Shohin Off

fun and educational week was had by all who attended the British Shohin Association weekend, well I assume it was, I certainly had fun and learnt the lesson that if you get pulled into an AGM, it is generally a bad sign.

In an attempt to stay fresh and keep the level of Shohin Bonsai increasing in the UK, we organised a mainly workshop weekend rather than simply an exhibition. It was a great chance for the members to get some free expert tuition from people who have experience in the field such as Chairman John Armitage and Marco Invernizzi. I was also present with more hair on my chin than on my head.

It was great to meet up with the real hardcore enthusiasts who made the trip to Willowbog Bonsai in the beautiful wilderness of Northumbria. Despite it being a mainly workshop based event there were a number of displays on show and the most popular by far was the immaculate and superbly presented display by Mark and Ritta Cooper. They are good friends of mine and I am very pleased that they have started to come out and show their trees.

It was also good that they got the opportunity to show people that they are not just displaying "cheque book" Bonsai and that they have put in years of dedicated hard work to get their trees looking so good

This is something which is beginning to show in the trees of many of my regular students and customers...not wishing to blow my own trumpet but their trees have by and large improved since we started working together. It is rewarding to see the fruits of our combined labour now we are coming into the second repotting cycle for some trees and many of the deciduous have ramified well, pines have back budded and Junipers filled out. Patience and diligence is key with any Bonsai and the rewards are just starting to come after three or four years.

What then for the future? For the future of the BSA it is onwards and upwards. During the AGM I was press ganged into become the Vice Chairman, a position I am happy to fill as it gives me a chance to help the tireless work that John Armitage puts in to promote little trees. My first duty was to put down in writing the proposal for the next BSA show, which is here....

BSA show 2012

Following on from the success of the practical workshop based “Shohin Off” event in March 2011, we are excited to announce plans for a new and improved show format for 2012. We are inviting a wide range of participants to take part in our popular and enjoyable show weekend.
As in previous years we would like you to consider displaying, individual trees or a full composition of:
Shohin Mame or Chuhin
(We do ask for a maximum size of 45cm from the top of the pot)
As a new, more inclusive feature to our show and an attempt to help bring the fun of Shohin Bonsai to a wider audience we are also enthusiastically inviting those of you who think that your small trees are not show worthy to bring them along and under the guidance of Marco Invernizzi, Peter Warren and John Armitage they will be prepared for the show and displayed as part of a larger composition or as an individual tree in a special display area.
Knowing full well that it is difficult to put together a full 3,5 or 7 tree composition on an individual basis, we would like to make it clear that we more than welcome group entries and invite Bonsai clubs the length and breadth of the British Isles to put together a club composition featuring the best trees the members possess to form a collaborative effort.
As in previous years awards will be given to the best:
Shohin, Chuhin, Mame, Deciduous, Conifer, Native Species, Composition, Collaborative display, Work in Progress, Pot/tree combination.
Do not worry if you:

think your tree is not ready

do not have the time to prepare your trees

do not have stands, scrolls, accents

are not a member of the BSA (only £20)

This is an all inclusive event and we are aiming to show you the fun of participating in the BSA show and also help you to improve your trees and displays.
The show will be held on the 10/11th of March 2012 at Willowbog Bonsai. As part of our continuing efforts to help improve the level of British Shohin Bonsai we will be offering the services of three eading names in the Bonsai world free of charge. Both Marco Invernizzi, Peter Warren and John Armitage will be on hand to help you clean, moss and titivate your tree ready for it to be on put display. We would like those of you who have the time and experience to prepare in advance, it is fun to do it yourself after all; but for those of you who are beginning to reach the level where you would like to display your trees but are not sure of the final steps, we are here to help with advice, moss and more stands than you can shake a stick at!

So basically we want everyone and anyone to come along to the show and make it even more fun and wide reaching than ever. After all Bonsai is supposed to be fun as well as artistic, deep and meaningful.

A few more days or repotting in the UK are ahead plus the dilemma of the ever increasing insurance premium to figure out...year on year it has increased by 50% despite my no claims bonus increasing. I may end up cycling to work. I will be visiting Poland for a few days and then to the US, trying to beat the clock in terms of getting trees repotted in the correct time of year.

I am tired now having been awake for 20 hours today. My bed is calling...

