After a bit of deliberation and discussion with my wife I decided that you have to take opportunities when they arise and so I confirmed myself as a starter.
I have to say the week I spent with wrcmad and the folk from up North was just a wonderful bonsai experience. I was made to feel welcome by the whole group and while we spent 2 days at the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition itself, we also filled our "bonsai boots" with trips to Omiya and Kobayashi's Shunkaen Bonsai Museum. All outstanding experiences I got to share with some fantastic people.
So, a massive thankyou to wrcmad and his bonsai crew for allowing me to infiltrate your Japan experience. I hope you enjoyed having me tag along as much as I enjoyed tagging along with you all!
Anyway, back to the subject of this thread ... Kokufu 2020. A MASSIVE exhibition that is a big highlight of the world bonsai calender. So big in fact, it is run over 2 sessions ... mid way through there is a change over day. The trees from Session 1 are swapped out for a whole new set for Session 2, and we go through the exhibition again! All in all, over 500 trees of exceptional quality. Exceptional QUALITY!
The trees attached below are from Session 1. The quality in the application of technique to produce the trees and the effort and meticulousness that goes into presenting them for display really needs to be seen first hand to be believed, but here are some photos nonetheless. I'll post up more as I go through the shots I have. I will say the lighting in the exhibition is pretty challenging, I did my best ... if anybody else has shots they want to add in, be my guest!
