| 11 |
1965 -- The private Kokufu Bonsai Association was reorganized and renamed "Nippon Bonsai Association."
Because of a rapid increase in the number of bonsai enthusiasts in Japan in the early 1960s, the necessity to
transform the Kokufu Bonsai Society into a nationwide organization had become obvious. On this day, the
private Kokufu was dissolved and reorganized to become the parent body of the public Nippon Bonsai
Association. The NBA assumed the role of organizer of the annual
Kokufu Bonsai Exhibitions.
(Bonsai Masterpieces, 1972, English booklet, pg. iii; "Note on Nippon Bonsai Association,"
Bonsai Magazine, BCI, May 1975, pg. 113; Morita, Kazuya and NBA Editorial Staff "Bonsai
in Japan," in Tsukiyama, Ted T. (ed.) Bonsai of the World, Book I (Japan: World Bonsai Friendship
Federation, 1993), pg. 89) SEE
ALSO: Oct 20
|
| 12 |
|
| 13 |
2010 -- George Muneichi Yamasaki passed away peacefully at home in Auburn, CA at age 105.
(He was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1904 and came to the United States at the age of 13 to join his father in Auburn,
CA. He attended Edgewood School, a one room school house, located on Mt. Vernon Road in the Edgewood district
of Auburn. He joined his father growing fruit trees for sale to orchards throughout California, and together
they started a fruit tree nursery. In 1926, George married Shigeyo Fujitani and they expanded the nursery
that year to include ornamental plants, landscape construction, rock walls and bonsai. Except for the three
years spent at the Tule Lake Internment camp during WWII, they lived in Auburn. In 1953, Yamasaki Nursery
was moved from Bean and Kemper Road to Highway 49 and New Airport Road, where sons Ray and Don joined their
parents in the family business. George's artistic talents and achievements in landscape are evident throughout the region in both public and private Japanese gardens including the Wakamatsu Silk and Tea Colony Memorial in Gold Hill, the Placer Buddhist Church in Penryn, the Buddhist Church of Sacramento, and the San Francisco Japanese Community Center Garden. George received many prestigious awards and recognitions in his lifetime including: Japan Agricultural Society's Award, for work in agriculture, nursery, landscape and bonsai; Circle of Sensei Award, from the Golden State Bonsai Federation to honor individuals for the teaching of the art of bonsai and to the cultural understanding of the art form; and Japanese Counsel General Keiro Kai Award, "A Day of Respect for the Aged," given to centenarians. He had a passion for bonsai and suiseki. He enjoyed gathering and collecting native conifer specimens from the Sierras and would train and shape them into magnificent bonsai. One of his most prized living works of art was a native Sierra juniper that he shaped for years. It was prominently displayed in the California State Capitol for the Queen of England's visit in 1983 to California. He fondly named it the Queen's Tree. As a founding member of both the Sacramento Bonsai Club and the Sierra Bonsai Club of Placer County he shared his talents with many through bonsai demonstrations and classes. George and his wife enjoyed traveling, and visited throughout the contiguous United States. They also traveled internationally to Canada, Mexico, Italy, France, Switzerland, Korea and took many trips to Japan. He and Shigeyo celebrated 81 years of marriage before her death in 2007.) 
