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After looking into the practice of shohin display, I thought it would be nice to focus on some of the beautiful trees at this year’s Gafu-ten. Here are some highlights.

Over the years I’ve come to expect directional bonsai to be displayed next to shohin box displays.

The idea of exhibiting six shohin bonsai in a single display can be daunting. Fortunately there are good alternatives that accommodate smaller numbers of bonsai in the display.

At Gafu-ten, Japan’s premier shohin exhibit, there are a number of different judging categories. This allows the judges to recognize the best contributions for a particular type of tree or display. Some of the key categories include:

One of the first displays to catch my attention at this year’s Gafu-ten exhibit featured six trees and an accent plant.

It was fantastic to visit a ceramics competition in Japan and see Roy Minarai of Kawauso Pottery recognized for his work. Roy took second in the glazed category for this year’s pottery competition held at the 2019 Gafu-ten exhibit held in Kyoto, Japan.

For those who have worked with a lot of collected junipers, this post can be summed up with two photos.

The first batch of cascade black pines I started are now five years old. After decandling the trees last spring, it’s time for cutback and wiring.

I’ve been pruning and wiring my young quince twice a year – once in spring and once in fall or winter. I’ve been doing this work to set the shape of the trunk before I let the trees grow on and thicken up.

The small Japanese maple below has proved to be quite vigorous. In an effort to slow the tree down and produce shorter internodes, this past year I pinched spring growth, applied very little fertilizer, and fully defoliated the leaves and cut back the branches in spring. Here’s the result.