The 2011 Grandview Bonsai Exhibit, or Taikan-ten as it is generally known, was recently held at the Miyako-messe in Kyoto, Japan. The exhibit opened on Friday, November 25th, which means a lot of bonsai professionals – and amateurs – were busy on the 24th setting everything up. As fast as folks could set up their […]
Search Results for: pine
Omiya Bonsai Art Museum and environs
The people of Saitama City pooled impressive resources to open the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum in 2010. Billed as the world’s first publicly-operated bonsai art museum, the museum is home to outstanding trees, pots, stands, and historical documents relating to bonsai. Their brochure claims that three principles form the pillars of the museum’s activities: 1) The […]
Gomangoku – the Daiju-en family bonsai exhibit
Gomangoku is the Daiju-en family’s annual bonsai exhibit – it was held a few weeks ago over the first weekend in November. The phrase “Daiju-en family” refers, in this case, to Toru Suzuki, head of the Daiju-en garden in Okazaki, Aichi, and all of the available bonsai professionals who have studied there with Suzuki. Daiju-en […]
Preparing trees for show
Late fall through early winter is show season in Japan. Depending on how many trees a bonsai professional has to show – or sell – October through February can be a busy time. Within just three weeks, I helped with trees bound for four different events. Show preparation can entail anything from needle plucking to […]
Million dollar bonsai
There was a lot of talk about a large white pine at the 11th Asia-Pacific Bonsai and Suiseki Convention & Exhibition (ASPAC 2011) offered for 100,000,000 yen. At today’s exchange rate, that’s close to 1.3 million dollars. Million dollar bonsai The tree was offered by S-CUBE, the bonsai organization headed by Seiji Morimae. The tree […]