Today I visited Shunka-en
Bonsai Museum run by bonsai master Kunio Kobayashi. It was probably the most
overwhelming and rewarding bonsai experience I had in Japan. I was met at the
entrance by Valentin Brose, one of Mr. Kobayashi’s apprentices who gave me a
very detailed tour of the entire museum in English. Valentin told me that Kunio Kobayashi and Masahiko Kimura are considered by many the top bonsai
masters in Japan. The museum is absolutely superb. Elegant soan style building,
magnificent bonsai, awe inspiring bonsai pots and very hospitable people.
Valentin introduced me to Mr. Kobayashi and Peter Warren who studied under Mr.
Kobayashi for 7 years. Mr. Kobayashi was positive about my idea of a pictorial
English-Japanese Bonsai Dictionary and said that Peter would be the best person
to partner up for this project. Valentin served me some tea while Mr. Kobayashi
signed his book for me. Then Mr. Kobayashi played a DVD of a TV program
featuring him, which was aired last week. After that, he invited me to join
him, his other guests and apprentices for lunch. Among them was Masahiko Kimura’s
apprentice Ryan Neil and an American yamadori collector whose name escapes me
now. The conversation over lunch started with explaining the tokonoma display
in the room and ended with discussing bonsai politics in Japan. Mr. Kobayashi
told that bonsai art in Japan reached its peak 30 years ago when Saburo Kato
was the Director of Nippon Bonsai Association. He
maintained such high standard for Kokufu-ten exhibits, that in some years the
winning prices were not awarded. At present, the prices for top of the range
bonsai trees and antique bonsai pots are almost half of what it was 25 years
ago. This caused considerable losses to the high end bonsai sellers. The
standard of the bonsai exhibits at Kokufu Bonsai-ten has gone down noticeably
over these years as well. In Mr. Kobayashi’s opinion, the forefront of bonsai art has shifted from
Japan to Europe, particularly Italy.
The museum building includes a tea house with two tea rooms
Some of the magnificent trees in the front garden
The Museum features seven exquisite tokonoma displays
A dazzling variety of
glazed bonsai pots
Some of the pots with
impressive patina were imported from China in 16th century and are over 400
years old
Some of the bonsai stands made by famous craftsmen
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