Taking a mega juniper from raw material to masterpiece bonsai
Mr Hirokatsu Iura and his son Takashi Iura took quite a risk in creating a marvellous juniper of amazing proportions.

Taking a mega juniper from raw material to masterpiece bonsai
Mr Hirokatsu Iura and his son Takashi Iura took quite a risk in creating a marvellous juniper of amazing proportions.
Italian, Alessandro Bonardo, now 24, has been an apprentice under Mr Kimura for 6 years and in May 2022, it was formally announced that he had graduated. Within the garden he is affectionately known as Aless. Mr Kimura prepared a tree, an unusually shaped Miyajima white pine for this demo, a transformation to celebrate his graduation
Something completely different: Mauro Stemberger creates the rock pine
Restyling a famous tree into something new is difficult work and an artist must stake their reputation on it
Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris, is one of the most popular pine varieties and one of the most commonly styled tree.
The Sanriku junipers: Father and Son Omachi work on yamadori trees
Mauro Stemberger styles a massive Scots pine with a loop shaped trunk
Bjorn Bjorholm works on a juniper with hidden qualities
Masahiko Kimura's famous rock plantings.
Ken Fujiwara works on a massive black pine
Mario Komsta works on a yamadori pine, Pinus sylvestris.
The ultimate root correction work of Masahiko Kimura
The pine called 'Okou no kyosho' is brought back into shape by Master Kunio Kobayashi
Mauro Stemberger works on a yamadori pine
The mugo pine is an extraordinary example of a yamadori, an impressive trunk with some natural shari and lots of compacted branches on top. A real challenge for Matt and Tyler
Masahiko Kimura rearranges the foliage around a dancing shari Exploring the artistic sensitivity of Mr Kimura, we take a look at the material he will work on. The transformation is not tremendously dramatic, however the…...
Working on a very ancient and treasured juniper, Chiharu Imai realises that no bonsai stays the same and so he respectfully gives the tree a new shape for the future.
To get the best results Masahiko Kimura flips a juniper upside down Just turn it upside down, a brilliant idea, which for many would be an impossible option; not so for Masahiko Kimura Another upside…...
A very bushy juniper for Mauro Stemberger to style It was January 2020 when I arrived at the small city of Marostica at the foot of the Italian Alps for a demo with Mauro Stemberger…....
How to transform a ‘pig’ of a tree into a breathtaking cascade Kevin Willson had a few years stay in sunny Alicante, Spain, where marvellous material can be found. Dug from the surrounding mountains are…...
Andrei Bessonov’s final work as an apprentice to Master Kimura After six years of apprenticeship under Mr Kimura, this is the ‘final test’ for Andrei, with a tree that was obtained specifically for this purpose…....
Masahiko Kimura is challenged by a huge yew. In a corner of Masahiko Kimura’s bonsai nursery is a yew planted in the ground. The trunk is slender and of a feminine appearance. The top section…...
Rebirth of a juniper that survived the Tohoku earthquake The Sanriku Coast is a dramatic, rocky shoreline with countless bays, cliffs and coves that stretches for over 300 kilometres along the Pacific Coast from just…...
Manuel Germade deals with a tough case — a Buxus with unbendable branches. Working on a tree that’s long, slender, with a fantastic curling trunk seems like perfect material. But there is just one downside,…...
Marco Invernizzi reworks a very old mugo pine, which has a story to tell. Marco Invernizzi fell in love with the remarkable shapes of this Italian mugo pine (Pinus mugo). Although already touched by another…...
Ryan Neil vs huge garden tree This bulky juniper (Juniperus chinensis) was originally meant to end up in a Japanese garden. Could it be made into a bonsai? Its massive proportions indicated that it would…...
Untangling the dense foliage canopy of a sabina juniper Valentin Brose, former apprentice of Kunio Kobayashi, is a refined artist. The sabina juniper has such a dense canopy that all is hidden away from the…...
With almost two branches only, Mauro Stembergercreates one of his best pines Mauro Stemberger’s very full agenda allowed just a tiny opening to work on one of his favourite trees, so he teamed up with…...
Enrico Savini twists, bends and turns a sabina into a graceful cascade Enrico’s garden, close to Bologna, Italy, is where he meticulously works on all kinds of ingenious techniques. With these techniques his trees are…...