2019 -- Hawaiian lawyer and bonsai enthusiast Ted T. Tsuikyama died at age 98. ("Ted Tsukiyama: Veteran, Lawyer, Arbitrator Dies at Age 98" by Sandee Oshiro, Hawai'i Public Radio, Feb. 15, 2019) SEE ALSO: Dec 13 |
| 14 |
|
| 15 |
1931 -- Willi Benz was born in Heidelberg, Germany. [Although he would take a degree in
engineering, he would cultivate an interest in miniature landscapes, attending various courses. In 1968 he
would have his first encounter with bonsai. Attracted by this art, he would decide to improve his
knowledge with the master Matsushito. After that, he would regularly travel to China and Japan to study
either the bonsai art or suiseki art. In this way he would have occasion to learn from masters such as
Saburō Katō, Masakazu Hashimoto, Noboru Kaneko, John Naka,
etc. In 1978 Willi would found the German Bonsai Club, and the
German Suiseki Society in 1993 for which would be chairman. In 2002 he
would be the assistant chairman of the
European Suiseki Association. Writing many articles, his books would
include Chinesische Bonsai = Penjing : Geschichte, Gestaltung, Gesunderhaltung, Pflege (1991 in German co-written
with Paul Lesniewicz); Suiseki, Kunstwerke der Natur Prasentiert von Menschen (Suiseki, Artwork of Nature Presented
for Mankind, 1995 in German); The Art of Suiseki, Classic Japanese Stone Gardening and Suiseki: The Asian Art of
Beautiful Stones (both 1999 and in English); Bonsai Kusamano Suiseki: a practical guide for organizing displays with
plants and stones, 2002 in English); Asiatische Kunst mit schoenen Steinen (The Asian Art of Beautiful
Stones: gongshi, shangshi, suiseki, suseok, 2003 in German and English written with his wife Gudrun); and Plantes
sauvages en pot, l'art du kusamono (Wild plants out of pot, the art of the kusamono, 2005 in French).
He would lecture or conduct workshops at a number of conventions, including Asia-Pacific Bonsai & Suiseki Exhibition
and Convention (1997, 2005); Bonsai Clubs International (2009); Bonsai Slovakia International Bonsai, Suiseki, and Tea
Exhibition (2002); European Bonsai Association (2002, 2004, 2007, 2008); and International Stone Appreciation Symposium (2004)]
Willi Benz, 06/16/2004.
(http://www.crespibonsai.it/eng/crespicup2002/event/ospiti_1.htm)
SEE ALSO: Dec 9
(Photo courtesy of Alan Walker, 05/11/07) |
| 16 |
1943 - Glenn Allen Reusch was born. [He would go on to be a long-time advocate
and one of the leaders of viewing stone appreciation in the eastern United States.]
(Glenn Reusch obituary)
SEE ALSO: Oct 26
1992 -- Ghana issued a set of 8 postage stamps plus 2 souvenir sheets to commemorate Phila Nippon '91. The theme was Japanese landmarks, with the addition of one stamp each depicting a geisha and a bonsai. SEE ALSO: Jan 23, Jan 29, Feb 3, Mar 1, Mar 27, Mar 31, Apr 3, Apr 6, Apr 18, May 6, May 29, Jun 16, Jul 20, Aug 20, Aug 22, Sep 22, Oct 1, Oct 4, Dec 9. |
| 17 | 2005 -- The Art of Bonsai project was launched. After finding out that practically any serious and sometimes controversial discussion of the artistic aspects of bonsai seemed to be quickly shot down on other forums and continually marginalized, belittled, made fun of, interrupted, etc., the help of a few like-minded individuals was enlisted and AoB was born. Although most of its articles and profiles (interviews) and galleries are originally unique to AoB, occasionally some articles are found elsewheres which are so good that the editors of AoB ask to have them republished with credit on the AoB web site. (Per personal e-mail from Will Heath to RJB, May 30, 2006) |
| 18 |
|
| 19 |
1943 -- Roy Nagatoshi was born. [Though born in the U.S, he would spend his early years
through junior high school in Japan, returning to America at age 13. His first encounter
with bonsai would be in 1959, working side by side with his father, Shigeru, learning the
techniques on making bonsai. The younger would watch the elder work with many different
kinds of trees, pruning, wiring, shaping and potting. Homesick, Roy would be reminded by
the bonsai of the trees in the mountains, hills, and shorelines of Japan. He would attend
classes under John Naka. In 1965, with the encouragement of Frank Ekizo Iura, Shigeru's bonsai
master, father and son would open Fuji Bonsai Nursery in Sylmar, CA and both conduct classes there.
