Quarter Moon Sumie

 This painting was done by Vinh Bui. Very beautiful quarter moon in a Sandan Hyougu (3 Step Style) kakejiku. I used earth tones even though this would be an early spring type motif. If you would like to purchase this scroll it is $150.00. Contact to sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com or call/text 801-214-4064.

Strong Like Summer Clouds

 

夏雲多奇峰 These are the characters on this scroll. It reads Kaun Kihou Ooshi, with a literal meaning of Strong Like Summer Clouds. I had a person take my scroll making class at an American Bonsai Society convention in Kentucky. He was never able to complete the scroll and asked me to do it for him. This will be a good scroll to display with his various conifer trees. I love the dark Rust/Brown color of this cloth. It was completed with an ebony jikusaki to slightly offset the color of the scroll, but still pair well with the many unglazed pots typically used for Evergreen Bonsai. If you would also be interested in having a scroll made, go to our website www.customjapanesecalligraphy.com email to sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com or call or text to 801-214-4064.

Bonsai Display Scroll Made

I hope you like this shohin bonsai display created by a bonsai artist.
I made the scroll for this with the picture provided by the bonsai artist.

I made this scroll with a light color possible, trying to evoke an early summer feel. I made it into a minchou hyougu style with two vertical strips of blue. It is completed with an antique machined jikusaki and kodai san iro hanging string.

If you would like a scroll made for a bonsai display or for another occasion please contact to me at sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com

Alternate Scroll for Bonsai Artist

This is a different display using a similar painting of Canyon deChelley. The customer chose these cloths based upon a previous scroll done for a bonsai artist. The bonsai are entirely different from the display at USNBE.

If you would like a custom scroll made for your bonsai contact to Jonathan Maples at sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com

Old Scroll Redo

This painting is sold and is no longer available. Please contact to Jonathan Maples via email sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com

This scroll was refurbished and remounted from an old scroll. The painting has a very faint understated home with mountains in the background and a stream. It is very beautiful and hope it works well with the bonsai of the gentleman who purchased this. He has built his own Toko no Ma, and I hope to see it hanging in there soon.

I decided to do it in a fukuro Hyougu style with a dark gray and Kon (navy) color suji. This provides a very nice touch with a neutral scene. Although I think the painting would go best with a fall scene, I felt that the neutral Winchester gray color would allow flexibility in displaying it in a variety of seasons.

Heavenly Bamboo and Bird

This painting was purchased in an auction. It has a bird viewing the Nandia berries. I purchased this for use as a bonsai scroll. The size and dimensions are very nice. It is painted on silk, which is very beautiful. I do not know the age, but when it arrived, the scroll was in tatters and it had to be redone.

This scroll is for sale. For inquiries please contact Jonathan sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com
Here are the dimensions of the scroll.

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	100	11.93
上中廻し	Ue Chuumawashi	40	4.77
上一文字	Ue Ichimonji	12	1.43
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	162	19.33
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	146	17.42
柱	Pillars	10	1.19
下一文字	Shita Ichimonji	7	0.84
下中廻し	Shita Chuumawashi	25	2.98
地	Chi	55	6.56
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	182	21.71
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	373	44.50

Another Sumie Bird Wallscroll for ABS

This is another Kakejiku for the American Bonsai Society exhibition in September of 2013. It is a painting drawn by Natsuko Horinouchi. It is painted to be part of a winter display, and is an Onaga or Magpie. It is very simplistic, which would allow the bonsai to take the primary position of the display. If you would like a commissioned piece, please contact to sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com for more information.


The scroll is done in an informal Maru Hyougu style and has a silver/gray cloth accented by a Navy flower karakusa (arabesque). The Ichimonji, (cloth bordering the painting) is a gold on gold flower karakusa. It is completed with a Navy Hanging string and black plastic Jikusaki. The simple style of the painting is reflected in the design and use of the other materials selected for this scroll.
Dimensions as follows.

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	85	10.14
上一文字	Ue Ichimonji	8	0.95
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	63	7.52
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	295	35.19
柱	Pillars	5	0.60
下一文字	Shita Ichimonji	5	0.60
地	Chi	50	5.96
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	73	8.71
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	443	52.85

Bonsai Scroll Order

This scroll is my only bonsai order for the year so far....

I worked hard on a larger piece of artwork, but the scroll did not work out. It was ruined in the final process. But the lemons are lemonade, because I think this is a more appropriate scroll to use for a bonsai display. It is still a little on the big side, but with a larger tree should work in a display environment well.

The sumie artwork was done by very talented Polish artist Mariusz Szmerdt. He has done several works for me, and I hope he felt that he got his money's worth. The cloudy moon is detailed, yet faint at the same time. I used the silver cloth with the large flower Karakusa (arabesque) pattern for two reasons.
a. To provide a good contrast between the very dark painting and
b. To encourage the viewer to feel the moonlight is completely enveloping them as well.
The style of the scroll is a Nidan Hyougu which is a Semi-formal scroll, and it should go well with any type of plant with which it is displayed.
The Ten and Chi portion is a Golden to be neutral and allow for either a summer or fall themed display.

