Tanuki, Small but Brilliant - Arkefthos Bonsai

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Creation of 3 small tanuki - soon to be bonsai juniper trees. Thank you for your time!
Visit my instagram at: / arkefthos_bonsai
#bonsai #juniper #tanuki #arkefthos #sinpaku #simpaku

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

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[@JohnThurlbeck]

Great to see how you approached the three tanuki! Your skill and patience are brilliant!👌Loved the deadwood shapes!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you John! I was lucky enough to find these in my hikes and since I can't get my hands onto some old Chinese junipers,these will have to do for now. Cheers!

[@a.k.h.channel]

Tanuki bonsai Nice thank you for sharing,good luck mr

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

You're welcome! Have a great day!

[@ancientoak]

Great Work! So ispiring

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Grazie mille!

[@robertobreglia9224]

Wooow congratulations my friend! Tanuki is a very interesting but complicated technique and you managed to achieve it in a very natural way....excellent!👏👏👏🔝

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Roberto! Time will tell!

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Absolutely fabulous explanation and has just reminded me that I have a juniper cutting ready for just such a project. best find some deadwood somewhere. Thanks and enjoy the rest of summer :)

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

I wish you luck in finding a great deadwood Xavier! Thank you! Kinda cold here now, doesn't look like summer, like the warm weather you have up there now...

[@sagebonsai]

Fantastic work 👏

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you! I appreciate it!

[@bonsairandomuncut6297]

Bet they will be fabulous in 3 to 5 years. I would have prefered to see you using hand tools for the carving work. It´s just more ejoyable to watch. Loved the background of the last sequence - the blue sy with clouds and the mountains. Man you are really blessed having a view like this ! Cheers !

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you! I really appreciate it! Oh, it would have been a nightmare carving a narrow path for the live tree to go into with just a chisel, onto such small pieces of wood... 3 to 5 years sounds just about right! Have a great day!

[@darkinhoo2]

beautiful as usual

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you mate!

[@egoebonsai37]

Wow good idea Sir making tanuki small but briliant n beautiful. I sering n looking from Indonesia. I am appretiate for your hobby n activities.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Egoe! I appreciate it!

[@isidroalbertgarcia2396]

Mammatus clouds! Dangerous

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

It was after a very mild rain. Thank you for the information Isidro!

[@markt4416]

Summer 2025?! The patience! Did an image search of Tanuki bonsai. There is definitely a fine line between something that looks contrived and available in a Home Depot garden center and a carefully trained, natural looking Tanuki which I'm certain these will be. And are those real bird sounds in the background? So calming in all your videos. Don't tell us - I may not be able to handle the truth!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Ha ha ha patience is irreplaceable but il tel you the secret. Having a lot of other projects to work on. It's not like I sit by the fireplace, looking out the window waiting for summer of 2025! Very well said about tanuki. If the techniques are applied correctly, it's a matter of time before tanuki looks really good. About the birds. Yes, these are real. I ve got a directional microphone away from the street, towards the mountain to get rid off human activity sounds. Some days I just can't shoot videos because of all the noise... So there it is Mark, nothing is ruined! Cheers!

[@markt4416]

@@ArkefthosBonsai I will continue to envision the birds chirping amongst the bonsais (and you sitting by the fireplace with a cup of coffee watching them slowly growing )!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Having my landscape trees finally getting close to mature size, attracts many birds that not only chirp around the bonsai, but have a more deconstructed sense of the moss aesthetic. That means they destroy my moss and sometimes the bark. I constantly have to outsmart them. It's a struggle!

[@markt4416]

@@ArkefthosBonsai Maybe an outdoor cat!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

@markt4416 I have 5 dogs so this is not an option, plus no bird sounds..

[@georgetourloukis7194]

What's the species you used? Seems very vigorous

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Plain Chinese juniper George! But you knew that!

[@antonisanagnostopoulos4809]

Tanuki is the method in which are starting to create these bonsai? I am a beginner and through research I thought using dead wood and not treating can possibly promote/ allow insects to habitat and cause problems for the live tree. Curious what methods will/ should be applied if any

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Καλημέρα Αντώνη! Tanuki is the Japanese word for racoon, meaning that a racoon deceived you for being a dog. So essentially it means deceiving - false - fake. So tanuki is a genaral name for these kind of projects. The deadwood will be cleaned and treated eventually. First I want to establish the composition. Treatment with lime sulfur, is done to slow down the disintegration from micorganisms and for disinfection from insects. Cheers!

