A great video from Bjorn

After our visit with Mr. Morimae and Negishi we drove to see Masahiko Kimura. Although I’ve visited Mr. Kimura twice yearly for over 30 years, the beauty of his trees is always refreshing. However, during this visit I noticed a great number of new bonsai. I asked him how many new bonsai he had and he said “many” In a quick count there were at least a dozen. Now, twelve new trees might not seem like a great amount, however these were giant bonsai, two and three man trees, some with trunks wider than my waist. I wondered about this and then remembered the day before I saw several Kimura masterpiece bonsai at Kobayashi’s Shunka-en Bonsai Museum in Tokyo. Upon inquiry in Tokyo, I was told all the trees in the one section were sold and will be soon shipped to China. So, I guess Mr. Kimura had to bring…

The 90^th Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition is being held in two parts again this year in order to display more traditional Japanese bonsai to the world. Part 1 was held on February 5-8, 2016 and Part 2 on February 10-13, 2016, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo. On Tuesday, February 9^th, all the bonsai are removed replaced with new trees. This exhibition was started in 1934 and was held twice a year in March and November for years. Count Matsudaira, who popularized shohin bonsai, was President of the Kokufu Bonsai Association who organized and sponsored the exhibition until 1964 when the organization dissolved and reorganized as the Nippon Bonsai Association. Today the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition is organized and run by the Nippon Bonsai Association, but sponsored by the City of Tokyo, Ministry of Education and NHK TV.

To many, including me, this is the…

This photo essay ends with a couple of movies…don’t miss those. They’re too short for popcorn, but long enough to sit down for.

Mountain Hemlock before branch removal or wiring. Here are some pre-work branch close-ups:

Last week this Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) was styled with pruning and wiring. It’s an unusual front, as the apexes all flow 45 degrees to the back and to the right. For me it was a haunting tree to find the wild, as if felt like the wind was literally at my back, and so I was determined to keep a windy feeling in the styling. Given the surrounding trees, it was not a naturally wind-influenced tree, and the identical movement of the apexes was happenstance.

Bobby progressed from standing on a crate…

…to standing on a ladder.

I loved the height of this Hemlock. Although it’s more than twice the height of…