AusBonsai

For two weeks in late January/early February I was fortunate enough to participate in the Apprenticeship Program at Aichi-en Bonsai Nursery in Nagoya, Japan (http://bonsaiaichien.com/apprenticeship-program-2/ ) which was organised and hosted by Mr Tanaka the owner and Peter Tea who is a full time apprentice there. This was an amazing experience and there will be plenty of posts to come about my time there but I thought I would start with the Green Club which is the sales area that runs at the time of the Kokufu-ten show.

I am certain many people have been there before but I was lucky enough to get there to see and help with the set up before the doors were opened and I think more detail was put into the presentation of the trees for sale than at the actual Kokufu show! There was a very strong focus on Chinese antique pots. I was told that the Chinese are looking to buy them and ship them back to China where the Japanese are a little concerned they will never be seen again.
There was a little confusion as to what I was doing at the Green Club by a few of the officials so they decided to give me a nice Professional's pin on that basically allowed me anywhere.

Then comes the sales area. Here are some of the early pics before all vendors had arrived.

Its always good to see 'behind the scenes'. Thanks for posting these pics!

Did you bring home any antique chinese pots?

Joe.

I want them all. (pots /trees )

On the opening day we were there very early again and I was able to witness the pre opening ceremony where the vendors pray for good fortune and sales over the week. In all it lasted about 30 minutes.
There were even a few 'Bonsai Celebrities' there...

I do love that big Azalea
Nice pics and cannot wait to see the rest from your adventure

ken

Here's a few more on the opening morning of the Green Club to show you the quality of the trees for sale.

There were quite a few previous winners of the Kokufu prize that were for sale which surprised me until it was explained that a tree that 'could' win is more valuable than a tree that 'has' won.

Anyway here's the pics, more to come. Just trying to squeeze them in while working.

When I saw the pic with the pots .... all I could say was wow!!! I'd be in heaven No. 7 and spending big time.

Cheers, Rudi

Did you pick up any of Yuki Shoseki's pots? (the blue and white painted display of pots above)

I bought 3 from Gafu-ten this this year. they are beautiful and quite reasonably priced..... you can see her display from Gafu-tenHERE

I didn't but I know they are becoming widely sought after. I bought a nice antique Japanese pot that's 100 years old and a few others and the best part is now I've got the contacts to buy more!

Beautiful Scotty !!! Thanks for sharing !!!

Scott Martin wrote:I didn't but I know they are becoming widely sought after. I bought a nice antique Japanese pot that's 100 years old and a few others and the best part is now I've got the contacts to buy more!

Pics?

Hey Scott, I'll get a pic and post it soon. For now though here's the final pics for the Green Club.
The Green Club was amazing and I was told that it would be as good if not better than Kokufu-ten and I wasn't disappointed. There was 3 levels of sales plus the large outdoor area. More vendors than you knew what to do with. Every type of tool, book, magazine (Japanese only) and tree you could think of. It really was like bonsai heaven, with the only down side being some of the prices. Tools were all okay but the trees, pots and stands get marked up quite heavily according to the local professionals. They factor in some quite wealthy tourists make their way to the sales and it is a chance for the vendors to make extra margin.

I even got to meet and spend some time with Owen Reich who I'm sure many will know from the fantastic video series Bjorvala Bonsai Studio. He was working there. So it was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it to anyone.

Amazing trees! You lucky devil - what an experience!

I found a few more pics that might be of interest to a few out there.

This is us loading the van full of trees and pots to be taken to the Green Club.