What Happened On This Date in "Recent" Bonsai History?
SEPTEMBER
| 1 | 1923 -- Two minutes before noon, as all of the lunchtime cooking fires
were going, the Great Kanto Earthquake (8.3 magnitude) struck the 2.5 million
person capital city of Japan. Officially, 142,807 people died or
were missing in the five-minute long quake, subsequent fire storm, and
thirty-six foot high tidal wave in the main city and suburbs. Over
250 bridges were ignited by falling cinders. Three-quarters of Tokyo
was destroyed; neighboring Yokohama was practically wiped out of existence.
Ninety of the 237 total aftershocks occurred within the first twenty-four
hours. In the two cities combined, nearly six hundred thousand dwellings
were destroyed for an estimated loss of $2.8 billion dollars. Many
landscape gardens were also damaged or destroyed, and at least two temples
in the old capital of Kamakura (only a dozen miles away from Yokohama)
were collapsed by the quake.
Why this is important to us: [Near downtown Tokyo was the Kanda area, where bonsai were grown in the backyards. It was one of the areas gutted by the earthquake's firestorm. Following the disaster, the two year old Bonsai Promotion Group would be disbanded. Then, in 1925, a group of thirty families of professional growers from downtown Tokyo and now under the leadership of Ritaro Shimizu would go looking for a location with cleaner air and water. They would purchase some land in a forest of stately Japanese red pines, cryptomeria, and cherry-trees which was overrun with grass. This was near Hikawa Shrine on the way to Nikko. There they would clear an area of approximately thirty-one hectares in the northern part of Omiya Park, settle, and form a Bonsai Mura or Dwarf Tree Village. Shimizu, a bonsai master who had had a nursery in Tokyo, would establish the Village's first bonsai nursery that year. A monument to him would be raised in the town. Tomekichi Kato would be another of the founders there. The Bonsai Village would subsequently see the arrival and development of many enthusiasts who would go on to become experts of this art. One of the enthusiasts would be Bimei Chubachi, vice-mayor of Tokyo and a lawyer by profession, who would become a commercial dealer in bonsai at Omiya and help to further popularize the art. At one time on the city's outskirts, the Village would soon became part of Omiya due to rapid urbanization. And the town would be hailed as "the center of the bonsai universe" in Japan.] (A number of before and after pictures of Tokyo can be found at http://quake.eas.slu.edu/Earthquake_Center/1923EQ/index.html ; Tokyo by Don Briggs, 1969, 51st edition, pp. 82, 117-118; Japan, The Official Guide, Tokyo: Board of Tourist Industry, 1941, pp. 231, 296, 308, 540; Earthquake by Bryce Walker, Alexandria-VA: Time-Life Books, 1972, pg. 152; Bonsai:Trees and Shrubs by Lynn R. Perry, NY: The Ronald Press, 1964, pg. 67; unattributed article "Bonsai of Omiya" in Bonsai, BCI, June 1973, pg. 10; Bonsai by Deborah R. Koreshoff, Brisbane: Boolarong Publications, 1984, pp. 9-10; Bonsai by Susan M. Resnick, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1992, pg. 17; "Profile of a Bonsai Internationalist: Saburo Kato" by Ted Tsukiyama, Bonsai, BCI, May/June 1990, pg. 21; "Bonsai Personality -- Kyuzo Murata" by Dr. Juyne Tayson, International Bonsai Digest Bicentennial Edition, 1976, pg. 13) |
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| 3 | 1951 -- William N. Valavanis was born in Waukegan, Illinois. [At age 11 he would begin to pot seedlings and bend them into bonsai shapes. At age 15, in Charleston, West Virginia, he would begin to exhibit and lecture on bonsai at local garden clubs, and the following year would start the "House of Bonsai" business. The summer of 1970 would be spent studying in the garden of Kyuzo Murata in Omiya, Japan, and the following year Bill would graduate from The State University of New York Agricultural and Technical College at Farmingdale, Long Island, NY with a degree in Ornamental Horticulture. The next year would be back to Japan to study bonsai with Kakutaro Komuro and Toshio Kawamoto, bonsai chrysanthemums with Tameji Nakajima, and earn a master's teaching certificate in ikebana from the Shofu School. Returning to his home in Rochester, NY, Bill would have to redevelop the bonsai collection which he mostly sold to finance his study in Japan. A degree in Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture from Cornell University would follow in 1976 on the heels of several months study at Yuji Yoshimura's School of Bonsai in Briarcliff Manor, NY. During his school days Bill would continue to teach, train and sell bonsai; at Briarcliff he'd conduct introductory and intermediate level bonsai courses. Returning from another trip to Japan in 1978, the business' name would be changed to "The International Bonsai Arboretum" and Bill would begin publishing the International Bonsai magazine in 1979. He would continue to teach classical bonsai art.] (bio, International Bonsai, 1986/No. 2, pg. 13; bio, http://www.pac-sys.com/bonsai/artists/vala2.htm) |
| 4 | 1979 -- Susumu Sudo opened his "Masterpiece Bonsai Garden" on the rooftop of the Ginza branch Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo, Japan. Susumo is a young master of the contemporary bonsai world and is proprietor of the famous Chikufu-en Bonsai Garden located in Tochigi Prefecture, about an hour and a half from the capital. At Mitsukoshi, approximately fifty bonsai are always on display against a bamboo fence or in a large water basin. Commercial quality, contemporary styled bonsai of various species are offered for sale. Additionally, a small indoor showroom is used for antique and new Chinese containers, books, and Masakuni bonsai tools. ("Masterpiece Bonsai Garden Opens" in International Bonsai, IBA, Spring 80, pg. 30) |
