Pat's Blog

We three bloggers for Ashita Sanuki’s blog site were asked to cover events in Takamatsu’s Tamamo Park on Sunday. Hardly work, this was a pleasure for myself, my Chinese and Korean colleagues and we loved every minute of it.




That bonsai was practiced as an art form internationally I already knew, but what was surprising was the number of people who are deeply involved with this and is their passion.

http://www.internationalbonsai.com/





The countries represented were from many places in Europe, China, Asia, the US and Australia. They experienced training, demonstrations and as guests the warmth of the professional bonsai artists in Kagawa. The sub theme for the ASPAC event is ‘Friendship and a Better Future’ and in these shaky times, here-here to that …

http://www.aspac-takamatsu.jp

The exhibits were to put it simply, breathtaking. Some of the most beautiful bonsai I’ve ever seen. The BCI or Bonsai Club International were strongly represented with international groups and the parks and exhibition centers in very tasteful old Japanese buildings which were full of foreign guests. I took a photo of a bonsai group from South Africa at the entrance and met and interviewed many people from the US. Everyone praised the high standard of bonsai and the warmth of the welcome and the facilities. Even the small country Slovakia had a group turn up.

http://www.bonsai-bci.com/




The three main locations of this event are Tamamo Park right near the Takamatsu Central Station, Kozai a smaller town on the outskirts of Takamatsu renown for bonsai throughout Japan and the very beautiful and world famous Ritsurin Park in Takamatsu.

http://www.pref.kagawa.jp/ritsurin/index_e.html





My only wish is that I’d been allowed to take more photos of the actual bonsai themselves. I did hear one bonsai and not a very big one, sold for over 100,000,000 yen which is about a million $ US. Golly! Were all in the wrong business … This event will come back again everyone said and I’ll be the first in line to see it as it really is that good.
I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with more news from this interesting part of the world and please keep all those card and letters coming in.


  

I’m a bit behind with this weeks blog, sorry! There was so much going on and a whirl of events in Takamatsu that I was looking at. Anyway, the really big news this month is the upcoming 11th Asia-Pacific Bonsai and Suiseki Convention & Exhibition.
http://www.aspac-takamatsu.jp
(if you click on the link the English button is at the top)



Now this may surprise you but this is the first time this event has actually been held in Japan, which is pretty amazing, given that Japan is the home of bonsai.




We bloggers all went out to Kinashi, about four or five kilometers outside Takamatsu to interview some of the people involved with this and had the pleasant opportunity to take pictures (all photos by Pat Scanlon) and experience firsthand the artists at work.




The theme is to develop ‘Friendship and Better Future’ through bonsai and that’s a great idea! And of course we wish them the very best. There are a lot of foreign bonsai artists both living and practicing here and also coming for the event which will be held in five locations (check the link). Kinashi and the Sunport Convention Center and Area in the heart of Takamatsu and the very beautiful Ritsurin Garden (Park), the seaside town of Aji, Tamamo Park near the station, will feature prominently. The Sunport area is right near the Central Japan Rail Takamatsu Station and very easy to find.



There will be lectures, master classes all of which foreign guests are invited to join, enjoy and learn. Registration is required for some, so if you have any questions either write to the address or us on the link and we’ll get the relevant information to you as quickly as possible, I promise! (not like my late blog …)
The opening ceremony will be held on the 11/18 from 10:00 a.m. then followed by demonstrations and I’m told that there will be assistance from volunteer interpreters if needed. So please check this before coming if you don’t mind just to be sure?



For email information: info@aspac-takamatsu.jp tel: 087 813-1787 fax: 087-813-1797

I’ll be back with a follow up on this before the event and please do send questions if you have them?
Keep all those cards n’ letters coming in! See you in a short while (if I still have a desk after the late deadline …)
  

BONSAI AND THE FOREIGN APPROACH

Another rainy day in the Rainy Season. The rain peppered down on the office window. “Come in.” JC mumbled. “Leave the door open, don’t sit down you’ll be leaving soon.”


‘What’s the assignment this week boss’?


“Bonsai”


‘But we’ve already done bonsai’ ?


“I don’t care. Get on your bike, take your camera and get out there and get me a story.” “And make it readable and interesting too.”

‘OK I said. Putting on my damp cap, then rode my bicycle off into the rain towards Kinashi for the bonsai number two scoop. Life as an Ashita-Sanuki blogger can be tough … and the salary, don’t get me started about the salary. Someday I’ll look back on all this I thought? Then laugh nervously and change the subject.

But wait? Peddling in the rain, I had an idea! Why not a story on the bonsai cultivated and grown by foreigners? That’s it I thought! The perfect bonsai number two story and it’ll keep JC happy.