In 1975, Roy would receive a B.S. degree in Ornamental Horticulture from Cal Poly University in Pomona.
The following year he would give his first lecture/demonstration to a local bonsai club. He would go
on to give many lectures and demonstrations and conduct workshops in local, regional, national, and
international settings. For four years he would teach bonsai at Santa Barbara Community College.
Shigeru would die in May 2000 at age 84, and Roy would continue the nursery business, teaching and lecturing.]
Roy Nagatoshi by Walter Pall, 03/04/2005.
(Per personal e-mail from Max Miller to RJB, 30 Apr, 2006; Banting, Donna
"Roy Nagatoshi and Pomegranate," Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XXX, No. 1, January/February 1991, pg. 3;
posting to rec.art.bonsai on May 23, 2000 by Marty Haber) SEE ALSO: Mar 18, Jun 6, Jun 30
(Photo courtesy of Alan Walker, 05/11/07) 1974 -- ABS President Dorothy Young addressed the Japan Bonsai Society at a special dinner in Tokyo held to celebrate the publication of the beautiful commemorative volume honoring the Matsudaira family. Kaname Kato, the noted horticulturalist, translated her talk into Japanese. Young talked of the history of the American Bonsai Society, of its plans for a symposium in Tokyo for its tenth anniversary in 1977, of the different kinds of trees being used as bonsai in the U.S., and of the ABS's full support for the proposed gift of bonsai from the Japanese to the American people for the Bicentennial. ("Call Me Ms. President," Journal, ABS, Vol. 8, No. 2, Summer 1974, pp. 45-46) SEE ALSO: Mar 1, Jul 9, Jul 21, Aug 7, Sep 13 |
| 20 |
1915 -- The Panama-Pacific
International Exposition opened today in the
post-earthquake but mostly
restored city of San Francisco. The fair had a twenty-five vehicle per day Ford Motor Assembly Plant on the grounds
for all to watch step-by-step; car, boat, balloon, and airplane races with biplane stunt flying; the Liberty Bell making
its eighth and last World's Fair visit; intercontinental radio was first demonstrated; and over seventy motion picture
theaters were in use as teaching tools. A new idea, the latter showed films ranging from a travelogue of the
Grand Canyon to city planning to state politics to life in the U.S. Navy. A working model was on display of the
Panama Canal, which had just opened the previous August.
The finest art collection in America to that time was presented, for with war threatening in Europe, those countries
decided that some of their finest works of art would be safer in the then-neutral country of the U.S.A. China's
contribution was a replica of one part of the Forbidden City
at Peking (Beijing). Fairgoers could walk where no outsider
had ever set foot before, in the Imperial Audience Hall of Tai Wo. The walled city had gateways, pagodas, an
ornamental tower and some of the rarest works of art and silk paintings Americans have ever seen. A demeaning
Underground Chinatown was also on display. On the other hand, the Japanese village (Oriental Joy Garden) had
geisha dancers, top-spinning, jujitsu contests, and Mt. Fuji in miniature. [The exposition would close on the following December 4, having had 19 million persons attending during its run, and half a million there the evening of its closing day. Some 32 nations would participate with displays.] Groups of bonsai sent by the Japanese government were seen on display. The trees included a 300-year old Japanese black pine, which disappeared into a private collection after the exhibition, and a matching pair of old trident maples (Acer buergerianum). No one knows exactly when or where the trident maples were propagated, or whether they were field-grown or always container-grown. Their size and age suggest that they were shaped trees that grew slowly for many years. What is known is that the trees were imported into the United States from Japan in 1913. The trees arrived in very large ceramic bonsai containers, approximately 48" x 30" x 18" deep (122 x 76 x 46 cm). The containers were brown rectangles, with a rough textured surface. One of the maples was displayed in San Francisco in 1915, while its companion was sent to San Diego for display. The former maple had been considered for inclusion in the Japanese garden at the exhibition; however, it could not be fitted into the garden landscape because it was a containerized tree, and there was no other place for it in the Japanese display. It was sent to the adjacent Formosan garden, where it was displayed on the verandah of the tea house. Evidently, it was displayed to good advantage, because