Guidelines for the use of Hanging Scrolls

When displaying bonsai, suiseki or kusamono the employment of a hanging scroll may be the perfect way to enhance the mood or season. In any event, the scroll should be one of no more than three items in an arrangement i.e.

Bonsai with accent planting and scroll

Bonsai with scroll

Bonsai with suiseki and scroll

Suiseki with scroll

Kusamono with scroll

It’s important to decide if your display is describing the season or simply mood and atmosphere or time of day in the natural landscape. If you intend to use a scroll in a display with bonsai, it’s vitally important that the scroll is minimal in its content and composition to avoid conflict with other elements in the arrangement. The message in the scroll should be conveyed by subtle implication and should contribute to the whole story within the parameters of the display.

If the display is to imply a season, it is usual for one of the accessories (i.e. scroll, accent) to look forward to the oncoming time of year but without leaping into the next season, hence implying the continued progression of nature. For example, in a midwinter bonsai display, the use of a snowdrop as accent or subtle scroll illustration will imply looking ahead to warmer days without jumping right into spring. Similarly, a pine displayed in late summer may be accompanied by a scroll with a single falling deciduous leaf to suggest the beginning of autumn. It would not be appropriate to make too large a statement with total fall time here, but just enough to imply progression and not regression. Likewise, a display set in early spring may be enhanced by the use of a scroll containing reference to young chicks or fledglings, hence looking forward by just a few weeks.

It is essential to avoid repetition in your display arrangement, which includes the hanging scroll. For example, in the aforementioned scenario of a pine in late summer with a falling deciduous leaf, it would be inappropriate here if the bonsai was deciduous because of the repetition of leaves. In any event, the scroll should never include trees per se because of repetition. Also, if an early season display is centered around a flowering bonsai, then flowers should not be evident on the scroll or the accent. Rock planted bonsai should not have stones or mountain scenes included in the arrangement, but the season or mood could be enhanced by an illustration of insects, birds or the sun in the mist; in other words, natural elements which may be observed at that location.

The size and colour of the scroll is also an important factor. Remember that no elements in a display should dominate and cause undue attention. Highly elaborate colours and fabrics are best avoided. As a rough guide, it’s usual that the wider the bonsai i.e.landscape planting, the wider the scroll and usually shorter, too, so that overall harmony and balance is retained. It’s important that any direction or movement that is apparent in the scroll illustration is in harmony with the perceived movement of the whole display. The objective is to retain the viewer’s attention within the display space or tokonoma.

To achieve good balance in the display, due consideration should be given to setting the height of the scroll. Wherever possible, the visual centre of the illustration in the scroll should be set higher than that of the bonsai or key element. If three elements are present, it should be possible to describe a scalene triangle between the visual centres of the objects where the scroll may be considered to represent the universe and heaven at the highest point of the triangle. Bonsai represents man at the mid-point whilst the lower point of this triangle is defined by an accent planting or figurine representing the earth. Many bonsai growers and enthusiasts will be familiar with this concept when applied to the creation of individual trees by using the triangle theme in the design.

Our hanging scrolls and illustrations are designed with emphasis on mood, atmosphere and seasonal change to cater for the exhibition and display needs of bonsai artists and enthusiasts. Please contact us if you require further assistance when selecting our products or if you require a specific illustration to suit your display. Please remember that our scrolls are of bonded oriental papers and fabrics and may require reverse rolling after storage in boxes or tubes to remove any temporary distortion in the scroll.

This text was written by Paul Goff from Bonsai Presentations. You can find it with the available Mini-scroll sets from Bonsai Presentations. The information on this page is intended for beginners who are purchasing their first scroll. For the the full concept of bonsai display we may require more than 20 similar pages to give more accurate information because every bonsai / every scroll / every accent / every suiseki will all have individual requirements to include them in a display arrangement.

At the Bonsai Presentations tokonoma studio you can learn more about the correctness of display and the use of scrolls:

Tokonoma Arrangement and the Elements of Bonsai Display

. gain experience in creating harmonious displays

. use of tokonoma facilities with a selection of display elements or bring your own material

. ½ day interactive sessions for individuals or up to 3 persons

. wide selection of scrolls to use or to purchase

(discounts offered to attendees)

. photo opportunities (if required)

. inspirational, instructional, informative & much more

For prices & further information

contact Paul Goff at:

T: 01788 510442 F: 01788 510452

E: paul@bonpres.freeserve.co.uk

www.bonsaipresentations.com