The Gafu-ten exhibition brings together those who love these tiny bonsai Every year in January it is time for the major shohin exhibition in Japan, the Gafu-ten. Shohin lovers from all over the country and...

The Gafu-ten exhibition brings together those who love these tiny bonsai Every year in January it is time for the major shohin exhibition in Japan, the Gafu-ten. Shohin lovers from all over the country and...
Thor Holvila tells us how his ideas come to life As a professional potter, commissions are a big part of my daily work, but as an artist I also have ideas about pots that I...
Art and bonsai meet in one of Kyoto’s famous temples We visited the wonderful Ryousoku-in, or Kennin-ji, Temple in Kyoto. This is a historic Zen Buddhist temple near Gion. It is considered to be one...
Sami Amdouni’s passion for smaller-sized pots By chance, Sami’s interest for bonsai pottery was sparked while waiting in the car. He now mostly creates pots for shohin with an eye for detail. How did you...
Andrei Bessonov followed his dreams by learning bonsai from Kimura As a small town boy Andrei was already much into plants, but a bonsai calendar lead him to becoming an apprentice of the world famous...
Satsuki-festival in Utsunomiya, Japan If you happen to visit Japan during the period when satsuki are in bloom, you should visit the satsuki festivals. The most well known of these is in Kanuma, but there...
Kusamono is a different type of bonsai With the guidance of Hiroki Miura (Miura Baijyu-en), Japanese popstar, Ayaka Yamamoto, is introduced to the world of Kusamono. Kusamono is a form of bonsai where a grass...
Sean Smith sticks with the formal style of Japanese art In 1994 Sean Smith took his 25-year passion for bonsai and suiseki, plus his extensive background in carpentry and put all them together to start...
Salvatore Liporace reworks one of his finest bonsai. The first styling of this Juniperus chinensis ‘Sargenti’ has a long history which goes back 20 years when its top was 40 cm higher. Gradually it was...
Portland (USA) based woodworker, Austin Heitzman seeks inspiration from ancient trees I have been attempting bonsai for just as long as I have been a professional woodworker. When contacted about commissioning a bonsai stand, I […]
The only regret Manuel Germade has is the fact that he did not go to Japan much earlier. A couple of years ago he officially graduated as a bonsai Master and he now finds his […]
Creative genius, Ryan Neil, turns bonsai upside down You can give Ryan Neil almost any kind of material to work on and he will create something special from it. Here Ryan is confronted by an...
Although it seemed completely wired and styled, this juniper still looks like a wild bush. What it needs is a totally different approach to get it just right. Jan Culek explains. For the possible future...
Paolo Nastasi travelled to the land of the rising sun to deepen his knowledge Years ago there was no tradition of going to Japan to improve one’s knowledge. However, times have changed… Taisho-en, run by […]
Chiharu Imai looks back on some of his remarkable works Chiharu Imai is a well-known bonsai Master in the west, famed for his sensitivity and excellence of technique. Here he looks back on some of...
A graphics designer becomes a bonsai Master, which, in short, is the story of Naoki Maeoka. Having graduated from the Kouka-en nursery, he now finds his way in world of international bonsai Naoki Maeoka (46)...
On the 150th anniversary of the restoration of Imperial rule, bonsai is displayed at the former capital. An outdoor exhibition is quite rare, even when it’s at a scenic site like the Nijo-jo castle, where...
Juniper scion grafting for foliage replacement Changing the foliage of junipers is becoming more and more common in the bonsai scene. Mauro Stemberger talks about his juniper projects using scions or the so-called approach graft...
Bjorn Bjorholm reworks the tree he styled in Japan A bonsai is never finished, over the years it will mature, perhaps even grow out of its original style. This is what happened with a juniper...
How to create a bulky maple As I have said previously, this technique implies wrapping a number of young plants, seedlings, around a man-made structure, called a ‘frame’. Its shape will be the one the...
José Guerao Navarro’s own pottery didn’t satisfy him and so he went to Japan to become an apprentice at the studio of famous potter Youkizou Nakano who lives in Tokoname. When I started with bonsai,...
Patric Bosc went on a Japanese tour of discovery. Patrick: ‘On the invitation of Mr Kohei Kubota from Anabuki Travel Agency and Mr Takahiro Miyazaki of the Japanese Transports Administration, I visited Shikoku in October....
It is hot midsummer in Japan, and beneath the cooling air of the air conditioner, we meet with Masahiko Kimura to talk about his feeling for bonsai. Kimura lives twenty minutes by car from the...