Bonsai Today

Online magazine for Bonsai lovers

kokufu-ten

Masterclass

Can you restyle a Bonsai masterpiece?

Masayuki Fujikawa takes things further by transforming a masterpiece

It is said that a tree displayed at Kokufu has reached a point of completion in a long journey. As the tree grows, finds a new owner, or an artist to care for it, the viewpoint of the tree will gradually change

Masterclass

Father and Son

The Sanriku junipers: Father and Son Omachi work on yamadori trees


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Technique

cut in two?

Chiharu Imai deals with a dull bonsai and creates something special


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Masterclass

Out of the box

The pine called 'Okou no kyosho' is brought back into shape by Master Kunio Kobayashi


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Masterclass

The ‘Mugo’ team

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


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Gallery

Top junipers

A gallery with some of the finest Japanese juniper bonsai

Case History

I will burn all my trees

François Jeker’s 31-year-journey growing a bonsai forest When we make a bonsai forest, we think we are the Creator. We are under the illusion that we decide everything, the choice of the trees and their placement, but nature has already done a good part of the work. When we collect…...


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Masterclass

No bonsai stays the same

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.


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Technique

Between life and death

Carving juniper deadwood with Master Kunihiko Kanemitsu Kunihiko Kanemitsu, of the Okayama City Kanemitsu Bonsai Studio, presents a dramatic contrast between life and death within the confines of a pot. Natural raw material is almost non-existent now. Even field or container grown trees are harder to come by, like juniper,…...


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Case History

A masterpiece tree has no front

A juniper masterpiece more dead than alive, is totally restored ‘Garyuu’, the history and Kakuryu-an. The oldest photographic record of this tree is from 1962 when it was featured in the auction catalogue for the ‘Gyoshinya Bonsai Commemorative Book’. It was the usual auction catalogue in that photographs of both…...


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Column

How far can we go?

It is fairly safe to say that bonsai in the West has reached a very high level because major exhibitions such as the Gingko Award and the Trophy brought together trees from many nations. And this has evolved even further over the last 25 years with shows of higher quality…...


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Profile

The Kokufu Lady

The bonsai passion of Cindy Verstraeten As one of the lucky few, Cindy Verstraeten managed to get her bonsai (Pinus densiflora) exhibited at the famous Kokufu-ten. Reason enough to ask this bonsai-impassioned woman how it all began. What brought you into bonsai? When we created a new koi pond in…...


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Report

Hand held

Andrew Sellman travels to Japan to see the shohin at the Gafu-ten Shohin has always fascinated me, there is something magical about being able to hold such an exquisite piece of living art in the palm of your hand For shohin lovers like myself, the Gafu-ten, of all Japanese shohin…...


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Tables

Wood never Dies

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 thought I had won the lottery. Unfortunately, the job never went through, but the idea

Pots

The aim for perfection led José to Japan

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, about 25 years ago, few pots arrived in Spain and those that did were expensive…...


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Interview

Should I be born again….

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 Omiya Bonsai Village, where Saburo Kato, the chairman of the Nippon Bonsai Association and Hiroshi…...


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