Actually I think of nebari as the transition from the trunk to the roots.
Trunk base is little more accurate than root base in my opinion since the
base of the roots is perhaps in the bottom of the pot (I seem to remember
that tag... is the Japanese term for the lower trunk). Another option for
nebari in my opinion is "root spread across the soil", but that starts to
get long.

I tend to agree with the posters in favor of using some Japanese terms in
that it can sometimes be a very concise word to describe the concept that
can fit in to any language that uses the roman alphabet. If I could only
write it in kanji or hiragana (spelling on both) I would probably feel the
other way. I also feel that including some of the terms from Japanese (and
Chinese) pays homage to the origins of the art of bonsai. On the other
hand, I think of most of the styles in American English terms - i.e.
informal upright, so I am not a purist.

There are probably a small number of terms from Japanese and Chinese that
most bonsai/penjing practitioners will use in favor of the equivalent in
their native tongue (unless they are native Japanese/Chinese speakers).
Bonsai is obvious, nebari, jin, shohin/mame, and literati quickly come to
mind. What are some of the others (those who have studied Japanese or
Chinese must be careful in their responses).

However, we also want to make sure that we don't drive folks that are new to
the hobby/art/obsession off by only using non-native language terms. When I
teach I carefully define the Japanese terms I choose to use and state that
it is my preference to use them because I feel it conveys the idea better
than the American English description, but that the students are free to use
language with which they are more comfortable.

Regards - Marty

PS I think for yamadori as "collected from the wild" and would generally not
include some of the overgrown urban/suburban things I have dug as yamadori.

-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club ] On Behalf Of
Craig Cowing
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 7:54 PM
To:
Subject: [IBC] "yamadori" boxwood

I don't think the question is whether the terminology is appropriate
in-house, but
whether it is a good idea to have an arcane set of terms from a foreign
language
that one must learn to be initiated. I feel that "root base" adequately
describes
what a "nebari" is, for instance. FWIW.

Craig Cowing
NY
zone 5b/6a sunset 37

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