The 2024 98th Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition is being held in two parts this year (Part 1 February 9-12, 2024 and Part 2 February 14-17, 2024.) Again, (like most years) held the exhibition in the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan.
These are my personal thoughts; coming from a serious 62 year intense bonsai study. As a bonsai scholar I have probably attended more Kokufu Bonsai Exhibitions than any other foreigner. Although I was not present (or even born yet) at the first exhibition held in 1934, I have visited when the original museum was the venue. It was a grand building with lots of front steps outdoors. There were then two curved stair cases leading down to the ground floor where all the bonsai were displayed in one huge open room with a transparent roof which was great for allowing natural light which is desirable, for maintaining both evergreen and deciduous trees indoors for about a week. Trees must be kept at appropriate temperatures and humidity levels when displayed for health reasons. During the early days of this long-held exhibition, the shows were held both in March and November. Originally founded by Count Matsudaira and Toshio Kobayashi, this exhibition was organized and held by the Tokyo Bonsai Club, which subsequently evolved to the present Nippon Bonsai Association in 1963.
nEach bonsai in this exhibition was beautiful and most could be considered masterpieces. All the bonsai were traditionally and formally displayed. There are no “creative or modern” displays here, but can occasionally be seen in other Japanese bonsai exhibitions. Scrolls and suiseki are not used in the displays to allow the full beauty to be focused on the bonsai. In early daysyears Satsuki azaleas were not allowed to be displayed because they were merely “azaleas” not proper bonsai. But to be fair Satsuki azaleas in the olden years were not really refined as those currently displayed.
Suiseki were not often seen in this exhibition, however there were a few. The appearance of displaying suiseki with bonsai seems to be increasing. This year there were over ten stones displayed alongside of the main bonsai.
This edition of the exhibition did not have ANY Ezo spruce. Perhaps this species will be included in Part 2 opening on Wednesday. The number of Shishigashira Japanese maples seemed to be increasing. There were about ten specimens and showed a tremendous variation on styling. But this topic will be discussed in a featured article. There seemed to be a low number of deciduous species compared to evergreen to the evergreen species. Also, the number of visitors was not as large as in the past years. The exhibition was never really full on the first day. Upon entering the exhibition visitors were welcomed by two, sometimes one, representative directors of the Nippon Bonsai Association. Both English and Japanese language listings of bonsai were distributed along with a “People’s Choice” ballot. The English version included botanical names for each main bonsai, while the Japanese version included much more information.
98th 2024 Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition Part 1 Data:
146 display areas
2 Special Displays (Imperial bonsai collection and honorary President of the Nippon Bonsai Association)
10 Important Bonsai Masterpieces
3 Kokufu Bonsai Awards: Sargent juniper, Trident Maple and Japanese five-needle pine
10 Shohin Bonsai Compositions (55 trees)
32 Medium-size Bonsai Compositions (64 trees)
111 Large-size Bonsai
Total Displayed Bonsai (230)
Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition Award: Sargent Juniper
Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition Award: Trident Maple
Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition Award: Japanese Black Pine
Coming up next: Part 2 of the exhibition will feature a couple of hundred new bonsai. All the bonsai on display now will be replaced by a fresh assortment of different trees. In past exhibitions Part 2 often seemed to display finer bonsai than Part 1.
I look forward to Part 2 of this exhibition which will open on Wednesday.
