page_title: Deadwood bonsai techniques
section_title: Shari and driftwood styles
hierarchical_section_title: Deadwood bonsai techniques / Deadwood techniques / Shari and driftwood styles
caption_attribution_description: Bougainvillea bonsai at the United States National Arboretum. In training since 1985.
context_page_description: Deadwood bonsai techniques are methods in the Japanese art of bonsai that create, shape, and preserve dead wood on a living bonsai tree. They enhance the illusion of age and the portrayal of austerity that mark a successful bonsai.
context_section_description: A shari is deadwood on the main trunk of the bonsai. A small shari usually runs vertically on or near the front of the trunk - shari have little aesthetic value at the rear of the trunk, where they are rarely viewed and are obscured by branch growth. The shallow wound exposes a non-living portion of the trunk, which will be surrounded by living bark. The natural causes of shari include a falling branch that has ripped bark from the trunk below it, lightning damage, or trunk damage from another external source. Shari may occur naturally on a bonsai, or may be created by carving the bark.
  If the amount of dead trunk (and possibly dead branches situated on the dead trunk area) is large enough, the bonsai is said to be in the sharamiki or driftwood style, because a large portion of the tree has the silvery, weathered look of driftwood on a beach, or ancient tree remnants on a harsh mountain landscape.  "Veins" of living bark connect the roots to the live branches, but large amounts of the surrounding wood are dead, free of bark, and weathered. The dead wood may be carved into arresting shapes, to look like severely weatherbeaten tree remnants. The unusual combination of large dead areas contrasting with small signs of life is compelling regardless of the basic shape of the tree, and driftwood-style trees often do not follow the conventional bonsai styles.
caption: Bougainvillea bonsai at the United States National Arboretum. A large sabamiki is at the bottom right of the tree
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