Ever wonder what it’s like to work on bonsai every day? Plus weekends and evenings? On some of the best trees in the world? Now’s your chance to find out.
Tomorrow evening Daisaku Nomoto, a bonsai professional living in Miyazaki, Japan, will do his best to answer your questions on any topic, bonsai related or not.
Daisaku Nomoto at his Kyushu nursery, Nomoto Chinshoen
The best and worst things about working with trees every day? Advice for beginners? Whether or not his favorite pop star is still Adele? You get the idea. The AMA (Ask Me Anything) will be held online at Ask Bonsai Tonight. The rules are simple – post your questions here.
For those unfamiliar with Nomoto and his work, Nomoto is Boon Manakitivipart’s senpai, or senior. The two apprenticed together with Kihachiro Kamiya at Kihachi-en in Aichi prefecture, Japan. After completing his apprenticeship, Nomoto returned to Kyushu to work with his father at the family nursery, Nomoto Chinshoen.
Bending a student’s juniper in a workshop
Nomoto’s skills are impressive, and his sense of humor makes him a pleasure to work with. I met Nomoto on my first trip to Japan in 1999 and we’ve kept in touch through his many trips to the US and my visits to Japan. If you’re interested in learning more, I’ve collected links to a number of posts about him and his work. For a look at some of the trees at his nursery, see:
To see some of the work he’s done in the US:
Some of his thoughts on styling:
A look at one of his workshops:
First impression:
And notes from one of my favorite conversations with Daisaku:
Indicating the future position of the branch
The fun starts tomorrow – post your questions now.
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crataegus says
This is a brilliant idea! Nomoto-san is one of the talents of the new generation in Japan, and a great instinct for teaching. What a great forum for questions! I’d really encourage folks to take advantage of this.
nelibonsai says
I would like to ask how they develop branching on gumi (eleagnus)
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Neli – that will have to wait for the next AMA. I’ll post a note if I come across good advice on developing branching on eleagnus.
nelibonsai says
Thanks Jonas. I have a calendar in Japanese, for working on gumi. I have one with a sumo trunk in a small pot (bonsai size), but leaves go hay way in size. I cut them like rhomboids, the way we did in Japan, but stupid me never asked to develop them while there at school, though I worked on many of them. Just concentrated on pines and junipers. I have problem also with very coarse growth, and I suspect it is my fertilizing regime. Common sense tells me that probably I should stop fertilizing until the leaves harden and probably do much more hard cut backs, and trimming it more often. Maybe I should also do some defoliation for ramification???
I dont want to kill it, and want to do it properly. I like it a lot!
meanwhile I have some month 20+cm branch extension in a month.
Here it is.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200829465290980&set=a.10200673742918018.1073741911.1594227676&type=3&theater
nelibonsai says
If you click on the picture I posted you will see how it progressed from the beginning.
nelibonsai says
Sorry, click on previous comments also on top of the comments.