it would be awarded a gold medal and first place certificate for specimen trees. [During the course of the exposition, a gentleman who was the representative of the Pierre DuPont estate (now Longwood Gardens) in Pennsylvania would view the maple and decide to purchase it and its mate in San Diego. When he would reach San Diego he would find that that tree had already been sold. He would need a pair of trees, so he'd decide not to purchase the tree in San Francisco. At the conclusion of the exposition, the tree would be sold to nurseryman Kanetaro "Tom" Domoto (c.1866-1943), then-proprietor of Domoto Bros. Nursery in Oakland, California. The tree would be moved to its new home across San Francisco Bay, where it would prosper until about 1920, when the crown would die. The dead top would be removed at five and one-half feet above the ground, and this deadwood would be turned over to a professor at U.C. Berkeley who would have taken a personal interest in the tree. The professor would count the annual growth rings and find 75-80 of them, which would suggest that the tree at its base was probably well over 100 years old. (It is not known what ever happened to the San Diego trident maple.)] (At age sixteen in 1882, Domoto and his brother had emigrated from the family's rice farm in Wakayama Ken in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu to the United States, arriving in Seattle. The next year found them in San Francisco. With little knowledge of English and in need of a job, they began as kitchen helpers at the Palace Hotel. Sometime later Tom worked in the gardens of the Adolph Sutro estate (now Sutro Heights Park), where there was a big home and garden. He started taking care of the garden there. About this time he entered his first business venture by importing a quantity of Unshiu or Satsuma oranges from Japan (there were no import restrictions in those years). The novel fruits reached San Francisco in good condition and sold well. But a second and bigger repeat shipment arrived totally rotted and he "lost his shirt," as he recalled later. Undaunted, he and another brother, Motonoshin "Henry," started a small nursery in Oakland. This was a success and in the late 1880's, they bought four acres of land in what is now the Melrose district. In the 1890's, they added four more acres to the property. Here the two brothers soon established a range of greenhouses and lath-houses. Their main business was the growing of chrysanthemums and carnations in the greenhouses, soon adding ornamental shrubs, trees and pot plants such as coleus, pelargoniums, holiday peppers, poinsettias and Easter lilies. (By this time they were importing plants from Japan that were shipped during the dormant season in large wooden crates. At least a month and a half passed from the time the plants were packed to the time they reached San Francisco. There was no care on shipboard. The plants would come in with the soil at that time, so the roots would be wrapped with spagnum moss, and then wrapped very tightly with rice straw, and rope, wound around, and made into a tight ball, and then packed into crates. One crate might weight a ton. There was very little in the way of inspection. They were supposed to be clean plants when they came, but after they came to San Francisco, they had to be fumigated in the nursery. During those years the Domoto brothers were leaders in the cut flower and potted plant business as well as selling stock to other nurseries. In 1902, the brothers bought forty-eight acres in the Fitchburg district of Oakland. Here they put up twenty-five greenhouses, each 28' by 200' and raised cut roses and carnations in them. (Those greenhouses probably came from the Eastern U.S. or even maybe Europe. Greenhouses as such in Japan were a much later thing.) The nursery was also receiving by this time, via railroad from New York, boxcar loads of English laurels, Grecian laurels or bay trees and boxwoods imported from Holland. The last of their big import orders from Japan -- or Europe -- came for the 1915 Fair. [Then would come the Great War and Nursery Stock Plant and Seed Quarantine 37 under the authority of the Plant Quarantine Act of 1912 right afterwards. The nursery would then acquire the exclusive sales rights for Kurume azaleas between 1917 and 1921 (from some plants the Domoto brothers would have also purchased after the 1915 Fair). They would introduce twenty-five varieties and sell about 10,000 plants, half going to the East Coast. The nursery would flourish until the Great Depression would cause