+
|
|
-
|
The Japanese are passionately fond of flowers, and the dwarfing of trees and shrubs is carried by them to great perfection. (
1868, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
The dwarf plants seen in the quarters were Elms twisted into grotesque shapes. (
1818, U.K., China
)
|
|
A
foreign correspondent of the Boston Traveler relates with how much
curiosity he witnessed some remarkably successful specimens of dwarf
trees in Japan. (
1870, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
However
much a correct taste may depreciate the art of dwarfing Trees and
Shrubs, no doubt can be well entertained that the subject possesses
some attractions to physiologists, since it may, in several respects,
extend our information regarding the laws of organic life... (
1820, U.K., China
)
|
|
And yet these dwarfed trees are thoroughly creatures of art. (
1876, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
M.
Renard had noticed, on visiting the apartments of the Mandarins,
similar little trees of the height of some few inches, pitiful to look
at, unhealthy, distorted, and covered with excoriations without number,
and a thing which astonished him -- the little foliage which ornamented
the extremity of the branches, belonged to kinds that ordinarily attain
an enormous size, such as the elm, the bamboo, and the cypress... That
for the Chinese nothing is beautiful but what is hideous; that a
stunted shrub without leaves is a wonder that is worth all the forests
in the universe; and so the principal occupation of the Chinese
nurserymen is to combat nature in every thing that is beautiful and
rich. (
1847, France, China
)
|
|
Among the most extraordinary objects connected with gardens are the dwarf plum trees. (
1886, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
It
is enough to spend a fortune upon, in dwarf trees and vegetable
curiosities. The Japanese shine like the Chinese in
monstrosities. (
1851, U.S., Japan
)
|
What
now was the artistic interest of these specimens? Sometimes it
was merely the charm that lies in anything quaint, bizarre,
grotesque. But often we saw forms so beautiful in their way and
so clearly illustrative of one phase of Japanese artistic endeavor that
it was a pure delight to study them. Often these little trees
were not bizarre and patently deformed, but as fine in their outlines,
as grand in their masses, as imposing in their effect, as suggestive of
ideas of long existence and vigorous development, as could be the most
mighty specimen seen out-of-doors. (
1890, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
The
most venerable forest-trees may here be seen in flower-pots, their old
stems, gnarled and twisted as if writhing under the torture of
distortion, perhaps scarce two feet high, while their unnatural
branches spread out laterally like the fingers of a deformed
hand. (
1859, U.K., Japan
)
|
|
The picturesque dwarf trees of Japan interested me greatly. (
1893, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
...there
were hills, cliffs, ravines, and table-land, laid out in winding walks,
planted with the famous dwarf trees, hoary little abortions not
three feet high, gnarled and twisted like any monarch of the forest, a
pleasaunce for a palace of puppets... (
1876, U.S., Japan
)
|
A
remarkable dwarf Cedar, ... described as a remarkable example of the
skill of the Japanese in retarding the growth of trees and yet
preserving, in miniature, the aspect of an ancient, weather-worn
specimen. (
1893, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
These
vegetable abortions have hitherto only been known to us through the
medium of the metal and fictile wares of that wonderful country. (
1878, U.S., Japan
)
|
A
fine example of one of these arboreal paradoxes is to be seen in the
Japanese exhibit in the Horticultural Building -- an aged dwarf of an
arbor vitæ (Thuja) like a gigantic cedar of Lebanon, which, while
having all the inherent characteristics of an actual age and dignity of
over one hundred years, is still, with the big vase which it occupies,
barely the height of one's shoulders. (
1893, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
A
lake, a rock-work, a bridge, a stone lantern, and a deformed pine, are
indispensable; but whenever circumstances and means admit of it,
quaintnesses of all kinds are introduced. (
1878, U.K., Japan
)
|
|
And
his sister Norah (a pretty, stunted little thing, like a dwarfed tree
of Japan) seemed to the boys of the block as exquisite as a confection.
(
1895, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
These
arboreal deformities are produced by great labor, and, if the truth is
told about their ages, this work of arresting the tree's development
and forcing it into contorted forms must be persisted in by several
generations of foresters. All this painstaking is hardly paid for
by the beauty of the resulting abortions, but, as has been suggested, a
look at these trees will explain where the fantastic forms come from
which serve as models for the plants we see on the lacquered trays,
bronzes and embroideries which come from Japan. (
1889, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
|
But
fantasies like these, we gather, are executed on a small scale and not
placed where they would disfigure a landscape effect... (
1889, U.S., Japan
)
|
|
I
have heard these trees described as tortured trees; to me, good
specimens never gave that impression, their charm took possession of
me, and a grand old pine or juniper whose gnarled and twisted trunk
suggested a giant of the forest, and yet was under three feet in
height, standing in a soft-coloured porcelain bowl, gave me infinite
pleasure. I could see no fault in them, they are completely
satisfying and give a strange sense of repose. (
1908, England, Japan
)
|
|
The
Japanese not only take great pleasure in this artificial deformation,
but they admire and collect also natural malformations of every kind...
This is due to the same intellectual laziness, and is an example
of the charm which striking phenomena have for many people with us
also, and which the uneducated admire everywhere, but with us the
admiration is usually diverted from nature to other objects. (
1889, Germany, Japan
)
|
|
|
...cultivating
a young tree for its shapeliness, advantage is taken of any accidental
eccentricity of root or branch, every early symptom of blemish, and
these are forced and fostered until first a deformity and ultimately a
monstrosity of tree-form is evolved. (
1896, U.K., Japan
)
|
|
The finest pot-grown
peach-trees I ever saw were in China, their gnarled stems looking truly
a thousand years old, their branches trained and bent or merely
drooping like a willow, covered with the clear pink blossoms. (
1908, England, China
)
|
|
There, on benches, in rows, sit tortured trees
in their bowls or pans of faience . Their perfection is a marvel of
patience, requiring years for its accomplishment... The effect is
of course exquisite in its elaborate and rather morbid beauty. (
1904, U.K., Japan
)
|