I remember it clearly – the first time I saw really good bonsai was at Bai ten, the bonsai sales area in Ueno Park set up to accommodate bonsai shoppers visiting the Kokufu ten. I had been in bonsai for six years and had seen many California exhibits, but never had I seen trees so […]
Excursions
Excursion posts feature visits to bonsai gardens in the U.S. and in Japan, visits to the Kyoto's Most Renown Gardens, and trips into the mountains to see junipers and pines in their natural setting.
Urushibata
Urushibata’s garden is somewhat of a hot-spot these days. Known for dramatic collected material and outstanding shohin, there’s plenty around to capture the imagination. Shimpaku The day we visited 3 foreign students (from Germany, Spain and Poland) and 2 Japanese were hard at work on trees in large workshops at the end of the lot. […]
Takagi
I don’t know a lot about Mr. Takagi – a friend brought us to his nursery to view bonsai and shop for pots. And as we cannot import trees into the U.S., pots figured prominently on our bonsai traveler’s shopping list. While racing through the garden – one rarely knows how long a visit like […]
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 […]
Daiju En
The following photo is a clue to the location of our next stop: Pine bark You guessed it – Daiju En, one of the world’s more famous pine bonsai gardens. And it’s the family home of my teacher’s teacher’s teacher. My teacher, Boon Manakitivipart, studied in Japan with Kihachiro Kamiya, student of Toshinori Sukuki. Daiju […]