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YES I did!…. still in one piece!

The only Zen garden in a Buddhist Temple is located in the Daitoku-ji Temple complex in Kyoto, Japan. It is quite close to the world-famous Daisen-in garden. Now photos are allowed!

After a long hiatus, the US again has a juried bonsai pottery competition. After an initial pair of events in 2001 and 2002 and a follow-up in 2015, we now have an updated competition sponsored by the American Bonsai Society and managed by Angelica Ramirez.

Today we visited the Daiju-en Bonsai Garden of Toru Suzuki, third generation bonsai artist. 

For me the highlight of this exhibition was the bonsai demonstration by Kunio Kobayashi on Saturday morning from 10am to Noon, EXACTLY. The admission charge for this exhibition is less than US$10. This time, like last year several bonsai demonstrations were presented by the top level bonsai artists, which was an extra $20 admission charge, and well worth the cost. A free workshop for the first 30 people took place too. Famous bonsai artists, about ten of them were the instructors.

The exhibition opened today at 8:45am with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Unlike other openings only two short welcoming speeches were made, in Japanese of course.

Part I was a white-out exercise with an Ezo Spruce, asking, which branches would you cut off, if any? Thanks to all of you who offered your favorite options. It’s a complicated tree with a lot of possibility and many good options.

The 45th edition of this national level exhibition is being held on November 21-23, 2025 at the Miyako Messe in Kyoto, Japan. This is one of my favorite exhibitions in Japan because the bonsai are commonly displayed with hanging scrolls, suiseki and other fine art, with paintings too. An entire display can suggest a special personal memory or just a good story. This style of creative bonsai display is not commonly seen in Japan.

On the way to Kyoto for garden tours and the major Nippon Bonsai Taikan Exhibition this coming weekend, we stopped and enjoyed the warm hospitality of Mr. & Mrs. Kunio Kobayashi at their Bonsai Museum. Located in the Edogawa Ward of Tokyo it is visited by numerous foreigners from around the world. My good friend Megumi Kadokura from Omiya joined us for this and other visits to the Japanese bonsai world. Her grandfather had a major bonsai garden in the 1950s in Omiya, so she actually grew up with bonsai. Everywhere she joins us the bonsai community is familiar with her family’s bonsai garden.

Masahiko Kimura Studio
Today’s tour was visitation to the private studio of Masahiko Kimura, the great and innovator of unusual, fine bonsai. His garden is always changing and on today’s visit I noticed a great number of new bonsai, mostly Sargent juniper, Japanese five-needle pine and Japanese black pine. One of the reasons I enjoy his garden is that many of the trees on display are still in training with heavy rebar, lots of wiring and numerous trees he is changing the foliage with superior varieties. Also, he is friendly and answers all my questions.