[@chuschusco]

¿De qué forma se van a mantener encastrados en la madera los plantones en un futuro? No entiendo muy bien tu técnica de tanuki. ¿Te has planteado alguna vez hacer un canal en la madera de sección en forma de C? GRACIAS ❤ ¡Salud!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

The live part, as it thickens, it will take this shape and stay attached. Sometimes these separate but I only make tanuki when I can wind the live tree at least 180 deg around the wood as I go up. That will ensure that as the tree thickens, it grasps the deadwood tightly. It might even break it as point from getting to tight. That way I ensure my live trees will stay wound and attached on the dead wood. Cheers!

[@chuschusco]

Gracias por darme tu opinión. Aún así veo bastante complicado lo que comentas. Me encantan tus vídeos, a pesar que a veces no estoy de acuerdo con alguna cosa. Espero que tu canal y tu afición al bonsái tengan una larga vida ❤ ¡Salud!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Have a great day Chus!

[@cactsai]

I cannot wait to see how these turn out! Please keep us updated on these, and your previous tanuki video(s). I do have a question. I collected a killer piece of juniper deadwood recently from a local business that was being torn down and rebuilt. The construction crew pulled up all the junipers and most of them had been discarded but I happened to find one laying on the dirt on the property with the roots dried out but the foliage still green. I attempted to save it but it spent too much time in the sun and the roots were dead. I intend to make a tanuki out of it in 2-3 years with some Itoigawa cuttings I'm currently trying to root. How do you avoid the wood rotting out under the soil line? Did you preserve this deadwood material somehow? Or is it simply bone dry? Does the portion under the soil eventually rot away and you remove it a little at a time with each repotting? Thanks!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Definately going to update the progress through the years on all of my tanuki! In bigger tanuki (which will stay in the pot for many years until their next repotting) I used wood hardener on all of the wood that stays under the soil line. In these small I did not, as I know I'm going to repot them in 2 years and maybe lift them higher, or apply wood hardener then. Generally juniper wood is quite resilient, especially the species I have here, Juniperus oxycedrus, but I use a very fast draining, inorganic soil, like zeolite, pumice and perlite, which also helps in slowing rotting. Thank you Shyza!

[@cactsai]

@@ArkefthosBonsai Got it! Thank you! When it's time to start the composition I'll be sure to apply some wood hardener to the bottom. The deadwood is only about 50-60cm tall so I'll likely be repotting it within a couple of years of initial creation as a shohin sized tree. I'll use lime sulphur on the rest of the wood above the soil line. Thanks for the response!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

If you have the patience, you can treat the wood now (all of it, clean it, sand it, wood hardener and lime sulfur) even if you start the tree in spring. You might as well put it together now, if you have 2 months until first frost, you will be fine. But late march is probably a bit better.

[@cactsai]

@@ArkefthosBonsai That's actually a great idea. I don't have the juniper whip just yet but I can get the wood prepared fairly easily. I have everything but the wood hardener and that's easy to obtain.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Good luck!

[@JasonSchmidt-1979]

Very nice, I love it! Fun to watch. What country are you in? I’m in Canada 🇨🇦

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you so much! Greece, one could not tell though! Easton or west Canada?

[@JasonSchmidt-1979]

@@ArkefthosBonsai In Ontario. It’s considered Eastern Canada but is a bit more central. Greece looks beautiful!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Yes, yes, though I prefer Canadian Rockies and boreal forest, so western. Cheers!

[@JasonSchmidt-1979]

@@ArkefthosBonsai Cheers!

[@pela1100]

Es buena la idea de dejar la madera muerta alejada del sustrato. Lindos proyectos. Salud.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Yes, though I will use wood hardener in the future, during repot. Also, I use a very fast draining substrate, which helps against wood rot. Cheers Fabian!

[@pela1100]

@@ArkefthosBonsai 🙇‍♂️

[@yoteslaya7296]

Maybe its just me but I've always considered tanuki to be a "fake" bonsai. Like you're trying to fool people into believing its a complete tree. I just wouldn't feel right making tanuki. I guess its a personal thing.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

I used to think like that and actually restraining myself from creating tanuki. Then I found my first few really nice old pieces of deadwood and thought I might give it a try. It was really fun building the trees and I'm 100% certain I'm going to love working on these trees in a few years, styling them, refining them and most definately looking at them while passing by them or watering them in the garden. However, if I try to sell them, without disclosing them being tanuki and have the proper price tag, that would definately be deceiving. If not, my fun is all that matters. Cheers!

[@chuschusco]

El bonsái consiste en esconder defectos y realzar virtudes. ¿No te parece falso eso también? Tanuki es tanuki, en bonsái. Nadie engaña a nadie, a no ser que alguien que hizo un tanuki diga que no es un tanuki. ¡Salud!

[@chuschusco]

​@@ArkefthosBonsai/ Completamente de acuerdo con tu enfoque del asunto ❤ ¡Salud!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you mate!

[@yoteslaya7296]

@@chuschusco tanuki would be considered "pseudo" bonsai by the japanese in terms of adherence to standard guidelines.