Francesco Santini » Benvenuti nel mio Blog

Nov 18

by Francesco Santini in PHOTOS 0 comments

Visit to Nijo-jo Castle in Kyoto

The photos taken at Nijo-jo Castle in Kyoto during my visit in February 2018. From Wikipedia: In 1601, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, ordered all the feudal lords in western Japan to contribute to the construction of Nijō Castle, which was completed during the reign of Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1626. While the castle was being built, a portion of land from the partially abandoned Shinsenen Garden (located south) was absorbed, and its abundant water was used in the castle gardens and ponds. Parts of Fushimi Castle, such as the main tower and the karamon, were moved here in 1625–26. Nijo Castle was built as the Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa shōguns. The Tokugawa shogunate used Edo as the capital city, but Kyoto continued to be the home of the Imperial Court. Kyoto Imperial Palace is located north-east of Nijō Castle. The central keep, or tenshu, was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in 1750. In 1788, the Inner Ward was destroyed by a citywide fire. The site remained empty until it was replaced by a prince’s residence transferred from the Kyoto Imperial Palace in 1893. In 1867, the Ninomaru Palace, in the Outer Ward, was […]

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Nov 18

by Francesco Santini in PHOTOS 0 comments

Visiting the garden of master M.Kimura – February 2018

A little reportage of the visit to the garden of the master M.Kimura. Some masterpieces in the garden. An overview of the garden! The details make the difference! The pond Some precious pots. Thanks to Marco for the kind company. The inevitable photo!

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Nov 18

by Francesco Santini in PHOTOS 0 comments

Kinkaku-ji – “Temple of the Golden Pavilion”

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Nov 18

by Francesco Santini in Preparation 0 comments

Buxus – Sookan style

This buxus is in my collection since 2009, purchased by a friend a few years after collecting it from the wild. As always, I wait at least a year before starting any work on it. A time necessary in my opinion to know and asses, firstly, the health of the plant and, secondly, to cultivate it according to the working necessities. In April 2011 I organized at my laboratory the “Buxus day”: a day in which I invited my bonsai friends to work on 8 boxwood samples, which were part of my collection. This is the tree: A detail of his “tough” nebari. The meeting was just an excuse to spend time with friends and the work done was essentially cleaning and selecting the ramification. We immediately decided to move and lower the branches before they got bigger and then impossible to move. The boxwood is very hard and difficult folds. The branches must be positioned before they become too rigid. With the same diameter with other species, the range of folding of boxwood branches is considerably lower. Since the day of collecting the tree has never been re-potted. The clay-based soil began not to drain any […]

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Nov 18

by Francesco Santini in Preparation 0 comments

Juniperus Chinensis var. Itoigawa

I’ve always liked this multi-trunk juniper! This bonsai is a very fascinating specimen: many light trunks with the finest vegetation of the itoigawa. The Costantino Franchi Museum in Pescia hosts this lovely piece. In 2009 the juniper looked like this: Front Left side In December of the same year I decided to work on it. The vegetative masses are not yet very thick and dense, but it is still time for a reorganization of the pads. In this process, after the usual cleaning, the main objective is the selection and reopening of the vegetation. All this happens without substantially changing the character and shape of the bonsai. What I am interested in highlighting is the character and personality of each single trunk to achieve what is the real goal: the harmony of the whole. Here is the final result: The individual tufts are opened and positioned to form pads and secondary-tertiary pads. A detail of the Nebari and trunks. The juniper in 2010 and 2011. The pads begin to swell! In April 2012 I proceed with the re-potting. In this regard I choose a lotus flower vase of the same width as the […]

Nov 18

by Francesco Santini in Preparation 0 comments

Juniperus Chinensis

I began to work on this juniper chinensis var. Kaizuka owned by the company “Franchi Bonsai” in 2012, one year after its arrival. The trunk of this bonsai is quite peculiar as it descends straight down and, after two bends, one of which is very sharp , goes up close and parallel to the descending part. The branches are basically situated only at the end of the trunk and the presence of old shari give some movement to the more cylindrical and straight areas. The vegetation is not of the most valuable. The Kaizuka variety has, by nature, a long and not very turgid scale and also turns quickly to needle. Here is the bonsai in March 2012 before being working on it for the first time Front / Back Right side / Left side The first phase is the cleaning of the foliage, where all weak and hanging vegetation is eliminated. Then follows the cleaning of the bark and perfecting the shari. Once all this has been done, all that is left to do is to proceed to pruning by selecting the useful branches for the project. Although there is already a well defined structure of branches, […]

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