Home

Creating branch ramification on shohin Japanese maples doesn’t happen quickly. After three years of producing short internodes, the tree is now ready for cutback to improve the silhouette and branch structure. (You can see the progress to date here.)

Now that temperatures have cooled a bit, I’ve started repotting. Sometimes I return trees to the pots they were growing in, and other times I select new containers.

 
This blog was written to answer a question for a member of the Bonsai Nut Forum who asked about my display comments. I wrote too much for the answer and thought others might find my personal thoughts interesting. Enjoy!

Oto Hime Japanese Maple for display
I spent all afternoon designing my three displays for the Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo next weekend in Kannapolis, NC. There is more than picking out a tree, table, wiping them off and hauling them to a show. Much more for me, which takes basic fundamental display knowledge, taste and considerable time. Plus you need to get everything to the exhibition in good condition.

This Thanksgiving weekend, I’d like to introduce a project I’ve been working on for the past two years: The Little Book of Bonsai!

When thinning needles on black or red pine, I treat branches differently based on my goals for refining them.

Tokoname is one of the six old Japanese kilns which have continued to support Japanese living for over 1,000 years.  Tea pots and sewer pipes are the most famous items crafted and produced in the city of Tokoname, a bit south of Nagoya, Japan. Of course, most of the high-quality bonsai containers are also made here, but these pots are not the reason Tokoname is famous around the word.

Last week we visited the museum of bonsai artist Kunio Kobayashi in Tokyo. He had just returned from a convention in Viet Nam, but he still had the energy to welcome our group with his wife and curator of his museum, Jin Yasufumi.

An important part of any bonsai exhibition around the world is the sales or vendor area. Most people visit to see and enjoy the trees, but they eventually end up in the sales area purchasing something for their collection. Even here in Japan I watch every year as people enter the Nippon Bonsai Taikan Exhibition and rush to the sales area in the back. Although most are foreigners, the others, especially Chinese are eager to buy. Vendors are a most important part of bonsai exhibitions; however, they rarely receive the recognition they deserve for bringing in the visitors.

This year there are five special displays in the Nippon Bonsai Taikan Exhibition.