Terrific Tosho – Bonsai Tonight

The bonsai museum at Shinpukuji Temple features some great tosho, or needle juniper. Here are some of my favorites.

Boon and tosho

Many needle juniper bonsai are collected. Among the most prized features are knobby deadwood – ibo-jin, or wart-jin, in Japanese – and thin life lines with good movement.

Ibo-jin

Needle juniper

Formal upright specimens feature narrow life lines but often have less bumpy jin.

Formal upright needle juniper

Developing needle juniper branch pads requires time. New shoots grow and are cut back once or twice a year – the exact shapes are a matter of style.

Twin trunk needle juniper

Needle juniper

I haven’t seen many developed needle junipers in the U.S., but I hope that will someday change.