After a two hour delay and airplane evacuation in Chicago due to tornadoes, we finally arrived in Japan for our semi annual bonsai tour led by Kora Dalager and me. This time we have a good small group of eleven people including two ladies from Australia.

Moving one of the February Kokufu bonsai ten exhibition prize winning trees to be loaded for display in the Taikan Bonsai Ten exhibition in Kyoto. This bonsai belongs to a client of Masahiko Kimura.

Beautyberry and Firethorn bonsai in the container room.

Tuesday we first visited Masahiko Kimura’s garden, near Omiya, by our private bus. As always, his bonsai are spectacular and although I’ve been visiting his garden for over 30 years, the trees looked the best this time. Our tour enjoyed glorious, warm sunny weather, and the bonsai took on a special glow, which reflected their unique beauty as well the tender loving…

The next morning had us up bright and early to visit Fujikawa Kouka-en. If you’re reading this blog, chances are good that you’re a hobbyist advanced enough to be very familiar with Fujikawa San, the nursery, and the wonderful videos created there by Bjorn Bjornholm. You are also probably familiar with American professional Owen Reich, Maeoka San, David Martinez, and probably even many of the trees at the nursery.
If you are Not, head over to the YouTube as soon as you are done reading here and spend a couple of days watching them! And while you’re at it, stop by Owen’s and Bjorn blogs as well.
The Bonsai Art of Japan
Bjorvala Bonsai Studio
Owen’s Bonsai Unearthed

Fujikawa San was a gracious host, and had Bjorn guide us throughout the the nursery, despite his workload of a very large and impressive hinoki undergoing an air layer.
So, let’s check…

Hello all! It’s been awhile! It seems it’s taking ten times as long to finish up writing about our trip to Japan as at has actually going! Between work and a problem with my trees(while I am a pot guy, it’s still all about the trees) I haven’t had a free second to post anything for a couple of months. Sorry about that. So, let’s rectify that now. With fall here and winter close behind, I have much more free time. So, I hope to finish up the last 5 posts about the trip this week, then we’ll take a look at some new pots I’ve added to my collection, followed by profiles on Kanzan, Sharaku, and Antique Chinese pots. Let’s get to it!
Koju En
Let me start off by saying that our visit came at a fortuitous time! Not only did we bump into Masumi San on our…

I will love to have a Tokonoma in my living room, but the house is small and the space is already taken from my goldfish and turtle tank. So on the search for an alternative I find out that I was not the only one having this kind of problem and lots of bonsai lovers opt for a mini Tokonoma; a small little box than contains kakejiku, table, tatami and of course a shohin bonsai, all in a smaller size.

Last week end I made my first experiment on the creation of the mini Tokonoma. First I tried with carton, then with 4 mm thick chipboard, but none of both succeed.

Frustrated, I brought my failed Tokonoma’s to the bonsai club members for some piece of advice and lucky me, our presidet is a carpenter! With brand new plan’s I went to the local DIY retailer and purchased the new…

Juan Andrade, who is apprenticing at Aichien very kindly shared some photos taken at Shuga Ten  on Facebook. I was blown away by some of the quality trees. I have shared a few of my favourites below but Juan tells me that John Milton will be sharing them all on his blog soon, so keep an eye open for this.