Bonkei is an old Japanese word, which is actually older than the word
bonsai.

Bonkei exist in two forms, artificial and living.

One "school" of bonkei was established by Toshio Kawamoto in the early
1060's. He named his school saikei. If you CAREFULLY look through his
original book he has many, many photos and superb drawings. Now, on at
least two photos is classifies the planting as a "bonsai" on one page
and the same, identical planting as a "saikei" later on in the book....
quite confusing.

Iris, I have a handout on bonkei which I presented at the National
Arboretum's Scholarly Symposium on the history of bonkei. If I get a
chance I'll bring it tonight at the Upstate New York Auction.

Hope this helps....

Bill

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