AusBonsai

Heading to Tokyo on the 13 of April for 6 days and I've been allocated ONE FULL DAY to do Bonsai related stuff!

Obviously ill be heading to Omiya Bonsai Village. How big is this place? Could you do it in a day (8-10 hours) without rushing? If not are there certain places within the village that you should definitely see over others? Are most of the places there open on weekdays?

Also, is there any other Bonsai must do's in Tokyo?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.......

One day should be enough time for the village and museum.

Enjoy.

Island Breeze wrote:Heading to Tokyo on the 13 of April for 6 days and I've been allocated ONE FULL DAY to do Bonsai related stuff!

Obviously ill be heading to Omiya Bonsai Village. How big is this place? Could you do it in a day (8-10 hours) without rushing? If not are there certain places within the village that you should definitely see over others? Are most of the places there open on weekdays?

Also, is there any other Bonsai must do's in Tokyo?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.......

There are about 4 Bonsai nurseries within walking distance of the station. You will have to find a map of some sort with them listed on; maybe at the station.(There was a map at the station in 1985 but that probably doesn't help).

Bonsai Museum and the Omiya Bonsai Restaurant are now also a must do. You can buy Masakuni and other brand tools at the restaurant. Say hello to Yoshi and Maki; the owners.You may be able to get help at the Museum or Restaurant.

http://www.j-bonsai.com/page/8

http://www.bonsai-art-museum.jp/english/index.php

You can easily do it in a day if you have a map and plan.

Grant

Found another link with a bit of a map. It takes a few seconds to load.

http://omiyabonsai.jp/museum

Grant

Thanks guys. The restaurant and the museum look great! I have somewhere to eat now too.........

Island Breeze wrote:How big is this place? Could you do it in a day (8-10 hours) without rushing?

Omiya is not big. You can easily walk it in a day at a relaxing pace (see scale on map below). The nurseries are only about 100m apart.
The map is the path I followed last time I visited, and takes in the most notable nurseries.
Note, when you get off the train at Omiya Koen, cross to the other side of the tracks.

Island Breeze wrote:If not are there certain places within the village that you should definitely see over others? Are most of the places there open on weekdays?

NOTE: Bonsai museum is NOT open on THURSDAYS!, so go any other day of the week.
Some notable highlights:

Fuyo-en specialises in deciduous trees, so a visit there will see some jaw-dropping maples, elms etc with nebari to die for, like this:
Mansei-en houses the (said-to-be) oldest bonsai in Japan, at 2000 years old (yes, two thousand) - this beastie juniper below:
Another tip - take careful notice of how they structure their branching. This has been the most educational observation for me in my visits.
Most information or education regarding bonsai focuses on the nebari, trunk, and branch placement, but tends to be very light-on regarding branch structure. Branch structure is difficult to decipher from pictures, and often lacks attention, education, or explanation here, but can often be the difference between a good tree and a fantastic tree. These guys are the best, so take careful note of how they do it.

Here are a couple of useful links - one has videos of each nursery.

http://www.bonsaiempire.com/origin/bonsai-japan/omiya
http://omiyabonsai.jp/gardens

Cheers

Great info again! And that map is golden.... Thanks!

Is photography allowed at all of these places? Don't want to be disrespectful.....

Island Breeze wrote:Great info again! And that map is golden.... Thanks!

Is photography allowed at all of these places? Don't want to be disrespectful.....

All the nurseries have "no photography" signs at the entrance, so best not to disrespect them.
However, if you ask politely, you may be pleasantly surprised.

wrcmad wrote:

Island Breeze wrote:Great info again! And that map is golden.... Thanks!

Is photography allowed at all of these places? Don't want to be disrespectful.....

All the nurseries have "no photography" signs at the entrance, so best not to disrespect them.
However, if you ask politely, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Ok sounds good. Thanks again everyone.......

You know I fit nicely into a suit case lol. I've been wanting to go to Japan I had a holiday all planned but then things came up now I can't take my husband for our 1 year wedding anniversary.

elljuu wrote:You know I fit nicely into a suit case lol. I've been wanting to go to Japan I had a holiday all planned but then things came up now I can't take my husband for our 1 year wedding anniversary.

Haha.....

You should definitely go when you get the chance!

Mate I reckon its worth looking into a one day tour with Yoshi from j-bonsai that Grant suggested. Went on a tour solo with him last october and it was absolutely fantastic. Yoshi takes you to the bonsai art museum and the major nurseries in Omiya. Maki, his incredibly nice wife will serve you lunch at the restaurant and you will get to see Kimura's and Koboyashi's gardens. Yoshi speaks English very well and has a great sense of humour. It was a pleasure spending the day with him.

Yoshi doesnt run them year round and it is certainly more expensive than the return train ticket from Tokyo to Saitama city but I believe it was well worth it.

good luck with it, mate.

Ces.

Ces wrote:Mate I reckon its worth looking into a one day tour with Yoshi from j-bonsai that Grant suggested. Went on a tour solo with him last october and it was absolutely fantastic. Yoshi takes you to the bonsai art museum and the major nurseries in Omiya. Maki, his incredibly nice wife will serve you lunch at the restaurant and you will get to see Kimura's and Koboyashi's gardens. Yoshi speaks English very well and has a great sense of humour. It was a pleasure spending the day with him.

Yoshi doesnt run them year round and it is certainly more expensive than the return train ticket from Tokyo to Saitama city but I believe it was well worth it.

good luck with it, mate.

Ces.

I think I'll struggle to get this approved by Mrs Island Breeze this time.....

With that said I'll definitely do that tour in the future. I absolutely love Japan so I'll be going back.

The fact that you get to see Kimuras stuff is worth the price alone....

Thanks for letting me know though!

Well...... THE STARS HAVE ALIGINED!

Got approved for the funds and Yoshi is picking me on the 17th!

Thanks everyone for all the info. I feel like I would have been wandering around with no idea otherwise...... This is going to be pretty special.

The 17th of April was a VERY interesting day for me!

A couple of weeks before the tour. Yoshi (the guy that runs the tours) contacted me and said that NHK news had contacted him and said that they wanted to do a documentary about his tours. So he asked if it was ok if a camera crew was there. I said I didn't mind at all and fast forward to the 17th it turns out it was actually a documentary on Bonsai becoming more popular in the west.

The producer was asking my brother, his friend (who know nothing about Bonsai and just came along for the cultural and wow factor) and I questions about Bonsai in Australia and I cant really remember what the questions or answers were because I was so amazed by the Bonsai at Omiya Museum and the fact that I was there, I could hardly concentrate on what he was saying haha.....

The Documentary is apparently going to be on NHK world (In English) on the 11th of May in the evening. Ill post more info when I know more but I feel like it will be a really good watch for any Bonsai enthusiast because you get to see the Museum, Kimuars collection with an interview with man himself and Kobayashis collection with an interview AND him working on a tree with a chainsaw .

I remember at the time saying that we don't have anything this good in Australia and in hindsight I feel bad and a bit stupid because we do have some amazing trees and a lot of them are probably owned by people on this forum! So I'm apologising in advance for anything I say!. I feel like I'm the last person that should be waxing lyrical about Australian Bonsai on TV. I've only been into it for like 2 years. I think just the Japanese collections as a whole are hard to compete with. Having a camera in your face for the first time while you are in the Mecca of something you really love makes you not think properly I guess .

I'm probably over reacting but I just though I would throw out a bit of a disclaimer because I cant for the life of me remember much of that part of the day......

ANYWAY...... It was such an incredible day. Time for some photos.

OMIYA MUSEUM.
Feel free to ID any of these.......