One thing viewers will notice missing is the Ichimonji (cloth) bordering the top and bottom of the artwork. I chose to do it in the Nidan Hyougu (Two Step) style, because it is the most informal of the Semi-formal scrolls, and would allow flexibility to be used with any type of tree or plant.

It is finished with a Nezumi (mouse color) kakehimo to go along with the silver Chuumawashi and an Enshu Kokutan 遠州黒檀 jikusaki. The Enshu Kokutan has a little flare and lip on the outer edge which provides a subtle, old feel to the scroll. 

Size of the scroll:
Name in Kanji Name in English Size in Bun (Inches)


天 Ten 116 (13.84)

上中廻し Ue Chuumawashi 45 (5.37)

紙本の幅さ Artwork Width 118 (14.08)

紙本の長さ Artwork Length 262 (31.25)

柱 Pillars 20 (2.39)

下中廻し Shita Chuumawashi 35 (4.18)

地 Chi 76 (9.07)

掛け軸の幅さ Scroll Width 158 (18.85)

掛け軸の長さ Scroll Length 534 (63.70)

Bonsai Toko no Ma Display

I have not submitted a post for quite a while because of illness and trying to manage about 7 orders with multiple scrolls. I vended at the Golden State Bonsai Federation convention in Riverside, California. It was a very slow year for me this convention, fortunately holiday orders in other market segments were up significantly. I thought there would be quite a few custom orders, but only one came about in the end, and a few off the shelf sales. However, there was one bright spot, a custom ordered scroll was used in a formal display competition at the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture. It was confirmed in a separate bonsai forum, that the person who commissioned the scroll also set up this display.


This was the 3rd Annual competition. The scroll was brushed in Sousho, full cursive style writing, which is often the preferred style of calligraphy when displaying a bonsai with Calligraphy. My display Sensei explained that the calligraphy does not compete with the tree, compared to the formal strong brush strokes associated with Block Print style writing.

The writing of the scroll says Ka Chou Fuu Getsu. It is four character idiom for the beauties of Nature. The characters are 花 flower, 鳥 bird, 風 wind, and 月 moon. A deeper explanation of the particular design of this scroll is provided here. I love the earth tone cloth selected, and the Gold on Green Ichimonji is a perfect complement to the work. This was the first customer to have a Kokutan (Ebony) Jikusaki onto the scroll, and it sets it apart as very beautiful.

There is one point in particular with the pairing that I love is the final brush stroke of the character moon, seems to complement the branching and trunk of the tree…It makes me feel good to know that some of my large scrolls are now coming to be used with these formal toko no ma bonsai displays.

Bonsai Scrollmaking Class

On June 16th, 2011 I conducted a workshop for 8 students on how to make wallscrolls or kakejiku  at Bonsai in the Bluegrass in Louisville Kentucky. It was the most difficult but enjoyable time I have ever had because there was so much to do and so little time to do it in...

If you would like to order a custom scroll there are three ways to get started: 1. Go to my shopping site at www.shop.customjapanesecalligraphy.com 2. Download my scroll design workbook from my website at www.customjapanesecalligraphy.com to read about the concepts behind kakejiku or wallscroll design. 3. E-mail to me directly at sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com 


This scroll was one of the demo pieces completed for the person in charge of the program. It reads 百花春至 Hyakka ha Haru Itaru. This means that Spring Begins with a Hundred Blossoms. The writing was done is a Gyousho style by Yoshimi Yamada Maples, Ryugyoku. The scroll was on the drying board for over a year. The person receiving the scroll selected an Enshu Shitan Jikusaki. The scroll was designed in mind of the bonsaiist that loves to display shohin Azaleas.

Geese Ascending in Flight Sumie

This is the second scroll in a series created for a bonsai display. The sumi-e painting of the Geese, called 雁 Kari in Japanese, was done by Darlene Dihel, a sumi artist in the Pacific Northwest. I met her several years ago at a Japanese festival, and have done a few projects together.

If you would like to order a custom scroll there are three ways to get started: 1. Go to my shopping site at www.shop.customjapanesecalligraphy.com 2. Download my scroll design workbook from my website at www.customjapanesecalligraphy.com to read about the concepts behind kakejiku or wallscroll design. 3. E-mail to me directly at sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com

I requested this painting to sell for a bonsai display that has a fall theme. The entire poem and concept will be provided upon purchase. When I bounced this idea off of him, he said it was a good theme, but advised me to design scrolls that are more subdued with earthtone colors.

In designing this scroll, I wanted to do a Sandan Hyougu, or three step style scroll. This is a little complex for a display, because most scrolls used for display in the Gadou style are either Maru Hyougu or Fukuro Hyougu designs. I thought the symbolism with this would work, and would be appropriate for certain plants used in the display. The Orange on Gold Ichimonji represents the sunset, the goldenrod is for the dried out grasses along the riverbanks, and the bronze for the turning of the leaves.

