The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, located on the East Coast of the United States, has been having its annual Winter Silhouettes exhibition for nearly 20 years. We’ve recently gone to a biannual show to generate more interest as winter is our slow season at the Arboretum.
Japanese Maple-Kiyo-hime, In training since 1946, Donated by Akiko Matsudaira.

3 point disaply with Trident Maple, In training since 1895, Donated Prince Takamatsu, Mt. Fuji scroll, and Japanese Blood Grass.

Branch silhouette.

Japanese Blood Grass, container by MC2.

Triptych of Root-over-rock Chinese Elms, Donated by Yee Sun-Wu.

Chinese Hackberry, In training since 1946, Donated by Shu-ying Lu.

Winter Suiseki.

Chinese Elm, In training since 1946, Donated by Yee-sun Wu. Bald Cypress, In training since 1972, Donated by Vaughn Banting.

Chinese Elm, In training since 1970, Donated by Marybel Balendonck.

Branch detail.

Year of the Horse shohin display.

Rabbit foot fern, container by Lang…

The second stop on our garden tour was to Kunio Kobayashi’s bonsai garden, Shunka-en. Located just outside Tokyo (and a fair drive from Kimura’s garden) it was begun by his father some seventy years ago. The garden was the largest I’d seen that day and very impressive. We were greeted by trees before we ever set foot in the garden–they were even on the roof!

Once inside the gate, we were ushered past familiar, famous old junipers and pines to the indoor Tokonoma display area by our guide, whose name I forgot, but has been an apprentice there for two years now and speaks excellent English.

The first display featured an Ume, or Japanese flowering plum, one of the first trees to flower in early spring:

The next display featured a Japanese black pine with a cascading branch and the elements of display suggesting water as the black pine grows…

E’ un po’ che cerco di capire come fare un boschetto che possa essere ‘più giusto possibile’… e così quando capita recupero piante e piantine a destra e a manca oltre che mettere talee un po’ ovunque (vasi ad hoc, vasi di altre piante… e difatti non è così infrequente trovare mie piante con qualche ‘intruso’); i grossi limiti di questa ‘opera di acquisizione’ sono:

• lo spazio necessario per tenere tutti i vasi
• non sempre le piante sono nel medesimo substrato piuttosto che quello con cui sono più abituato… ne consegue che il tutto richiede qualche attenzione in più
• la proporzione delle piante (difficilmente ci sono ‘leader perfetti’… oppure manca i movimento corretto per armonizzare il più possibile la futura composizione…)
• talvolta in specie così belle, ma anche così varie è difficile avere tante piante della stessa varietà.

Il 23 febbraio 2014 ho deciso di ridurre il numero di vasi…

This is one of the most imaginative ways I have seen classic bonsai presented.

On Sunday, February 9, 2014 Part 2 of the 88^th Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition opened in the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park. On Saturday all of the nearly 300 bonsai were removed and replaced with new masterpieces. Now, I’ve been at more Kokufu Bonsai Exhibitions than I remember and I’m still amazed at the number of new bonsai which are displayed each year. There are a few repeats, but most of the trees are new. I wonder how many masterpieces are out there in Japan, but remember, new specimens are always being created while old masterpieces pass on.

Part 2 also had 170 displays, 26 important bonsai masterpieces and 55 medium size bonsai. There were again only 5 shohin bonsai compositions. The judges selected 6 Kokufu prize bonsai for Part 2.

Kokufu Sho Award, Japanese five-needle pine, Pinus parviflora

Kokufu Sho Award, Japanese black pine, Pinus…