(bonsai by A. Naudi)



A ‘way’ that’s how a younger Australian Adrian Naudi described bonsai. ‘Do’ in Japanese (道) and a way it is for many young foreign bonsai artists studying and practicing here in Japan. In the Kinashi area of Takamatsu, there are people

(photo A. Naudi)
from Europe, Ireland, Australia, the UK and the States giving up a few years of their lives to pursue the art and I admire them for that. I’ll let Adrian speak for himself in the quote below about his experience in Kinashi and its bonsai.

“Pat,


What was I doing in these photos?
These photos were taken during my stay in Japan (2000-2002). During this time I volunteered at a bonsai nursery just outside of Takamatsu. During my two years there, I gained an appreciation of posture and flow in bonsai, and how to use wire-fixing techniques to accentuate the natural curves and flexibility in a range of different tree types.
The techniques?

The main skills and techniques I learned centered around feeding and repotting bonsai of various ages, trimming new shoots and branches, wiring and re-wiring trees to reinforce and assist in branch redirection. These were all done at different times of the year and with 100's of trees at the nursery, there was never a dull moment.


Ideas about the experience or thoughts on bonsai?
Bonsai, like shodo, like ikebana, like sado, like budo, like shakuhachi, like zen are all pathways to higher consciousness and are in essence one in the same. They each demand total immersion in the moment and in return provide the practitioner with the opportunity to harness clarity of mind. They each provide gateways through which one can come to understand the self (or the relative) and in turn the self (or the absolute). They each embody creation, the expression of life itself. They "are", bonsai "is". (A. Naudi)

We have our own ‘ways’ in the West of course, writing, dance, are all ways to a higher understand of the nature of ‘self’.

(photo Xavier Brusset)


Another interesting young man here is the Frenchman Xavier Brusset. After studying horticulture in France, Xavier came to Japan in 2004 and undertook an apprenticeship in Tokyo followed by another 3 years study in Kinashi. Xavier now has his own business and some of the bonsai I find particularly tasteful and creative. Please do take the time to look at these pictures, as they are remarkable.

http://www.lemidoridesign.com/

http://midoridesign3ki.blogspot.com/


Xavier explained to me that while he’s still interested in the traditional bonsai techniques, his focus is now on “modern” bonsai, which he says are more accessible in terms of size and cost.

“The same way of thinking, just with a different spirit”

“I still love the "classic" bonsai but now it's mainly a hobby. These days I try to do, what a lot of people call, modern bonsai.
Nowadays few people are still interested in classical bonsai, maybe cause of their size and certainly because of the price, "modern" bonsai is more accessible. In this case the rules are less strict, I work with smaller materials, and often use pots that are not normally made for bonsais. But for me it's nearly the same way of thinking, just with a different spirit. I'm also doing kokedama, in this case instead of a pot we create a moss ball, the plants species can be the same than the ones use in bonsais or just wild herbs or indoor plants.”

Xavier Brusset.
  

　　　A little quote from the Official Kinashi Web Site“[Kinashi] is so unpopular name in Japan. [KI] shows the Japanese name of ogre. [NASI] is non. We usually called the people of pirate as a ogre in old time. Thus, Kinashi might be the safe place even from pirate peoples from old time. Bonsai must be one way to keep Peace of Mind from the old time. Old people in Kinashi might try to feel kind to others from growing Bonsai.”


　　　And peace of mind it most certainly is ... Located about 15 minutes away by car and less by JR train to the west of Takamtasu is the town of Kinashi. It’s even possible to rent a bicycle from the rent-a-bicycle-service right near the Takamatsu Central Station and ride out there. If you do decide to go by train to the very small Kinashi station, in the station building there’s a ‘Kinashi Nursery Map’ with the locations of many nurseries, however one must have permission to enter these places, so a little pre-visit research or help on how to best go about this from the I-Pal international enter is a good idea.


　　　Kinashi has always been a quiet place, a bit of a bed town as they say in Japanese, but what it’s really famous for is the wonderful bonsai nurseries that are spread out everywhere. An older couple once old me that the area looked like a moon landscape after the war from the pounding it took from the Allied bombing, but it’s certainly nothing like that these days and well worth a visit to see. The nurseries themselves are easy to see, as they’re not usually fenced very much.


　　　This is a town with a lot of history; even more bonsai and some families have been at it for 4 or more generations. Bonsai practitioners quietly go about ‘training’ and cultivate their trees, some of which are over 250 years old and the process is one with much love, affection and respect for the trees themselves.


　　　Through the invitation of a foreign friend who was studying at a Kinashi nursery, I once watched a master artist pruning a very old tree. Snip, snip, snip then he’d hold the potted tree back for critical appraisal, a few more snips, put it down and walk back for another look. Even to watch, meditative, quiet and very refreshing for the tired soul.