2026 Shohin School registration open

A couple of years ago, Andrew Robson and I hosted a Winter Shohin School in Milwaukie, Oregon featuring headliner Daisaku Nomoto from Japan. The event is coming to Northern California next month!

The 2026 Winter Shohin School will be held at Lincoln Park’s Harrison Recreation Center in Alameda, California, on January 31st and February 1st.

Daisaku demonstrating shohin juniper creation
(photo by Aki Yamakawa)

Attendees will learn shohin display basics on Saturday and get a chance to practicing setting up displays with their own trees.

Student display practice
(photo by Aki Yamakawa)

Andrew and Jonas setting up a display
(photo by Aki Yamakawa)

Sunday will focus on creating shohin bonsai. In a change from the last two events, we’re providing trees for ten workshops! Material will include pre-bonsai hand-selected from Bonsaify specifically for development as shohin. Species include winterberry, cork elm, black pine, olive, chojubai, narrow leaf ficus, crabapple, and zelkova.

Zelkova

Black pine

Crabapple

Olive

Willow leaf ficus

Winterberry

Registration is required for entry – the event is not open to the public. Registrants may participate in all lectures and workshops and shop with our vendors. Space is limited to 50 attendees.

To register online and to see more photos of the workshop trees, visit the Shohin School registration page.

News & Updates

[Northern California Sale & Auction]

• Now’s the time to participate in next year’s Mammoth Fundraiser hosted by the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt. To submit trees for the auction or to sell (or donate) material at the sale, visit the BGLM website.

[Online Bonsai Competition]

• Be sure to vote this weekend in the Bonsaigers’ X 2025 online bonsai competition on Instagram. This year’s judges include Walter Pall, Todd Schlafer, and Matsusue Koji. Each judge gets one point per round, and the winner of the popular vote gets two points. We’re two rounds in with a couple more rounds to go. The next round of voting opens this weekend – join in via the Bonsaigers’ stories in Instagram.