Japan Tour I: Visiting friends

One of the focuses of our bonsai adventure in Japan was to visit with some of the bonsai artists that have come to our nursery on a regular basis. During the whole of our trip we had the pleasure of being with our guide, Jun Imabaysahi, who was incredible with the work he did to make our trip enjoyable.

Here is Jun describing the carving work on an 800 year old yamadori Shimpaku Juniper.

His knowledge of the bonsai culture in Japan and connection with some of the best masters was greatly appreciated by all of us.
We visited Mr. Hiromi Tsukada who many of us know from his annual visits to our nursery. Tsukada san is one of the top azalea bonsai artists in Japan but we also saw that his work with maples and pines was also quite impressive! He was SO happy to see us and gave us a little demonstration of his grafting techniques to renew a beautiful Japanese maple that was starting to get overgrown.

One of Mr. Tsukada's beautiful Japanese maples

our sensei, Hiromi Tsukada

Jun teased me with the promise of seeing a fantastic shohin black pine. Here it is with Mr. Tsukada and me. Funny man!

Later on the trip we visited Mr. Mitsuo Matsuda in Kinashi village on Shikoku Island. This is a town that is known for its bonsai growing, especially black pines. He joined us for a wonderful dinner at a restaurant in Takamatsu.

Our group at Mr. Matsuda's nursery

We also met some of Jun’s bonsai friends – Mr. Yamahata, who creates very high quality bonsai; Mr. Miura, who is an up and coming shohin bonsai artist.
More to come!

Meeting Mr. Yamahata in front of his exquisite bonsai for sale at the Taikanten Exhibition vending area.

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