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| 6 | 1991 -- Grandmaster Kyuzo Murata, proprietor of the Kyuka-en Bonsai Garden in Omiya, Japan died at the age of 89. ("Editor's Note," Journal, ABS, Spring 1992, pg. 28) |
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| 9 | 1913 -- Kahn Komai was born in Los Angeles, the second son of the founding publisher of "Rafu Shimpo," the premier newspaper of the L.A. Japanese American community. [He would go on to be a son-in-law to, student of, and translator for teacher and nurseryman Frank Nagata. Kahn would open his own nursery in Temple City in 1958, and would himself become an influential figure in Southern California bonsai.] ("In Memory" by Marybel Balendonck, Bonsai, BCI, September/October 1996, pg. 28) SEE ALSO: Jun 19 |
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| 15 | 1973 -- In Tampa, delegates from ten established Florida bonsai societies came to the organizational meeting of the Bonsai Societies of Florida (BSF). BSF was formed out of necessity because these early clubs wanted to host an International Bonsai Congress and the only way to do it was to get practice. [So the first Florida State bonsai convention would be organized and held by BSF in 1973. On July 2-6, 1975 in Miami, BSF would host the International Bonsai Congress '75. Then Bonsai Clubs International would return twice for their annual convention and in 1993 it would be held in conjunction with the World Bonsai Friendship Federation's World Bonsai Convention in Orlando. BSF, entering the next century with 28 member societies, study groups and societies at large, was the first statewide bonsai organization in the United States. When the folks in California and then ten states in the Southeast wanted to form similar organizations, they looked to BSF for held and guidance.]. (The society website: http://www.bonsai-bsf.com/history.html ) |
| 16 | 2001 -- A massive forest planting named "New York No Kokoro" was started as a living memorial to those who died in the events of September 11. Bob Pressler, bonsai artist, teacher and owner of Kimura Bonsai Nursery created this with the help of at least 16 students. Consisting of an approximately 8' x 4' slab resembling natural stone and roughly shaped like the island of Manhattan, the custom-made base represents the rock solid strength of the people of New York. Planted on the slab are 110 live, strong, adaptable, and versatile Foemina Junipers varying in size from 4" to 46," along with two hollowed, charred dead trunks 10" and12" high of very old bonsai. The number of trees stands for the number of floors of the World Trade Center. [The final planting would be completed on October 14. The forest would be on display at Kimura Bonsai Nursery until the spring of 2002 to insure a successful recovery from the transplanting and shaping process before traveling to New York City. The tax-deductible September 11th Living Memorial Bonsai Fund (c/o Kimura Bonsai Nursery, 17230 Roscoe Blvd., Northridge, CA 91325) was established to raise the necessary funds for the transportation, maintenance of, and construction of a permanent display for the piece.] ("New York No Kokoro (The Heart of New York)" by Bob Pressler, Golden Statements, GSBF, Vol. XXV, No. 1, January/February 2002, pp. 28-29) |
| 17 | 1990 -- The Fuku-Bonsai Center opened for business on a beautiful 17-acre site on the island of Hawaii. Founded by David Fukumoto, the center features nine themed gardens, including the Hawaii State Bonsai Repository, whose first tree would be put into place on Sept. 21, 1990 After a year-long shake down period a two-day grand opening celebration would be held Sept. 21-22, 1991. [A fungus problem which had begun about 1987 was exascerbated in the early 1990s when defective fungticide killed off most of the nursery plants. The Kona location would be closed and a new facility would be started in Kurtistown by the end of 1995.] ("Big Bonsai News from The Big Island," ABStracts, ABS, November 1990, pp. 1-2; "Fuku-Bonsai Center" by David Fukumoto, Journal, ABS, Fall 1991, pp. 8-11; "Fuku-Bonsai Recovering!" by David Fukumoto, Bonsai, BCI, September/October 1995, pg. 46 ) |
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| 22 | 1985 -- "Bonsai," a set of four postage stamps, was issued by the Republic of China (Taiwan). SEE ALSO: Jan 29, Feb 3, Mar 27, Mar 31, Apr 3, Apr 6, Apr 18, Jul 20, Aug 20, Oct 4, Dec 9. |
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| 26 | 1981 -- The two day first-ever National Bonsai Convention of the newly formed Federation of British Bonsai Societies (FBBS) convened at Keele University, Straffordshire, about forty miles south of Manchester. Over 250 registrants from most of the then twenty-eight listed clubs in Wales, Scotland and England participated. Peter Adams and Dan Barton were among the lecturer-demonstrators. ("Notes From the First British Bonsai Convention" by Robert Burgess, Bonsai, BCI, January/February 1982, pg. 12; "The Start of a New British Tradition" by Lucille Lee Roberts, Bonsai, BCI, April 1982, pp. 86-86.) |
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| 30 | 1988 -- The Chinese Penjing Collection at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. was dedicated and put on public display. It includes over thirty specimens by Dr. Yee-sun Wu, Mr. Shu-ying and others of Hong Kong which had been donated in 1986. (International Bonsai, 1989/No. 2, pg. 22) SEE ALSO: Mar 27, May 2 |
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