Omachi Ganbatte

Further to the post earlier regarding the Japanese tsunami which has destroyed Isao Omachi's garden, Marco Invernizzi and Doug Paul are being very active in creating a fund, "Omachi Ganbatte", which will allow Omachi to get back on his feet once things have settled down.

Details can be found here on Facebook, for those of you do it... http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_161322040589059 the group is called Omachi Ganbatte. For anybody who thinks that this may be a con, then please read the small print on the page. The fund is being managed by various people and there should be no concerns about donating money to the cause.

For anybody who does not do facebook...including me. details for donation are...

for US: Please send checks to:
Omachi Relief Fund
P.O. Box 22
Yorklyn, DE 19736

The checks are NOT tax deductible!

If someone wants to wiretransfer money to the US account please get in touch with me or Marco .

Paypal info:

Omachifund@aol.com

For Europe:
Donate to:
Bank Name:Banca Popolare di Ancona
Branch n.287, Osimo sede
Bank Address:Piazza del Comune 4 60027 Osimo Italy
Acc. holder: Marco Invernizzi
IBAN:IT74B0530837490000000001382
Swift Code: BPAMIT31
Bank Code: BLOPIT22

Although the account is in Marco's name, it is managed by Diego Fortune, a bank manager and upcoming Italian Bonsai artist. Full details can be found on the facebook page.

Like I said, please do consider giving a donation to him, not only is he a friend of mine, he is a fellow Bonsai artist in need. I will be donating to him in person in the Japanese tradition of Omimai. In times of disaster, solidarity is essential.

Nature is King

With the recent events in Japan, it is clear to see that we humans are not as powerful as we think we are and that nature has far more hold over us than we care to think about.

I returned to the UK a week ago and missed the erthquake by a few days. Some people have told me how lucky I am but I feel the opposite, guilty for not being there to help the people I care about clean up and cope with the aftermath. Power cuts, food shortages and the threat of the unknown. These things put Bonsai into perspective and show how unimportant it is, yet at the same time how very important it is to protect.

From Bonsai we can learn many things about life and death, the eternal struggle between the two and how relentless it is. I has an email from a Japanese friend who told me how happy she was to see new shoots forming on a tiny maple seedling she recieved from the Chief. Looking at that gave her power and hope. Despite all the death and destruction that has taken place in the North East of Japan, despite the panic and uncertainty of Tokyo, despite her powerlessness...nature still continues regardless.

Many people have emailed me asking after the Chief and other Bonsai people. As far as I know the worst affected is the young Bonsai artist Isao Omachi, who was from that coast line. He and his family are safe but his life and work have been totally destroyed. Marco Invernizzi who is a close friend of Omachi's is setting up a relief fund, you can find details on facebook. I will post more details here when I speak with Marco. Thank you all for your concern and thoughts. At times like this, friends and genuinely good hearted peopl become apparent.

Shunkaen and the Chief escaped relatively lightly. The stone laterns fell over, a few bonsai damaged, a few pots broken but nothing of note. Everybody is shaken but unhurt. Morimae is in a similar situation, everyone is ok and there is some superficial damage.

It will be a long time before the full extent of the damage become aparent and what this means for us humans...however, life goes on relentlessly. This is the nature of the universe. More details as I know them.

Hasu no hana

Hasu no hana

Apologies for the lack of updates for anybody excited by the Kokufu results, as you can probably guess, they were nothing special. We got a 50% record across the board, which was in retrospect, not that surprising. After the drunken and angry exploits of last year, I was not that bothered afterwards, in fact the night of the judging was spent at a party at the house of pro golfer Jumbo Ozaki, who was a Bonsai enthusiast and is still on good terms with the Chief. We went along to his place and after some food and a few beers the Karaoke started and after a few turns somebody put Queen on. Needless to say I was called up to the floor where I then proceeded to belt out a number complete with dancing in a Freddie Mercury style, grinding against the mike stand and all sorts of tomfoolery. Most people (who had absolutely no idea who I was) were amazed. Bearing in mind I am tone deaf and have no singing ability whatsoever, I am surprised that people didn’t boo me off the stage. I made such a hit that I was then constantly on the dance floor and impressed with my robot dance…from 1984. The Chief was over the moon with me and spent the whole car ride home reliving the experience. Jumbo was so happy he invited me to the next party. Life as a Bonsai apprentice has some surreal moments.

