Autumn In Kyoto
This morning a few of us visited a large flea market at the Toji Temple, which is near our hotel in Kyoto. We arrived early to avoid crowds, but were met with hoards of people including many foreigners looking and buying. Near the main entrance there was a large area with vendors selling flowers, plants, dried fruit and even bonsai.
It appeared as though anything you wanted could be found here, antiques, clothing (new and old), jeans, car license plates from Washington state, snacks, old books, antique scrolls and inserts, dishes, light bulbs, cutlery, tools, bonsai tables, stones and even pins! Lots of good stuff and we left fully loaded with goodies. We did not visit the snack shops….
34TH JAPAN TAIKAN BONSAI EXHIBITION
Today was the set up and judging for the 34th Japan Taikan Bonsai Exhibition one of the main Japanese exhibitions . Earlier in the morning pre-selection judging was conducted narrowing down the 200 some entries for the prizes. The bonsai were grouped into three bonsai for: large, medium and small size evergreens, deciduous and satsuki. Selections were also made for suiseki, shohin bonsai, rock plantings, suiseki and literati bonsai as well. There were four trees selected for the large evergreens because one was selected for the Prime Minister Award. There was one Chinese suiseki alone, but I don’t know the name of the category, it won an award as well. The pre-selected entries were placed on long tables down the center of the exhibition room.
Large evergreen bonsai
Large deciduous bonsai
Literati bonsai
Rock planting bonsai
Small deciduous bonsai
At 2pm the final judging was conducted by some of the top bonsai artists and professional artists. The winning bonsai were immediately announced. After judging people were scrambling to put the bonsai in their designated display areas, many with scrolls, some with suiseki as well.
The Prime Minister Award went to a large size Sargent juniper bonsai which was displayed by Shinji Suzuki for his client. This bonsai was originally created by Masahiko Kimura many years ago, who also won two other awards with a Japanese yew and rock planting.
Sargent juniper Prime Minister Award
Dwarf stewartia, Stewartia monadelpha
Japanese flowering apricot, Prunus mume
Japanese yew, Taxus cuspidata
Japanese five-needle pine, Pinus parviflora, displayed with a western painting
Japanese persimmon, Diosporus kaki
Hawthorn, Crataegus sp.
Japanese five-needle pine, Pinus parviflora
Burning bush, Euonyus alatus
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Sargent juniper, Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii ‘Shimpaku’
Japanese beech, Fagus crenata
Chinese hackberry, Celtis sinensis
Tsuyama hinoki cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Tsuyama’
Fingerd citron (Buddha’s hand citron) Citrus medica ‘Sarocdectylis
There were several foreign apprentices working hard to set up their teacher’s client’s bonsai as well as the large sales area. Here are a few quick photos I took during this busy time. More photos will be included in tomorrow’s blog entry. If you want to see finer-quality, color corrected photos with a complete report on this important event for the Japanese bonsai world, kindly subscribe to International BONSAI at:
Spectacular specimens! The fine branches of deciduous trees are especially interesting. And the little persimmon fruits are precious. And from the bazaar – was the raw octopus on a stick? Looked yummy.