One cold winter day, an ignorant new apprentice conversed with his sensei. “Watashino hey wa sugoku samuei desu” said the apprentice. The sensei hit the floor with laughter leaving the student confused. Turns out, instead of saying “My hands are really cold!”, I said “My farts are really cold!”. Tey is the word for hand….. In this particular instance, I was entertaining and kept the mood light. There have been other instances where it was not such a fun experience. There is absolutely nothing worse about apprenticeship than when you need to communicate something to save your ass but you have no idea how. A basic understanding of the Japanese language is important to survive in Japan. Having worked with Spanish-speakers for 15 years, I knew the importance of at least making an effort to learn Japanese. The native speakers definitely appreciate it.
As a side note to anyone considering becoming an apprentice, being an apprentice means you’re wrong in every situation. Answering incorrectly, discourteously, or too slowly = Wrong. Correcting your sensei when they are wrong = Wrong. Answering correctly somehow also equals wrong, but in a sort of humbling sort of way. You can’t appear proud or say “i already knew that” or “you’ve asked me / told me that 500 times”. Best to say you understand and continue to work on swallowing your pride. Apprenticeship is a multi-faceted challenge not just for your body, but in my opinion more for your mind. I liken it to the residency of a doctor running on no sleep after three shifts, but having to be on point with his diagnosis of an obscure disease. The situations are not so dire in bonsai, but when you are an apprentice in Japan, it can sometimes feel that way. The actual work may not be always be the challenging part, but quickly learning all the nuances of styling or caring for a given tree and accounting for all this stuff can be very difficult. When was it repotted? Which technique needs to be applied and why? My favorite learning experience is the on-the-spot analysis of a new bonsai. You’ve seen the tree for maybe half a minute as you carry it to the benches and are accosted with very pointed questions like “Where is the best viewing point and trunk angle?” or “What style of container would be ideal for this bonsai?”. Your answers must be fast and accurate; an excellent training tool.
This post will not be full of nice photos, but will certainly be useful to anyone traveling to Japan to see bonsai, working with a Japanese speaking teacher, or doing a short-term study / full-blown apprenticeship in Japan. I would recommend learning the words you feel that suit your goals. Shortly before leaving for Japan Bjorn Bjorholm was kind enough to write me list of bonsai terms and it was very helpful. In that same spirit of “paying it forward”, I’ve written a list of my own for anyone who’s interested below. Spelling will reflect how to say the words phonetically. Any words that have an interesting history that may shed light on their meaning will be elaborated on. This particular post will be updated with more photos and definitions as I remember or learn useful terms. This would be considered a crash course in “Bonsai Japanese” and not something to start with if learning the language : ). I recommend making flash cards as the language has no Latin heritage and it will be wrote memorization. If anyone has vocabulary to add that relates to bonsai, please comment on this post. My translations are not perfect in every case, but the general meaning or feeling is correct. It is important to note that the order you use words in can change their meaning a great deal. There’s also IN-TO-nation to consider, but that’s a rabbit hole I will not go down on a simple blog post. If you don’t care about learning Japanese bonsai words, time to stop reading.
I’ve excluded common names on purpose as they can be confusing. “That’s a cedar” Oh really? : ). Learn the Latin names of any species you train and better yet, find out what species are related to it. Knowledge of any plant’s lineage can be helpful with it’s care. I wanted to exclude common names, but oh well. Feel free to read my list, but I recently received a link to this site: HERE Thanks go to John Romano; a fellow fan of bunjinji bonsai www.kaikoubonsai.com Below the plant names are other useful terms and vocabluary.
Japanese Plant Names / Latin Names:
- Icho, Chi-chi – Gingko biloba – Gingko
- Ichii – Taxus cuspidata – Japanese Yew
- Karamatsu – Larix kaempferi – Japanese Larch
- Tosho – Juniperus rigida – Needle Juniper
- Tsugi – Cryptomeria japonica – Japanese Cedar or Cryptomeria
- Kuromatsu – Pinus thunbergiii – Japanese Black Pine
- Akamatsu – Pinus densiflora – Japanese Red Pine
- Goyomatsu – Pinus parviflora – Japanese White Pine
- Kaede – Acer burgerianum (Kaede comes from an evolution of the words “kaeru no te”, or “frog hand”). – Trident Maple
- Momiji – Acer palmatum – Japanese Maple or Mountain Maple
- Gyo-ryu – Tamarix chinensis – Tamarix
- Chirimen kazura – Trachelospermum asiaticum var. Nana – Dwarf Star Jasmine
- Tekka kazura – Trachelospermum asiaticum – Star Jasmine
- Egonoki – Styrax japonica – Snowbell / Styrax
- Shimpaku – Juniperus chinensis var. Sargentii (oddly enough, this is a bonsai only term) – Shimpaku Juniper
- Binan kazura – Kadsura japonica (bi means “beautiful”, nan means “man”, and kazura means “climber” referring to the use of this vine’s sap to slick back the hair of samurai during the Edo Period) – Katsura Vine
- Suikazura – Lonicera japonica – Japanese Honeysuckle
- Konara – Quercus serrata – Not sure
- Kobushi – Magnolia kobus – Kobus Magnolia
- Kuchinashi – Gardenia jasminoides – Gardenia
- Murasaki shikibu – Callicarpa japonica (Named after Lady Murasaki, the author of The Tale of Genji) – Beautyberry
- Ezomatsu – Picea glehnii (Picea jezoensis is also called Ezomatsu) Both are from Hokkaido and the surrounding small islands. – Ezo Spruce
- Hinoki – Chamaecyparis obtusa – Hinoki False Cypress
- Gamazumi – Viburnum dilatatum – Arrowwood Viburnum
- Piracan – Pyracantha – Pyracantha / Firethorn
- Nishikigi – Euonymus alatus – Winged Euonymus / Burning Bush
- Mayumi – Euonymus hamiltonianus subsp. sieboldianus (I had to look this one up) – Spindle Bush? / Siebold’s Spindle?
- Buna – Fagus japonica – Japanese Beech
- Ume – Prunus mume – Japanese Flowering Apricot (even though it’s from China and elsewhere)
- Yamazakura, Sakura – Prunus jamasakura – Mountain Cherry
- Chochubai – Chaenomeles japonica ‘Chochubai’ – Chochubai Quince
- Omoto – Rohdea japonica – Sacred Nippon Lily
- Schotssuba – Pyrossia spp. – Pyrossia
- Gumi – Eleagnus spp. (kind of a bulk name; there are a number of species and cultivars) – Eleagnus / Silverberry
- Tsuge – Buxus microphylla – Littleleaf Boxwood
- Chosen Tsuge – Buxus sinica var. insularis – Korean Boxwood
- Niyoi Kaede – Premna japonica (name means smelly / stinky maple) – Stinky Maple / Premna
- Haze – Rhus spp. (another bulk category for the genus) – Sumac
- Karin – Pseudocydonia sinensis – Chinese Flowering Quince
- Boke – Chaenomeles japonica – Flowering Quince
- Sanzashi – Crataegus spp. (seeing a pattern here?) – Hawthorne
- Mizuki – Cornus kousa – Kousa Dogwood
- Hanamizuki – Cornus florida – American Dogwood
- Tosamizuki – Corylopsis spicata (and possible C. pauciflora too) – Spike Winterhazel and Buttercup Winterhazel respectively
- Sonare – Juniperus procumbens – Procumbens Juniper
- Sawara – Chamaecyparis pisifera – Sawara Cypress
- Tsuta – Parthenocissus tricuspidata – Boston Ivy
- America no Tsuta – Parthenocissus quinquefolia – Virginia Creeper