Next up we visited Akiyama San, followed by Shunkaen and Kobayashi San. Both were great visits! Akiyama San was Peter’s Sempai at Shunkaen, so trips to both nurseries were comfortable and relaxed. I’m sure many of you got to meet and work with Akiyama San at his during his visit to the Mid Atlantic earlier this year.
Akiyama San

The entrance to the Nursery

Super nice, award winning Shimpaku. Fantastic pot match and highly refined.

Ume

Momiji

A massive Momiji

Various, Beeches, Ginko, and Zelcova

A massive yamadori juniper in development with foliage grafts. The deadwood on this is simply amazing!

Elegant, but powerful, White pine

White pines. Note the foliage differences.

Various bonsai stretching away into the distance.

Super nice chuhin Tosho

Japanese Yew, Taxus Cuspidata

Japanese Yew, Taxus Cuspidata

Yew? I’m not sure, but I think some of these may be Hemlock.

More Yew!

Ezo Spruce.

Large and…

In today’s post, we visit the wonderful and well provisioned big-box-bonsai-store that is Seiji Morimae’s S-Cube(pun definitely intended and apologized for), then we visit the well-known-in-the-West mecca of Shohin and pottery, Yorozuen, where my friend Toriumi Atsuishi meets us with a surprise.
S-Cube
S-Cube, the garden and sales area of Seiji Morimae, is truly an incredible place. From Stones, to pots both inexpensive and antique, small and immense, to trees of every size and quality level, Morimae San has something for everyone. He’s truly an erudite and interesting fellow, to boot, and well worth your taking the time for a chat. Absent that, pick up his book “A Dialogue with Bonsai”, it’s an interesting read about the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual side of bonsai, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Morimae San takes the time to explain the ceremonial tea house and it’s origins, and the position and design of the gardens…

Esiste un bellissimo magazine italiano (qui è riprodotta la seconda di copertina dell’ultimo numero uscito) che si occupa di divulgazione delle arti, della cultura del mondo orientale: Bonsai & Suiseki Magazine. Ha una sua personale pagina su Facebook Bonsai & Suiseki Magazine (Facebook) dove oltre ai numeri della rivista è possibile avre informazioni sulle attività culturali (a tema) di tutta Italia e immagini bellissime (o video) del mondo giapponese.

Una simile realtà alla portata di tutti è testimonianza della passione, cultura e professionalità delle persone che non solo l’hanno ideata, ma che ne seguono passo passo l’evoluzione. Articoli estremamente interessanti corredati da stupende foto (una mia predilezione vanno ai capolavori di Fabio Canneta) che fanno penetrare neofiti ed appassionati in un mondo di suggestioni ed incanto.

La bellezza di questo progetto (oltre alla sua specifica fruibilità) è che i temi trattati interessano a 360°. Non c’è cesura tra bonsai…

In today’s episode, we visit the garden of legendary artist Masahiko Kimura. It was interesting seeing the bonsai I had seen and admired(as have all of you) in magazines and books, through the years. The garden is immaculate to the point of sterility, with nary a weed or blade of grass out of place.

On a the wall in the receiving room(a boardroom-esque affair standing in stark contrast to the living room environment at other Nurseries), photos of trees receiving major awards stretch into the distance.
Junipers

One of Kimura San’s famous Junipers. If memory serves, I think this Is one where the ten-Jin are actually roots, the tree itself flipped entirely upside down by partially separating the live vein from existing deadwood.

Some close ups of the deadwood.

Another famous Juniper. This surprised me. I’d never considered it before, but the foliage is actually quite coarse. I do believe…

Bellissime foto, favolosi ricordi, aspettanto la prossima edizione di Bonsai Summer Festival.

Un grazie speciale a Carlo Scafuri per la disponibilità, a Nicola per le splendide foto, a me per l’articolo.

enjoy bonsai!!

…love, Melanie!

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Great photos, fabulous memories, waitin for the next edition of Bonsai Summer Festival.

Special thanks to Carso Scafuri for availability, to Nicola for the beutiful photos, to me for the article.

enjoy bonsai!

… love, Melanie!

The next morning saw us bright and early at Shinji Suzuki’s wonderful garden. Everything about Mr. Suzuki’s garden spoke of taste and refinement, from the trees, to the garden environs, the pots…even the tea, and obligatory snacks, were tasteful and high class.

While most all of the nurseries we visited had at least one, if not several, Kichou(registered large bonsai masterpiece) or Miyabi(registered shohin and chuhin cultural treasure) Bonsai, At the Suzuki garden, there were nearly more Kichou bonsai than we saw the entire rest of the trip!

American apprentices Matt Reel and Tyler Sherrod hard at work. In addition to these two talented gentlemen, Michael Hagedorn was also a Deshi here, once upon a time.

The first trees one sees upon entrance: those are NOT shohin. Around 5 feet tall, with the massive pots.

And, turning a corner…
A Few Bench Shots

Some Individual Trees

Mr. Suzuki’s famous Tosho