There was much better news for one exhibitor though, for the second year running, there will be one of Doug Pall’s trees in the show. Absolutely nothing to do with me or the Chief, but congratulations are very much in order. The rest of the world is catching up with the Japanese, especially as they ease their foot off the pedal. There will also for the first time be a Rosemary displayed as a main tree. Several years previously one was used as the second tree in a Chuhin display, but this is the first time (to my knowledge) that one is being used as the main tree. Before the judging happens, a list of species and numbers put up for judging is released and I was very excited to see that one was being put in for consideration. On the day of setting up I was eager to see it as the Rosemary is a species close to my heart. I will let the public be the judge of the tree when they see it.

Noelanders was a great show by all accounts, Ryan’s demo and his naturally humble and enthusiastic demeanour excited everybody and I have had many mails from my customers saying that he was the best thing they have ever seen…says a lot about my work then I guess. I am genuinely pleased for him as he deserves it and he is one of the few people who can dispel the myths that surround Bonsai. He can show the Japanese that Bonsai can be done to a high level from scratch outside of Japan, he can show Americans that there is another way to do Bonsai and he can show Europeans that American Bonsai can become something to admire. The smashing of boundaries and long established ways of thinking are essential if Bonsai is to survive and grow. People need to understand that at the end of the day they are just beautiful little trees in pots.

Other things that are consuming my time other than one particularly annoying customer, keeping the lads on the straight and narrow and working on the occasional tree is the various media appearances that have been coming our way of late. Last month we did five hours of filming, which turned into 2 minutes on the Nikkei program which is broadcast on various channels across the globe. The other day I did an interview for some magazine and tomorrow we are filming a program for NHK which will be broadcast tomorrow morning. The main theme of the piece is how the popularity of Bonsai outside of Japan should be making the Japanese take another look at their own culture. They want to show how a foreigner is teaching Japanese kids their own culture. I have thought long and hard about how I feel about this…is it patronising, is it typically Japanese, are they just looking at the funny foreigner who thinks he is a native and having a laugh?

During the interview today and the discussions we had leading up to the filming of tomorrows program I discussed the fact that an apprenticeship is not about learning techniques and skills, it is about learning how to think and behave in the way that is necessary to do Bonsai at the highest level. It is more about human relationships than it is about wiring techniques and styling. The conversations with the lads have revealed a lot, they are not as stupid as they appear, especially Naganuma-kun, who is now into his fourth year. He is not a natural Bonsai stylist, not originally from within the Bonsai world and he has his own ideas about life and how it should be approached. This often leads to suffering and a tongue lashing from the chief but he is fact quite intelligent and incisive in his observations, describing life in Shunkaen as Dostoevskian

One particular conversation led me to the understanding of the importance of the lily flower and its beauty and significance in the Buddhist world. Growing up towards the light from the dark, dirty and stagnant depths of a pond is the slim and slender flower stalk, bending and flexible in the water. Once the bud opens with such force it is audible, the most pure and beautiful white flower floats above the surface of the water. If that isn’t a metaphor for life I do not know what is.

Bon-anza

A trying few days at Shunkaen has once again revealed the nature of life and death to me, giving me an insight into the hearts of those around. We often talk of dead wood, shari and jin but how many of us actually stop to think and contemplate what that actually stands for. No matter what nature throws at a tree, no matter how severe and harsh the conditions become, somehow it finds a way to survive. In difficult times, it pays to take time with your trees and to take strength from them.

However, that is an aside to what has been taking up most of my time recently. The Bon in both the title of this post and BON-sai refers to the pot. One of the two characters used to write the word means pot, so by that logic, 50% of the image and importance of a pot, comes from the container it planted in. This is one part of the more traditional side of Japanese Bonsai that I particularly enjoy, and one sadly that is disappearing at an alarming rate.

Due to the political situation in China way back when, many of their items of cultural heritage were destroyed in the revolution. Thankfully the Japanese had been shipping Bonsai pots and other ceramics, tables and whathaveyou for the previous hundred odd years. This means that the best examples of Chinese Bonsai pottery were in Japan...not any more. With their growing economic might, the Chinese are bulk buying their heritage back at an alarming rate, meaning that Japanese Bonsai heritage is fast disappearing. As much as this may be disappointing for some, it is the nature of the world. As a result The Chief is getting a lot of interest from the Chinese to sell many of his masterpieces.

