An interesting display at the Choseki kai

During the Taikanten there is also a suiseki exhibition held at Kennin-ji arranged by the Choseki-kai, a group of very serious enthusiasts in the Kansai area.

It is always a worthwhile trip just to hang out in the temple for an hour or two away from the bustle of the Taikanten. Please note that I would never be capable of taking these pictures. Google Images I thank you...

The stones on show were varied and interesting. This was a surprise to see...

The suiban is something I have never before seen before. I asked someone who said he knows and he reckoned that apparently it represents a zen koan, describing the futility of struggle within the human realm of existence. There is an old fable in which some learned old men get drunk on night and try to move a massive vat of water. Rather than empty it first and make it empty, they try to turn it round and spin it to move it. As hard as they tried, they got nowhere....four of them were trying to spin it clockwise and four were trying to spin it counter clockwise. Despite their struggle and ultimately realising that it had been entirely in vain, they fell on the floor laughing.

There was more to the story and it may or may not have been the basis for the Monty Python song, "Always look on the bright side"...because as we all know, when you look at it, lifes a piece of...

 

The above text may or may not have any basis in truth. The author cannot be held responsible for any further distribution of the above text which may be misconstrued and then repeated, thus becoming gospel truth, leading to 50 years of misunderstanding about the basic principles of suiseki or bonsai, simply because they learnt it from a book. (For those who still cannot read between the lines...I MADE IT UP, it's just some weird display, nothing more).

Apart from that display, there were plenty of others including this one with a lovely table. Perhaps now Doug Mudd has had his fingers sown back on, he might like to try his miracle hand at this?

Funky edges and great wood...

Mmmm.

In terms of the show, there are plenty of pics elsewhere on the internet, notably Bill Valavanis' blog, so I won't bother wasting more bandwidth on them.

What I will say is that I had a few interesting conversations with Mr. Morimae, over a Cinzano Rosso no less, about the future of bonsai and his plans. It was a...convergence of ideas. Watch this contemporary space...

 

And on a similar theme, there was this modern display at the exhibition which ranged from the downright ghastly...

I don't mean Bill, I mean these monstrosities...

But then they had these pretty interesting iron stands...again, shame about the trees.

 

And these...

Rock and roll...

It was a fairly successful trip for me, which is yet to finish, but I managed to pick up one super pimp stand, a few pots for clients and one for myself. Tomorrow back to Tokyo hopefully...

Please do not take what I say too seriously...I am deeply interested in suiseki and the world will be rocked next february when the big show is on alongside the kokufu...now that I am looking forwards to...

 

A fungal education...

Although the last week has been intensely busy with the very well received exhibition, Natural Flux, i still found time to learn something new. Thanks to Yannick Kiggen, who came over from his native Belgium, I was up at a ridiculously early time on Sunday morning to drive him to Stansted for a Ryanair flight home. yannick was a great help with the show, especially on the late night preview evening, with his manly looks and general all round willingness to pitch in and wash glasses. My deepest thanks were repaid in a small part with a fried breakfast of the highest quality.

Thank you Pellici's of Bethnal Green for showing him the pinnacle of British cuisine.

Anyway, the early morning start was not a problem and in fact turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I was able to listen to a very good Radio 4 program on the way back about fairy rings and the importance of fungi in the ecosystem. The repetition of the fact that without symbiotic fungi, most trees, plants and life in general could not thrive was drilled into the listener along with some other interesting facts such as different types of mycelium which have territorial wars and that they are a one directional species. For those of you who can access the BBC iPlayer, I would recommend listening to the documentary. For those that live outside of the UK, I can only apologise and would suggest moving here (or use a VPN). Either that or read about fungi.

What impact does this new knowledge, or rather a reinforcing of existing knowledge have? It simply validates the absolute priority for developing a healthy biological system within out bonsai pots, be they contemporary or not. Using a good quality organic bonsai fertiliser will help with that. Chemicals can throw off the balance, sterilise the soil and cause unhealthy but seemingly vigorous growth. Maintaining a healthy balance between water and oxygen will help maintain the biological system even further. Careful use of fungicide on the top of the tree only will help.

Essentially, do not consider the pot and it's contents as some kind of inert system. Good bonsai practice and horticultural success starts with the roots and consideration of what is happening and what you want to happen.

Back to the gallery and with a sad heart/relief, the closing of the first Natural Flux exhibition.

 

It has been a long time coming...

but now the natural flux show is finally set up and ready to rock and roll.  the last month has seen me as busy as usual, hence the silence.  Setting up the show was a marathon task, getting pots, tables, mossing trees by torchlight all in a desperate rush to get finished before going off to LA for the GSBF, which was a blast.

Returning yesterday the last finishing touches were made and all that was necessary was to put it all in to the gallery.  Despite his constant snide comments, Mr. Peter Snart of Willowbog Bonsai has been a massive massive help to me, not only in this venture, but many others.  Without him, today would not have gone smoothly at all, so I am indebted to him for braving the London traffic and putting up with my harebrained ideas and lack of planning.  Despite us having known each other for many years, he still doesn't get the fact that I prefer to have fluid plans and ideas.  Also known as winging it.  That said, thank you Peter.

A few pictures from throughout the day...

The empty gallery, waiting to be filled

Snarty, doing what he does best. Drinking tea and making fun of me

Men at work...You better run, you better take cover

"What on earth does he expect me to do?"

That needs turning around son.

Thor and his incredible machine...

A handheld Dyson always, and I mean always, comes in useful with bonsai.

Shin-kun setting up his awesome photographs.  Someone who has a plan...

What was I thinking?

All in all it has turned out as I had hoped, in fact better than I had hoped.  Tomorrow morning we need to do a few things to finish off.  Unfortunately Kevin Bielicki was delayed coming in, so his pieces will be put up tomorrow. Check in to either here, www.naturalflux.co.uk or https://www.facebook.com/naturalfluxbonsai

Now...to bed.