Ooishi

“How old are you?” Ooishi asked. We were sitting in his workshop looking at a half-dozen deciduous trees that could be the envy of a many a collection. “Great! Start some cuttings” he said, waving at the trees in his garden, “and grow these yourself!”

“These?” I thought to myself.

Ooishi’s deciduous bonsai

“This?”

Stewartia

Yes – this, yes these; his winning smile confirmed it.

Ooishi

For that’s how many of these trees  got their start roughy 30 years ago. Ooishi specializes in creating maple, beech and stewartia bonsai from air layers and cuttings. It’s hard to argue with his results.

Japanese maple

Japanese beech

If I were compelled to argue with his work, I might suggest that his trident work is “unique” – a characteristic that shows in some trees more than others.

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The Sawara cypress below caught us all by surprise. At maybe 12 inches tall, is was one of the more detailed trees of the variety that we’ve seen.

Sawara cypress

Ooishi’s garden is full of pines, tosho and other varieties that demonstrate his understanding of bonsai creation extends to many varieties. His grafting projects in particular impressed us – many of the trees in the yard were good bark but no branches before he got to them. Now they blend in with trees that have been trained as bonsai for decades.

Pines

As I snapped photos of his collection he ran out to turn the trees so I could capture them from the proper front. A kind gesture from a kind man with a super garden.

Tosho

Tosho