As opposed to the other artwork, this has the Geese in ascent and beginning the migration, rather than in mid-flight. Dimensions of the scroll as follows:

Name in Kanji / Name in English Size in Bun (Size in Inches)

天 Ten 80 (9.54)

上中廻し Ue Chuumawashi 45 (5.37)

上一文字 Ue Ichimonji 9 (1.07)

紙本の幅さ Artwork Width 74 (8.83)

紙本の長さ Artwork Length 108 (12.88)

柱 Pillars 20 (2.39)

下一文字 Shita Ichimonji 5 (0.60)

下中廻し Shita Chuumawashi 25 (2.98)

地 Chi 65 (7.75)

掛け軸の幅さ Scroll Width 114 13.60

掛け軸の長さ Scroll Length 328 39.13

幽蘭一国香 Yuuran Ikkoku no Kou

If you would like to order a custom scroll there are three ways to get started: 1. Go to my shopping site at www.shop.customjapanesecalligraphy.com 2. Download my scroll design workbook from my website at www.customjapanesecalligraphy.com to read about the concepts behind kakejiku or wallscroll design. 3. E-mail to me directly at sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com

幽蘭一国香　（ゆうらん　いっこくのこう）


Yuuran Ikkoku no Kou

The meaning of this phrase is the scent of the pollen that emanates from the famed orchid is known throughout the country. (I am still trying to locate the name of this orchid in English...)

I looked everywhere for an orchid cloth. I did have have one, but knew that the urauchi step would not work due to this cloth being a synthetic. So I turned to my reliable rose. This is actually a leftover piece from a previous scroll done for a dojo up in Washington. And although the pattern on the kireji is not an orchid, this cloth still evokes the same visual and olfactory stimulation from the meaning of the poem. This was a writing done by Yoshimi a couple of years ago. She was advanced in rank due to this submitted writing. It is done in the sousho style.


Name in Kanji Name in English Size in Bun Size in Centimeters (Estimate) Size in Inches (Estimate)
天 Ten 91 275.73 10.86
上一文字 Ue Ichimonji 19 57.57 2.27
紙本の幅さ Artwork Width 79 239.37 9.42
紙本の長さ Artwork Length 107 324.21 12.76
柱 Pillars 17 51.51 2.03
下一文字 Shita Ichimonji 9 27.27 1.07
地 Chi 62 187.86 7.40
掛け軸の幅さ Scroll Width 113 342.39 13.48
掛け軸の長さ Scroll Length 288 872.64 34.36



This display could be used for a springtime or early summer themed display when the orchids are in bloom. The shoku for the tree is too small, but it is the only one that I own. Also, the bonsai is not real. I have a black thumb and kill every living bonsai…so I just have to go with what works for me.

Shihan Kaku Rank Japanese Calligraphy Seasonal Scroll

This scroll was submitted in which her writing was deemed of quality to become the Shihan Rank in her calligraphy society. This scroll is not for sale. This is written in a mixed style called Gyousou which utilizes both Semi and Full-cursive styles.

This phrase is a stanza of a longer poem, and reads as follows.
照渓苦芳樹紅雲合迎客幽禽翠雨軽し
渓を照らす芳樹紅雲合し　客を迎える幽禽翠雨軽し　
けいをてらすほうじゅこううんがっし　きゃくをむかえるゆうきんすいうかるし
Kei wo Terasu Houjukouungasshi Kyaku wo Mukaeru Yuukinsuiukarushi

The meaning of this phrase as follows:

In the valley, the fragrance of the orchards wafts in the air, and crimson clouds gather. During the light rainfall, the beautiful birds come resting on the new green branches, which have awaited the return of their nimble visitors.

This was written in March preparatory to submission for the test submission in April. This evokes images of springtime in Japan. It would be a wonderful scroll to use for a bonsai display that utilizes an early springtime theme. The scroll is very long, about 10 feet in length, and my wife's first comment was that the Ten was too long. However, because a kakejiku is traditionally viewed from a seza kneeling position, I wanted to create a scroll that would be balanced and focus on the writing, following a more traditional design format.

I am very appreciative of the time and effort my wife expends on perfecting her writing. This scroll is my gift to her. I let her choose every aspect of the kireji, jikusaki, and kake/makihimo. The cloth has a green leaf pattern which is used for the viewer to have the image of the birds resting on the green branches. I had a red jikusaki to symbolize the crimson clouds, but Yoshimi opted for the black with gold band, which is a new addition to the inventory. The kakehimo is a white with Blue/Green speckle and was used to set it apart from the Shirocha (gold) that I normally use. This scroll took over three months start to finish, but has given me a great satisfaction upon completion.

If you would like to order a custom scroll there are three ways to get started: 1. Go to my shopping site at www.shop.customjapanesecalligraphy.com 2. Download my scroll design workbook from my website at www.customjapanesecalligraphy.com to read about the concepts behind kakejiku or wallscroll design. 3. E-mail to me directly at sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com