The bonsai museum at Shinpukuji Temple features some great tosho, or needle juniper. Here are some of my favorites. Boon and tosho Many needle juniper bonsai are collected. Among the most prized features are knobby deadwood – ibo-jin, or wart-jin, in Japanese – and thin life lines with good movement. Ibo-jin Needle juniper Formal upright […]
Tosho
Taikan Bonsai Museum
The Taikan Bonsai Museum is the ward of Shinji Suzuki, onetime student of Hamano and now one of the better-known practitioners in the field. Located in Obuse, the museum is home to an outstanding collection of bonsai. Visitors photographing each other Benches anyway. The museum is in the process of moving from its original location […]
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 […]