By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Tending a bonsai, one of those artistic, miniature trees, is a full-time job. Walter Liew out in Waimanalo keeps 600 bonsai going at one time in his Dragon Garden, some of them worth $25,000 to $50,000 apiece. He says it's the biggest collection of bonsai in the country.

When you understand that a bonsai can die from lack of care within a week, you would assume that Liew must be stressed-out most of the time. Not at all.

"Bonsai will build you up with a better attitude," he said. "Bonsai will give you the ability to better handle your stress."

Quite a few bonsai converts agree with him. Like acolytes of a guru, they volunteer to help him train his bonsai so they can learn from the master. Accountant Rose Cabalar is one of them; so is Phil Lancaster, who works for a metering company.

"When I'm trimming the leaves on a bonsai, I'm at peace with the world," Lancaster said.

Retired M.D. Philip Wright said the first thing he does in the morning at Wailupe Circle is spend an hour with his bonsai. He believes so strongly in Liew's philosophy that he comes over to paint Liew's house. In return, the bonsai master takes care of Wright's prize bonsai when the doctor goes on trips. His house caretaker might kill them.

What you may have noticed is that Liew is a Chinese name, although most people think of the art of bonsai as Japanese. This is misinformation. "Japanese did not invent this art but surely it was made famous by the Japanese," said the master.

Bonsai also flourishes in India and other parts of Asia. "Originally it was from India," Liew explained. "The art was transmitted to other lands through Buddhism. It arrived in China during the third century B.C. and was taken to Japan during the Tang Dynasty, 608-918 A.D., by Buddhist monks."

Liew insists that growing a miniature tree is not the art of bonsai. To be a bonsai, the tree must have style. "Bonsai is living art," said the master who has the face and build of a middleweight prizefighter. "Without style, it's just a miniature tree."

Like an art professor, he launched a lecture on different bonsai styles, like impressionism and cubism in painting. He listed the informal upright style, the slanted design, eccentric (off center), and the literary (skinny) style. The pot also has to the tree, a matter of artistic judgment.

Until recently, the master allowed only true believers in to see his bonsai. Then he hosted a convention of bonsai hobbyists from around the world and went public to school groups, senior citizens, bonsai collectors, etc. He charges $15 per person by appointment only, $5 a head for education groups.

He won't let you buy one of his $35,000 bonsai if he doesn't think you can take care of it. But he might teach your gardener to tend his masterpiece. Or he'll sell you a cheaper one.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.