I visited this nursery in February 2010. It was minded by just one person who was cleaning the brunches of a Black Pine. He wasn’t interested in talking to me, so I just wandered off looking at the trees and there were enough of them to see. Photography was prohibited, so I just took a couple of shots from the gate (see images above). The current owner of Toju-en is Hiromi Hamano. His farther Motosuke Hamano had several students who became bonsai masters in their own right. The most famous of them is Masahiko Kimura who trained there for eleven years from the age of fifteen till 1966. Motosuke Hamano passed away in 1991.
P. S. For my posts about bonsai nurseries in Kyoto see the following
links:
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ReplyDeleteI have always been an enthusiast of bonsai and will surely be returning to this blog to read some more of you interesting articles on bonsai. I have some growing at home but doubt I will see them at there peak as they are taking ages to grow. Do you have any times on plants I could grow as bonsai?
ReplyDeleteI am not sure where you are located. If you were in Sydney, Australia like I am, I would recommend to start with a Small Leaf Privet or an African Olive. These plants are weeds and can be dug up from the road side.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I forgot to answer your actual question. A small privet or olive bonsai (less than 20 cm tall) can take as little as 2 years to make.
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