its closure in 1930. Son Toichi (1902-2001) would have by that time established himself and re-start the nursery in his own name in Hayward. He would go on with his own great horticultural accomplishments. Both nurseries would do a little business in bonsai also.) [The family would be in the Amache relocation camp in southeastern Colorado during the war. When Kanetaro "Tom" would die in 1943, Toichi would accompany his father's body back to Oakland, under guard, to bury his remains. Toichi would have been at Stanford but then transferred to Chicago to study agricultural materials. It would be this connection that would allow him to leave Amache in 1944 with his family as it would not be back to California. He would eventually return to his land in Hayward as he would be one of the fortunate few to have had an honest "non-Asian" man take care of his property during the war. [Now, having survived amateur care by neighbors during Domoto's WWII internment, the trident maple would be an 80" high informal upright and landscape specimen seen in 1988 by the Acquisition Team for what would be originally called the Pacific-Rim Bonsai Collection. The large and historical tree, although no longer properly considered a bonsai, would generate a great deal of interest among the committee members, and an agreement would be reached with Toichi Domoto for its loan. When the tree would be shipped in early 1990, the maple's 1930s wood planter would be found to be partially decayed, so it would be simply knocked away from the rootball and the tree would be potted in a concrete planter. A year later it would be discovered that the trunk, from its dead protruding stub all the way down to the base was hollow and filled with debris. Two drainage holes would be drilled at the bottom and the interior would be flushed for an hour with water. (Snail shells, gravel and walnut shells would be retrieved: apparently, the Domoto children would have found a knothole in which to deposit their treasures long ago!) The trunk's interior would then be allowed to dry and be sprayed with a protective coat of undiluted lime sulfur. (Please see this update. And also this recent excellent compilation of Domoto maple history.) Three other bonsai -- an informal upright Chinese Juniper (J. chinensis) grafted in 1970 onto a very old Sierra Juniper (J. occidentalis) (c.990 C.E., essentially a thousand years), a formal upright Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) (1957, bonsai since 1962), and an informal upright Flowering Plum (Prunus x blireiana 'Moseri') (1971, bonsai since 1973) -- which Domoto would create would also become part of the Pacific-Rim Collection, renamed the Pacific Bonsai Museum at the end of 2013.] 
Mr. Toichi Domoto stands next to historic maple in his garden, 1988
(Rydell, Robert W. All the World's a Fair, Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1984), pp. 209, 227, 230, 231, 232, 236; Hilton, Suzanne
Here Today and Gone Tomorrow: The Story of World's Fairs and Expositions (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press; 1978);
L'Allemand, Gordon "Dwarf Trees Come to America," Travel, January 1943, pg. 29; Wikle, Jack
"Mas' Biggest Bonsai," Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 23, No. 2, Summer 1989 pg. 5, which states that "shortly after
the Exposition, [the tree] was purchased by the sire of a Japanese-American family, Mr. Sugimoto"[sic];
DeGroot, David "The Domoto Trident Maple," Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XXXIII, No. 6, November/December
1994, pp. 46-49; per Bonsai Magazine, BCI, April 1972, pg. 23, the date of the fair is given as 1906 [sic], which,
of course, was instead the year of the great earthquake; Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection Guide Book (Tacoma, WA:
Weyerhaueser Company; Printed Feb. 1992), pg. 7, gives date of origin of the trident maples as estimated 1820, and states
that after the exhibition, one of the tridents was shipped to San Diego, and the other was purchased by the Domoto family;
Riess, Suzanne B. "Toichi Domoto, A Japanese-American nurseryman's life in California: floriculture and family,
1883-1992," (http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb8f59p20j&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text,
a very long and detailed oral history of the family from which we drew data; personal emails to RJB from Ken Tsukada, Toichi
Domoto's nephew, Oct 11 and 18, 2023.) SEE ALSO: Mar 8, Apr 2, Aug 7, Oct 7
(Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Nov/Dec 1994, pg. 46) |