Over the Kokufu period we are having what amounts to a garage sale...but of a bit higher class. The Chief put an advert in Kinbon saying that we had over 1000 antique Chinese pots. I doubted we had that many but after spending three days pulling them all out of the various hiding places we have for them, it has left in no doubt whatsoever. Naganuma described it as "making him feel queasy when he looked at them".

What was good for me though was meeting many of the pots again for the first time in a few years. Every pot that came out had memories attached to it. I can remember what tree was in which pot, the time it went to Kokufu, the customer who owned it previously....there were a few very special friends, and a few that I wished were still mine!

Along with setting up the pots, I have also been helping some Italian friends and customers to find special pots for their trees. It is reassuring to know that there are people out there willing to spend a little more money to find something that is worthy of the high quality trees that are around in Europe and the US at the moment. Without wishing to sounds as if I am snake-oil salesman, the prices of a decent aged Tokoname pot or a semi-antique Chinese pot are not really that much more than you will pay for a new Chinese pot at some places in Europe. If following the Japanese ideas of Bonsai then surely it is important to pay equal attention to the pot. If following a more European or American idea, such as using a native tree in a native pot, then the same rules apply. Thankfully there are many great potters out there who specialise in bespoke pots, in the UK we have both John Pitt and Andy Stone Monkey Pearson for a start. Either way is fine, the point I am making that as we are rounding the corner into spring and repotting season...maybe it is time for an image change.

Anyway...things cntinue on. I have a few days to get our scant number of trees ready for the Kokufu. One is a Kicho Bonsai (Important Masterpiece) so it should get in anyway, the others....well we shall see.

Into the blue...

Look at me...blogging regularly and everything! This week has been as always, full of fun and excitement. On Tuesday I went to a Satsuki auction with the remit from the Chief (who was in China) to buy anything on his tab. I bought wisely, also picking up things for myself for customers here who wanted smaller trees. I also managed to　finally get a pot for an Italian customer who had been patiently waiting for something of the correct size to come up.

Needless to say, all of the things I had bought for the Chief were WRONG! I was describing them to him in the car on the way home from the airport and without even seeing them he was tearing me a new one so to speak. It now turns out that I was not buying for him, but rather have to now pay for a lot of azaleas myself. Thankfully the ones I did get are saleable and hopefully will go at the Kokufu sales area. If not then I may have to work longer than I expected.

I did buy a beautiful little tree for myself, hoping to make it and display it in a few years, however, one of the old hands here took a shine to it. Uematsu-san, a man who has taught me that even as you reach 80, it is still possible to work like a trooper, play like a sailor and have a laugh and a joke while you are at it. He comes almost every day and sits, drinks tea, makes fun of us but is always looking out for the apprentices. A kind word at exactly the right time and sharp wit and dirty talk at all other times.

The tree in question is an Aozora shohin/chuhin sized araki (fresh from the field). I love Aozora, not just the flowers, but the word itself. It means Blue Sky, or rather the brilliantly deep and shimmering azure sky that you get in the late winter early spring in Japan.Both the word and the sky have a freshness and a sense of new beginning about them. The song, Kaze wo Atsumete by a bunch of 70’s Japanese hippies, featured in (the terrible) film “Lost in Translation” kind of sums it up perfectly, longing to soar into the empty blue sky.

Back to earth, the tree was soon marked as sold before I even had the chance to try and persuade him to take one of the others. Still, we made an agreement that I would work on it whenever I came back and in that way it would remain my tree (kind of). Being a good friend and having received plenty of unwanted pots and much appreciated good advice in the past, I let him have it for a little more than I paid for it, and included the styling and repotting.

