And so it continued...

After a massively long drive/weave across the expressway, we finally pulled into the hotel where we managed six hours of sleep before setting off again up to Obuse, home of Shinji Suzuki. The morning got off to another good start, this was the car parked next to us.

"Pray for Japan"? Pray for the turtle more like...at least he has a seat belt.

A short drive later and we arrived at Obuse, home to Shinji Suzuki. I visited many many moons ago when the museum was still open, but not since that closed and he renewed his garden. I must say I was very impressed. Although still quite new, it was very classy.

Empty space...i remember what that was like...

A Nemu no ki or Persian Silk Tree/Mimosa. Awesome summer tree and the kind of stuff that I love. simple, elegant and so beautifully displayed.

There were a lot of spots where the modern and traditional combined together. The thought that has gone into the garden was evident.

In the customers area, a Sumac is displayed behind a very familiar bronze kingfisher...

Oh yeah...just excuse me a minute...

A Henk Fresnen original. You may not know it, but his work is very highly appreciated by the Japanese market in both Bonsai and the art world. So for all you people who complain it's too expensive...it's cheapest in Europe.

Onto the trees.

Seen that before...maybe on Matt Reels blog?

Speaking of the Portlandian...he is still in Japan. Long term apprenticeship...he must love it there.

It was still eary doors...

An ezo spruce of high quality.

A funky cascade hinoki cypress. Abstract bonsai

Even kokufu trees go wrong if left alone.

I took a load more pictures, but they are all kind of badly lit or out of focus, so my apologies.

After Suzuki's we made the short trip up to Iura's. For those that may not know Takashi Iura, he is the son of his father (obviously) Mr. Iura. They specialise in collected trees, taking large tohoku junipers and grafting roots and branches to split up into smaller trees with better foliage. The techniques and ideas are pretty unique and there are very few places in the world that do this on a large scale. Benches and tunnels full of collected junipers, taxus and the odd traditional bonsai dotted around.

A twin thin trunked tree....try saying that after a few shandies

A semi cascade with great fin like deadwood

Some of the many collected taxus

Chunky deadwood and carving opportunities a plenty

Projects on the go...

Well established tree...yamadori done properly, taking the time to establish healthy roots and vigorous growth. It may take ten, fifteen years but thats why you have sons.

Grafted junipers, a couple or three years since separation. After this, they are ready for a first styling.

A hulk of Yamadori juniper....oh the possibilities... If you look carefully you can see the original foliage, blue and coarde to the left, and the super extended itoigawa foliage on the right. Even though the grafts have taken and the roots separated from those branches, the original foliage is left to generate energy and at as the fail safe back up for those grafted branches. The desire to cut them off asap is held in check for the benefit of the tree

A more established semi styled piece, ready for refinement...sadly a clients tree otherwise...

Mr. Iura Jr. was a very gracious host, treating us to a lovely sushi lunch and allowing us to bother him for a few hours. It was well worth the trip and was a highlight for a couple of the more creative bonsai enthusiasts in the group. I always love to see people who make trees and their gardens, the thought processes behind them and learn little snippets of info. True creators will always take the time to show off their techniques and work with a smile on their face and Takashi Iura was no different.

We left there in the early afternoon to set out for Tokyo, calling in at Akiyama's on the way back...as this is such a long post already, I will break it up....

 

Bonsai World Live...

This weekend sees me doing something unusual...selling trees! Of course I have bought a few including this lovely 20 year old pine...bargain stuff.

Rock and Roll. Seed grown and bark beginning to develop. Get this one styled up and it will be lovely. The show has been a good success, I'm sure pictures of the trees in the show are available somewhere, but this is my view

A sea of trees. I have a couple of tables, loosely filled with what I could squeeze into my little van. Mainly a lot of stuff that has been sat around for ages, and a lot of antique chinese and various Japanese pots which have gathered interest, but people have baulked a little at the prices...however once people have seen and felt them in their hands, seen the genuine patina and the clay quality, then in time I hope people will start to want to use them more. I'm charging no more than retail prices in Japan, but still not sold any.

Mmm...soft as a baby's bottom.

The juniper on top, planted on a rock was the demonstration tree by the Shohin King Mr. Armitage. It too has gathered a lot of interest, and rightfully so.

Nice work John. Wonder who will take it home. John probably.

 

These two were also his demo trees. Good thing about shohin is you can churn them out. If they sell, I may kidnap him and build a sweatshop in my garden.

Here is an unusual tree, a shohin Koto-hime maple. Never really seen any before, especially one with as good a nebari as this.

Two tables was plenty. Sometimes too much choice is a bad thing. I go for the "like it or go elsewhere" approach. Sadly most people take the second option.

£5 a pot for the ones at the front...can't give them away. Couple of shohin on top I have had for a while, the azalea I recently got from Ken. Great potential, cheap price but still no takers...oh well, will have to stay with me.

Am waiting to see the results of John's second demo, he used a Sabina I supplied, lovely little tree

Will post the results soon....

