How To Make A Tanuki Bonsai🪴*EASY*
In this bonsai video, I show you how to create a Tanuki bonsai! I demonstrate this on both a large and small piece of deadwood, giving you flexibility and inspiration for your own projects.
I explain how to select the deadwood and suitable material when browsing for trees in a garden centre, as well as how to fuse the young living tree to the deadwood over time, resulting in a seamless, beautiful composition. I also show you how to clean, prepare, and whiten the deadwood with lime sulphur to enhance its appearance and create a more aged, natural look. I then merge the living tree with the deadwood by securing it with cable ties and wire, ensuring that the tree flows naturally along the grain of the deadwood for a harmonious and organic look.
The Tanuki, also known as the Japanese raccoon dog, is a creature from Japanese folklore that has become quite iconic. Despite its name, the Tanuki isn’t actually a raccoon or a dog but a unique species of canid found in Japan. In mythology, it’s portrayed as a mischievous, shapeshifting trickster known for its ability to transform into objects and even people. Similarly, when we create a Tanuki in bonsai, we are deceiving the viewer into thinking the composition was created naturally. Although Tanuki bonsai is somewhat of a creative shortcut, it’s cherished for its ability to produce great results in a relatively short period.
Thank you very much to Dave for sending me his new book “Bonsai the Blue Sky way”
Dave’s Channel @BlueSkyBonsai
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00:00 – Intro.
00:46 – What Is A Tanuki Bonsai?
01:55 – Selecting The Deadwood Feature.
04:28 – Cleaning The Deadwood with Algae Remover.
06:28 – Lime Sulphur Safety.
06:54 – Whitening The Deadwood with Lime Sulphur.
10:26 – The Bonsai Tools Used.
11:15 – Creating A Small Tanuki Bonsai With Itoigawa Juniper.
15:58 – How To Select Material For A Tanuki.
18:29 – Cleaning The Tree and Inspecting The Material.
19:36 – Creating The Large Tanuki Bonsai.
25:23 – How To Take Cuttings (Heel and Nodal).
26:27 – Slip Potting The Tree Into A More Stable Pot.
28:22 – Beauty Shots.
29:52 – BONUS! Opening a Package From Dave!
30:48 – Outro.
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25 Comments
Such a great video Adam, really inspiring! I also have some deadwood sitting outside for over two years, in my case a dead juni that dried up in summer '22. I will definitely do a tanuki sometime.
Ps. Thanks again for showing the book!!
Hodně dobrý video
Great video as always, Ive never tried tanuki myself, but this video gave me tons of inspiration, going looking for some driftwood at the beach tomorrow! Also is there anything that you could potentially use instead of lime sulfur? Since lime sulfur is not really available in my part of the world, and making it is quite complicated, Thanks ahead!
the detail you go into everything is amazing! your videos bring so much inspiration to me and my new bonsai journey!
paused it at 15:40 that wood looks like an elephant!
Great video Adam. I've a couple tanuki done and you just reminded me I should maybe do 1st styling on them. Love the red tool wrap .😅
nice one. Working on a tanuki video myself too.
Aussie Dave here, nice work 😊. I have 4 tanuki styles, 2 have interesting wood. So you are correct the more interesting wood the better 😊. I have also bought the Blue Sky Bonsai book
Great video. Think this is one of your best so far. Very informative and professional.
Gracias por compartir tus trabajos, me encanta el entusiasmo y la dedicación que pones en todos ellos.
Sin embargo no entiendo cómo vas a conseguir en un futuro que los plantones se mantengan pegados a la madera muerta, simulando las venas de un árbol.
Los trabajos de tanuki que he visto hasta ahora consisten en tallar con una máquina rotativa un canal a la madera con sección en forma de C, e introducir el tronco del plantón dentro del canal, sujetándolo en un primer momento con bridas. Si el canal está bien hecho y la madera muerta es resistente, cuando engorda el plantón se queda encajado en el canal, ya no puede salirse y ahí se queda por siempre, sin necesitar usar más bridas. Con el tiempo el plantón engorda todavía más y se crea una vena que abulta por fuera del canal, adquiriendo el aspecto de una vena natural.
Si las técnicas empleadas son buenas, en un futuro resultará imposible distinguir el tanuki de un bonsái normal, con su verdadera madera muerta. Pero en tu caso no creo que eso llegue a suceder nunca, los plantones siempre se van a separar de la madera muerta si no están sujetos con alambres o bridas…
Me gustaría conocer tus planes de futuro con esos tanukis para poder comprender mejor los trabajos que nos estás mostrando.
De nuevo, muchas GRACIAS por compartir ❤
¡Un saludo!
Is Autumn the best time for creating Tanuki? Great vid. Thanks
Why did you decide not to create grooves in the deadwood, for the trunks to set into?
Very clear video. Thanks. I have messed around with a crab apple tanuki for several years. Trunk died back with interesting shape and a sucker came up so I carved a channel up to the top, used zip ties to hold the sucker to the trunk and it has come right along. I plan on sending some pics to your email as they cannot be uploaded here. Thanks again. What a great way to use all those spare pieces of interesting wood that otherwise clutter up the yard…
Amazing as always 👌👏👏👏
Interesting choice of tree! Liked it. I have had fair success with wisteria tanuki as well.
You can also use hydrogen peroxyd to clear the wood
👍👌🙂
Another excellent informative video Adam, look forward to seeing the piece develop over the next year.
Conor
I saw lots of tanuki: if you don´t carve a channel into the natural groves to put the trees in, it will always look fake, I´m afraid…
Adam I think you are turning into a very capable bonsai teacher, people will learn a lot from watching your channel. The tanuki process you have demonstrated using the bog wood should encourage people to try it with their odd pieces of drift wood etc, I will be trying the process you have shown with my bits of wood. I hope you can keep us up to date with their progress over time. All the best Adam.
great vid as always but love the product placement hahah !
outstanding red on the japanese maple :O outstanding beauty shots! outstanding video as always! Those tanuki are inspiring 🙂
I’m one of the beginners and had no clue what Tanuki was. Thank you for the great video!
Great video Adam. Good luck with those tanuki’s mate 👊👊👊
Great video Adam. I cannot wait to see future updates on your tanuki.