08/17/2026
Over the last few days, Jay and Cory have been working on this shimpaku juniper, originally started by John Muth roughly 10 years ago.
You might be thinking, “That tree looks a lot older than 10 years!” And you'd be right. This is a tanuki, also known as a phoenix graft—a bonsai created by joining young, living material with an old piece of deadwood.
Tanuki are an interesting intersection of horticulture and illusion. A piece of weathered driftwood, perhaps salvaged from a former bonsai or found in the mountains, becomes the foundation for a new bonsai. A channel is meticulously carved into the deadwood, and a young juniper whip is carefully fitted into it. As the living tree grows, it gradually integrates with the character and form of the ancient wood surrounding it.
The goal isn't as simple as just trying to make a young tree look old. It's to create the impression of a single, ancient tree shaped by decades, or centuries, of hardship and survival. The living vein follows the natural contours present in the deadwood, branches emerge and intertwine with remnants of the past, and the contrast between fresh growth and weathered wood creates the visual tension that makes a good tanuki so compelling.
Done well, the distinction between what was once alive and what was added later becomes almost impossible to separate at a glance. The artist is essentially collaborating with a piece of history, using living material to extend a story that the deadwood began long ago.
And, like any bonsai, the illusion only gets better with time. As branches ramify, the live vein thickens, and increasingly integrates with the deadwood, the two trees read more wholly as one.
This tree is still very much a work in progress, but we're excited to see how its story continues to develop.
