Two prizes at the 2026 Penjing & Artistic Stone Exhibition

Both trees entered in the Small Bonsai Category came back with something: the Senjumaru Japanese black pine took the Bronze Prize, and the Itoigawa shimpaku took a Consolation Prize. Both awarded by the Singapore Penjing & Stone Appreciation Society at the 2026 Penjing & Artistic Stone Exhibition & Competition.

What the pine got right

Short needles, and a silhouette that reads instantly at shohin scale. Senjumaru is a cultivar chosen precisely for that — a standard black pine simply will not reduce far enough to work this small in this climate without years of candle management.

What it got wrong: the nebari is still one-sided. That is a slow fix and not one that can be rushed before a show.

What the shimpaku got right

Proportion. The jin is scaled to the tree rather than to the ambition of whoever carved it, which at 18 cm is the whole game.

What it got wrong: the pot is a size too generous. A shallower round would have let the tree look older than it is.

The honest lesson

Neither tree lost on health, and both would have lost on health two years ago. Getting the horticulture boring and reliable is what buys the right to argue about pots.