Styling a satsuki araki is getting a balance of not cutting off too much foliage and creating the absolute base framework from which the rest of the tree can be created. Araki are generally made in one of two ways, literally in the field or in growing beds of Kanuma soil. Some are trees which are initially styled in pots and then placed in growing beds to thicken up. When they are collected they are full strength and have enough power to be seriously pruned back and bare rooted, root washed and potted up at the same time. The one point to be careful with is to ensure that there is enough pulling power in the branches, by that I mean foliage at the tips, to create the desire for roots. With a pot grown Satsuki that has a fine root system it is possible to complete defoliate, prune back to branch stumps and expect it to bounce back immediately. With an araki that will have almost no fine roots, there is the worry that the engine won’t start and it will not get started in the spring. Leaving foliage, even if it is unwanted in the final design, will give the initial kick start to start growth at both ends. Once roots have established, new shoots have sprouted it is then possible to cut back to the desired shape. So with that in mind, I removed some of the major branches, many of the smaller branches and created the basic shape. It is not advisable to wire initially, particularly as there will be another serious prune back in the next year. The first year after this process should be devoted to pure growth, both on top and below.

The main branch placement was good, the bend in the trunk is a little forced and unnatural but that can be hidden or helped by the foliage placement. A lot of work still needs to be done, the first branch on the left needs to be seriously cut back and remade from a shoot coming from the underside of the branch. Apart from that there was not much to worry about as the material was good. 90% of creating a good Bonsai is choosing the correct material, the other 9% is horticultural ability, the last 1% is artistic and technical ability. The most important thing is to choose a good starting point, for most people, you cannot make a silk purse out of a sows ear. I have made a few silk purses into sows ears though...

I have full pictures of the repotting which I will make a mini article out of, once the time presents itself. Anyway, the tree turned out well and although I wanted to keep it, both me and Ue-san are happy with the outcome and it gives us an excuse to continue our slightly bizarre friendship.

The future of Bonsai

Over the last few weeks being back in Japan, I often think about the path I have taken, sometimes coming back here feels like a backwards step. Once you have become your own boss and can wake up at 10 am and watch some TV before pottering around the garden, it is difficult to then get up again at 6 and get shouted at for something that you didn't do. Still, it isn't a backwards step, I am still learning many things, some of which not directly related to Bonsai at all.

One thing that has been apparent to me is the lack of cooperation between professionals in the west which is something that came as a bit of a shock to me. In Japan although there are rivalries and affiliations to bear in mind, there is a sense of togetherness and helping each other in the pursuit of making a living from Bonsai. If I have a customer that wants a tree from another professional and I push him towards buying it, then the seller will be grateful and give something back and not necessarily in monetary form, it maybe that he then intorduces a customer to me or lets me have a tree at a discounted price. I myself try to continue in this spirit and I hope that comes across to those I deal with. It seems counter productive to consider everybody as a rival when everybody has a different set of skills or aesthetic eye to bring to the table.

One fellow professional who I would very much like to help out (although he doesn't need it) is the man of the moment, Ryan Neil.

We spent a lot of our apprenticeship years in Japan at the same time, although I was a couple of years ahead and had been through the difficult patches of dealing with the Japanese system and mindset of a traditional Bonsai garden, so when we could meet secretly I was able to advise him on how to ignore the bad bits and focus on the good bits. In return, he would get me drunk and thenmake sure I got on the train home.

Now he is back in the US and starting to build his empire on a hill top in Oregon, just outside Portland in a town rather amusingly named Warren. I was lucky enough to visit him before we both went to the GSBF conference in October last year adn was amazed at what he had built so quickly. It puts me to shame...but then our objectives in life are different so it doesn't pay to compare yourself against others. His vision for Bonsai is pure and totally ego-free and he approaches it wtith a pure heart which is thoroughly refreshing. Obviously his skills are phenomenal having spent six years at the feet of Kimura, the only westerner to have done such a feat. There are not that many Japanese that have made it either.

Next weekend he will be headlining at Noelanders, so any of you lucky enough to be going, watch and learn all you can. Buy him a beer afterwards as well.

What is the reason for this outpouring of bromance? His new website has opened and go take a look.

The Chief is in China now for a few days so I can get down to some Bonsai work, I have a few trees of my own to work on, bought for a Kinbon photoshoot, but then the Chief trumped my paltry purchases and got me a humongous Juniper to work on (he wanted the pot). I will clean them up and put them up here.

The future of Bonsai is, like our trees, what we make of it. With the right heart, the right instruction and the right trees, there is no reason why our Bonsai future cannot be bright.