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Each half of the Kokufu exhibit features a small number of shohin displays. The exhibit is set up to present the large trees first, then the medium bonsai, and finally the shohin. They’re the last bonsai you see before leaving the exhibit.

Tomio Yamada
1938-2026
Tomio Yamada, 3rd generation proprietor of Seiko-en Bonsai Garden in Omiya Bonsai Village has passed away quite recently. Seiko-en Bonsai Garden was founded by his grandfather Shonosuke but was then named the Oukei-en Bonsai Garden in Ugusudani during the Kaei Period (1848-1854) in Edo (now Tokyo) Japan. The garden was moved to Omiya Bonsai Village in 1943 with his father Kamajiro and the name was changed. 

I collected this Limber Pine with Steve Varland and Dan Wiederrecht about a decade ago. It looked younger than the delicious, half-deadwood trees on the slopes nearby. Then a couple years ago bark started to peel in the front and—delight of delights—the whole front had died, leaving a swath of shari. 

For the past twelve years, the Kokufu-ten has been divided into two halves. For these double shows, the organizers set up the exhibit and open it to the public for a few days, then close for a day or two to reset the show with all new displays. This year the exhibit featured a whopping 181 displays in each half for a total of 362 displays!

The Kokufu show is a goldmine. You can walk through it or flip through a show book and realize you’re just looking at the stands. Or the branch setting. Or the pots.

Last month the Japanese Bonsai Association hosted the 100th national exhibit, the Kokufu, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo.

For much of the northern hemisphere, seeing snow-covered bonsai in winter is nothing out of the ordinary. For Keiichi Fujikawa, proprietor of the Fujikawa Kouka-en bonsai garden in Osaka, the sight is far from normal.

A few final stories from my Japan trip.
The first hour in Obuse was bittersweet.

Part II of the exhibition on Saturday. I have never seen such a crowd in the 40 years I’ve attended. It looked that there were even more foreign visitors than Part I. There were no Stewartia displayed. Lots of cascade styled trees.

A few of the ridiculous trees in Part I of the Kokufu-ten. Wednesday was the take-down and switch-out to new trees. And now it’s open again for Part II.