This famous old Japanese white pine appears on the cover of Bonsai Today 43 (below) and in the gallery section of our Pine book (Bonsai Today Masters’ Series Pines: Growing and Styling Japanese Black and White Pines). It originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 31 where it is restyled by Japan’s most famous bonsai master, Masahiko Kimura and subsequently won the President’s Award at the 9th Taiken-ten Bonsai Exhibition. A revised version of this article later appears in The Magician, The Bonsai Art of Kimura 2.
Back in good hands
I stumbled upon the photo below in a 2009 post in Bonsai Tonight. It’s the same tree you see above, after what looks like a period of neglect. At that point in 2009 it was in the care Shinji Suzuki, one of Japan’s most famous bonsai artists; a person whose hands are no doubt capable of restoring it to its former splendor. We can only wonder what happened to this marvelous tree between 1987, when Kimura restyled it, and 2009.
2009 at Suzuki’s Taikan Bonsai Museum (from Bonsai Tonight). Enjoying a period of rest and recovery.
Gracing the cover of Bonsai Today. Unfortunately, this issue is sold out. Fortunately, we still have about 50 back issue in stock (at 70% off ).
I couldn’t resist. Also from Bonsai Tonight.
Here’s an email I received from Tyler Sherrod (copied here with his permission)
Wayne, the other day I was checking some of the blogs I follow and saw the post on your site, A Bonsai Story. As I am currently apprenticing at Mr. Suzuki’s garden, I reconized the white pine at once. The tree really benifited from being in the growing box that you see pictured in the Bonsai Tonight photo. It has gained strength since the period of negelect (I’m unsure of what happed to it in the past) and has now moved into a bonsai pot. It is a really stunning tree and I love the hollow trunk with deadwood. Maybe when the time is right I might just get to have a little fun with it! If you get a chance please visit my blog, tylersherrodbonsai.wordpress.com, and maybe one day we will see it restyled and back to its former glory.