2026 Kokufu-ten: Part 2
Many thanks to Evan Cordes, Carmen Leskoviansky, and Masaki Shimada for these photos of Kokufu-ten Part 2. The Kokufu is well-known to showcase impressive, thick-trunked, dizzyingly developed old bonsai. I’ve included some of those meat and potato trees, but whimsy also shows up here and there. In this Part 2 I’ve included some of that. […]
2026 Kokufu-ten: Part I
A few of the ridiculous trees in Part I of the Kokufu-ten. Wednesday was the take-down and switch-out to new trees. And now it’s open again for Part II. The entrance to the show looks down on the large displays. This is in the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno. This view gives a sense […]
A Week In Okinawa
Here is an interlude post about my trip to Okinawa. Next week, back to bonsai, where I hope to share some wonderful old bonsai on Honshu. The city of Naha, at the southern end of Okinawa. At the top of the main island is a large laurel forest. I went up there for a few […]
Japanese Black Pine Styling: #3
Here’s one more rough Japanese Black Pine. There hasn’t been much taper on these 3 pines. A large cut to a new leader is in order for this one as well. After cutting back. The big shoot comes off a promising new leader. After setting the branches. We left that strong shoot on to thicken […]
Japanese Black Pine Styling: #2
Here’s another Japanese Black Pine with major choices ahead. Let’s take a look. A scruffy little Black Pine with a few promising lower branches and a lot of nothing halfway up. After several initial cuts the pine is half the size. The top came back hard, and the two lowest branches were shortened. A slight […]
Japanese Black Pine Styling: #1
Last week we took a look at this leggy Black Pine. The pine reminded me of a crane. Taking off with its long neck stretched out. It won’t be a good bonsai with such wings. So they need to be tucked in. And that neck is overlong. Nice bark on this one. Maybe 35 years […]
How Kaizen May Be Applied To Bonsai
In the 1930’s engineer Walter Shewhart developed the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle of work. This inspired Taiichi Ohno in the late 1940’s with the idea of kaizen, a manufacturing mindset of continual, incremental improvements. It is credited with the success of Toyota. Now the concept is used in many businesses. The word has two parts, kai […]
2025 Blooper Reel
To continue with tradition, here is the year’s photographic odds and ends. Hope you enjoy. It’s always best to start things off with a chicken, if you have one. This one was drinking water drops off my glass doors. Your normal prop for photographing bonsai. At a Chicago restaurant that specialized in vegan sushi. The […]
How To Decide The Height Of A Bonsai
A reader asked for an explanation of this sentence from a previous post: “With any tree, thick trunk or thin, follow the taper of the trunk and where the two lines of the sides meet, that’s roughly where your tree should end.“ I admit that wasn’t easy to follow. I often say something like that […]
Fall Work On Satsuki Azalea
You wouldn’t think Japanese Black Pine and Satsuki Azalea are similar in any way. And yet the common techniques for Black Pine and Satsuki are mirrors. In spring we trim the new growth. In fall we simplify the robust summer regrowth. Both strong plants, under normal care and reasonably happy Black Pine and Satsuki will […]