Japanese bonsai pottery design

There are many shapes of Japanese bonsai pottery and each has a special meaning or derivative in Japanese writing.  The traditions that accompany bonsai pottery and the form of the plant specimen is very closely matched with the shape of the container.   In the Japanese language many of the terms are specific to the bonsai art.   For example, the choukaku is a standard rectangular pot.  The word choukaku only describes this form as a bonsai pot.                                                     

                 Mokkou 'quince'

The shoukaku pot is a square and like the choukaku is only used to depict a square bonsai container.

Other terminologies have special derivatives.  The koban is an oval pot and the word originates from an old Japanese coin that had an oval shape.  The mokko is a shape like the Japanese quince and is from a family crest, the mokkou.  The hanagata is a beautiful design that is modeled after the petals of a flower, while the kokyou is in the shape of an old Japanese mirror. 

Some bonsai pot's description is the exact geometry that they are.  A circular container is known as a maru, one Japanese word for circle.   Maru pots can have any depth and make be vase like but as long as they are a circle they are known as maru.   More elaborate designs such as the hexagon, a rokkaku, and the octagon, a hakkaku, are stating the number of sides of the pot. 

In addition to the shape of the bonsai pot there are words that describe each by its depth.   An asa maru would be a shallow circular pot.   In contrast a buka maru is a deep circular pot and if either is described as a chuu-asa or chuu-buka then they would be in-between, or a middle depth.  An oh-buka is a very deep pot.  A kengai pot is one that would be used for the cascading style of bonsai because it is tall, deep and overhanging. 

The lip or edge of the pottery also is descriptive.  A soteon has a lip that extends over the pot, a kittate has no edge and the uchien's edge protrudes inward toward the plant.   The decorative corners that are seen on some pots have names also.  A round corner is simply the nadekaku, while a more elaborate heart-shaped corner may be a sumiiri.  A corner that has been cut-off or is molded inward is called the sumikiri. 

The plant or tree is the main focus of this wondrous garden art, but it is in the details that the art takes its special meaning.