle and a very hard oval are the same shape. 

• Quince                                    Mokko-gata         A shaped like the flower of a Quince - Square with indented, rounded corners.         
• Oval                                                                       A rounded and slightly elongated outline
• Lotus                                                                      As a Lotus flower seen from above, a round shape with multiple (15) petal tips extruding.    
• Antique Mirror Shape
• Hexagonal                                                             A pot with 6 equal length sides.
• Octagonal                                                              A pot with 8 equal length sides.
• Flower                                    Rinka                       A round flower shaped pot with repeating lobed edges.
• Round                                    Maru bachi            Shaped like a round cooking pot for rice

Bonsai Pot Styles

• Bag Style Oval                     Fukuro-shiki               An oval with a lip that ingresses, then egresses, as if tightened by a drawstring. 
• Cascade
• Drum
• Nanban                                                                        A primitive style of pot / container originating from South China. (means 'southern barbarian', or 'what number'!). Generally used                                                                                          for literati / bunjin style trees. Some older Chinese nanban may have originally been lids to rice cooking vessels. 
• Semi Cascade                            
• Shokodouin

Bonsai Pot Details

​Bonsai Pot Decoration

Suiseki Terms

• Daiza   台座                                  A wooden stand made to support and hold a suiseki viewing stone. Often hand carved to fit perfectly the shape of the stone.
• Tanseki   探石                               Viewing stone collecting.
• Tanseki-kai   探石会                    Stone hunting party / Stone collecting trip.

Display terms

• Kake  掛                                         Meaning 'hang', or 'suspend'. These are backdrops for 'Shikishi' and 'Tanzaku'
• Kakejiku 掛軸                                Meaning 'hanging shaft/axis'. 
• Kakemono 掛物                            Meaning 'hanging thing', these are hanging scrolls. A broader meaning than Kakejiku. 
• Shikishi                                           Shikishi can be landscape or portrait, and generally larger than Tanzuku, can be different sizes. 
• Tanzaku  短冊                                A vertical rectangular piece of card or wood, decorated with words, poems, or artwork. Tanzaku are generally 6cm x  30cm.  
• Tanzaku gake  短冊掛                  The 'kake' backdrop' for a Tanzuku. Shikishi can also be hung on a Tanzaku gake.     
• Tokonoma 床の間                         A custom built display space in a Japanese style room for artistic appreciation.

• Sho sugi ban  焼杉板                     An ancient Japanese technique for waterproofing & preserving wood. It involves charring cedar wood surface until black.