And here they are...

I don't think I got the best front/angle because it looked much better in real life. The problem of a 3D art in 2D *

Tomorrow I take Suthin out on the town for some London based touristy stuff. Maybe a trip to the natural history museum?

*convenient excuse for poor cameramanship.

 

Further along the trip

It's either feast or famine with this blog malarkey. Day four of the trip saw the longest day, starting off with three nurseries in the Osaka area. We drove from Kyoto and I saw this in the car park of a service area and knew we were going to have a good day.

Probably the only other hot dog van in Japan the same as the one my kohai Fukudate drives. I wonder if that clutch is just as slippy? Its the only manual I have ever driven that doesn't stall in first if you let go of the clutch.

After a short drive we started off with the now very famous Fujikawa Kouka-en where the ace video maker Bjorn arrived on his mama-chari bicycle. (Sadly no picture). Again in a similar way to Aichi-en, due to the lack of space, Fujikawa's nursery is more practical than aesthetic, but he certainly had a great range of trees there.

A cascade exposed root white pine. Look at the balance between the trunk and the roots, here ot is so much better than the one from a couple of days ago. A very nice tree and styled in a very attractive Fujikawa style.

A large kifu/small chuhin Black Pine. Again the styling is very characteristic...and I mean that in a good way.

A bushy, twisting yamadori itoigawa. I spent a while looking at this thinking I would chop at least half it off and make a lovely tree from it. If only I could afford it...

An elegant twin trunk White Pine. Fujikawa-san has an eye for these kind of trees, one of the reasons I like him...plus he is a riot when he has a shandy or two.

And in the back ground you can see the El Grand P-Diddy mobile. Our home for the week. It got tighter and tighter as more and more pots and stands got packed in there. I told the guys to pack light but with all their stuff, it was a tight fit. I enjoyed the drive however and despite it listing to the left, it was a pleasure. It had one of those electronic dashboard things that gives you the fuel consumption. I saw it as a challenge to take it from 7.4 km/l to 7.8 by the end of the trip...I am the eco-king (i have to do something to off set all those miles I fly...give me a little something)

The second trip was a bonsai supermarket, Yosho-en, not too far away from Mr. Fujikawa's. it was just a sea of tress. Mainly cheap stuff, but some good things. The owner I knew vaguely and we had one of those awkward conversations where neither of us could remember each others name but knew we had met before and should be meeting again in the future. He was pretty cool after a while though.

Too hot to look through them all.

Possibly the thickest shohin Kamatsuka (pourthiea villosa)???? I have ever seen. Sweet.

We carried on stopping for a convenience store lunch (why waste time) and then up a steep winding road to the back of beyond to Baijyu-en. A lovely little nursery in the middle of nowhere. Mr. Miura, the owner is a top guy and he knows me from a few shandies we shared at an auction last year, amongst other things. A lovely picturesque garden but it was hotter than hell when we there.

 

A trio of black pines...which to pick? Very often there are batches of trees, made by the same guy in the same way and you will see the same pattern in a number of them. This is something very common to shohin bonsai, due in part to it's semi-pro base of enthusiasts.

Lovely bushy itoigawa shohin...great bones underneath.

Spacious, well set out garden and very attractive.

The ipad proves an unwieldy camera.

 

A white chojubai...well so I was told. I would love a good one of those...

After copious cups of cool tea and a chat we headed towards Nagano, with a stop at a nursery of a guy I like and always buy something from at Kokufu, Mr. Oota in Suzuka, Mie Pref. he is a true bonsai lover and his eyes lit up as he was showing us all around and telling us how he had cut this tree in half, grafted this that and the other and it was a pleasure to share in his works. His garden is set in quite rural, agricultural land and a bamboo edged forest created a lovely background.

Some of his trees...

Look out for this at next years kokufu...

Root graftin to create a chuhin sized tree. Root grafts are generally done with Kishu type foliage as opposed to itoigawa. They are considered to be slightly stronger.

One thing I did find there was a leaflet from a pot exhibition that was organised by the Takagi museum and the Sakka Kyokai when it was strong. They invited contemporary ceramic artists to create bonsai pots and matched them with trees from established artists such as the Chief, Sudo and Yamada. This was a pretty revolutionary idea and I managed to see two in my time before it all finished at the museum. It was a great exhibition and the idea was just completely contrary to the traditional image of Japanese Bonsai. The ceramic artists brought something new and invigorating to the art and forced the bonsai professionals to think outside the box. Personally it is an idea that I wish had continued...if only someone else would do such a thing. Making bonsai contemporary? Crazy talk.

Oh yeah, check out the rosemary...one of the most underrated species for bonsai.

Rain curtailed our visit and we had to be making tracks, a four hour trip to the hotel near to Obuse. I am amazed we made it without crashing. It was only listening to Depeche Mode via youtube that kept me awake.

More later on...might be next week as Crawley looms large on the horizon, like a fly on the windscreen...