John Armitage, well known in bonsai circles, will as part of the Mame/Shohin exhibition be doing a demonstration during the day with this tree. This is in the fitness room, during the Swindon ‘Winter Image’ show on Sunday the 15th February 2026. https://swindon-bonsai.co.uk/2025/11/19/new-for-the-2026-swindon-winter-image-show/ At the conclusion of the demo/workshop he will be donating this tree to the raffle.
Twickenham Bonsai Club was founded in 2019 with just a few members and has flourished to a membership of around fifty.
This is the fifth show the club has put on, a combination of both summer & winter shows. Each club member was invited to display three trees, and as more trees were put forward than the club had room for, a selection process had to take place.
It was great to see such positive engagement by all their club members, and year on year the standard of their trees continues to develop, and it was a pleasure to attend their show today.
A visitor vote for the best tree is used, also the winning trees from the previous summer show were invited back for second display (but excluded from voting this show).
The winners of the public vote were Liz with her Acer palmatum ‘Shishigashira’ in 3rd place, Mark with his Acer palmatum ‘Arakawa’ in 2nd place and Terry with his Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Boulevard’ in 1st place. Tina Todd was also presented by Tony Peter Ulatowski with the RHS medal for all her contributions to the bonsai club.
The show was a buzz with lots of visitors plus conversation and activity with club members working on their trees. Mark was building a double tier Japanese Larch forest which looked great.
The venue is ideal for a bonsai club show being spacious and well lit too. They even had a food catering truck provided by Jason Fisher this year, their own club sales and traders including Nick Payne of Springwood Ceramics, Neil Hutchings of Devon Bonsai Nursery, Vinay Rathore of Toko-en Bonsai and Stuart Beresford.
As a club they are always progressive and this year have compiled a book of their 2025 club newsletters which are very informative and it is a first which will be available to purchase from the club later this year. They also have partnered with Over Rock where you can purchase Twickenham Bonsai Club merchandise from Over Rock’s website.
Last month the Bay Area Bonsai Associates held their 42nd annual exhibit at the Lake Merritt Garden Center in Oakland, California. The event featured an exhibit, sales area, and Saturday evening demonstration by Adam Toth.
Japanese black pine
California juniper
I appreciated that the show included a good mix of deciduous, broadleaf evergreen, and coniferous bonsai. Trees ranged in size from large down to shohin with plenty of trees somewhere in the middle.
It was also fun to see different approaches to the same species. The two coast redwoods below, for example, feature different branch angles, different branch thickness, and different approaches to foliar development.
Coast redwood
Coast redwood
It was also fun to see so many deciduous bonsai in winter silhouette.
Cork elm
Elm and azalea
Jacqueline Hillier elm
Pomegranate
Several small-tree displays provided good contrast to the larger trees in the room.
Shimpaku
Shohin display
Shohin display
The show also featured native material including Sierra juniper and Coast live oak.
Coast live oak
Sierra juniper
Sierra juniper
Walking through a bonsai show has made me excited for the upcoming Kokufu exhibit in Japan. More on that in an upcoming post.
So, despite being inundated with your lovely orders I managed to find time over the last week to put together yet another little movie.
This time we get to revisit the twin trunk larch I started on in 2024. Japanese Larch Bonsai Restoration Part 2 Video details the work of laying the foundation for future development and refinement. I hope ya’ll appreciate this one, it’s taken a good few freezing cold days and late nights.
Here is an interlude post about my trip to Okinawa. Next week, back to bonsai, where I hope to share some wonderful old bonsai on Honshu.
The city of Naha, at the southern end of Okinawa.
At the top of the main island is a large laurel forest. I went up there for a few days.
At the guest house I misunderstood the food situation. Thought there would be dinner, as we were miles from town. The owner was busy and said he’d take me in the next day so I could shop. So I didn’t eat for 24 hours. I survived off a drink vending machine on property. An inadvertent juice fast.
These vending machines are everywhere. They’re even nowhere. A little delivery truck trundles up the barren road once every couple weeks to supply the mistaken.
Site of my starvation
Laurels and tree fern. Okinawa is subtropical, around 60 F this time of year. This is the dry season.
Azalea
Fire-bellied Newt. I shouldn’t have picked this up, as a friend later told me. The newt’s skin has toxins.
A protector deity on a roof. Behind the lion grows a sapling pine, I think a Ryukyu Pine. “Ryukyu” is the name of the sea-trading Okinawan culture that dates back thousands of years.
Photo courtesy Merlin app
I did some birding, including trying to find this bird, the Okinawa Rail. It’s a sneaky shorebird that lives in the lush laurel woods and it eluded me for several days. I heard many of them in the deep ravines but had no intention of slithering to my demise over a bird so intent on not being seen. That they were only described to science in 1981 is no mystery to me.
It’s rural and quiet in the north. Or so I thought on the first day.
Right at 6 pm a loudspeaker blared out over the sparsely inhabited forest: It’s time to go home to your children, the day is done, good night.
This was LOUD. And it made me jump—
What?! A fire, an earthquake, a liquid beverage delivery?!
Then, my feathers smoothed out again, a huge shape swooped in to hang on a branch. Another few flew by. Bats, flying foxes with 3-foot wingspans.
Another evening shock. Would they quietly munch on fruit as advertised, or skip that amuse-bouche and go for the main course?
This place wasn’t good for my health.
Back in the south in a rice paddy. Many crops grew there, including taro.
Impressive root flares help stabilize these tree mangroves in the mud.
A quiet street in a small coastal town.
The current trend in Okinawan homes is concrete, with a brutalist flare.
A more typical older home.
Back in Naha for the flight to Tokyo, I found this sidewalk with embedded broken pottery shards.
Naha is proud of its past potters. Here the masonry wall of a building holds a platter.
Next week, Obuse, Japan—where I studied under Mr. Suzuki.
NO these bonsai are not packed for sale! That’s winter protection for valuable bonsai masterpieces at Mr. Takeyama’s Fuyo-en bonsai garden.More later
Today Diane, Corin, Lee and I spent a COLD day with our friend Megumi Kadokura, who lives in Omiya. Her grandfather was a prominent bonsai artist. Unfortunately the garden does not exist now but, I feel fortunate to have met in in 1970.
It has been unusually COLD here in Japan. Yesterday was 24-33oF with wind. At home, in Rochester, New York, it is now -1oF and is still getting colder with over 100 inches, and it not over until May.
Throughout the bonsai village many trees have been moved for a bit of protection, much more than I’ve seen in the past 56 years.
We first visited Toju-en Bonsai Garden of Hirota Katana, the new owner. This young 26 year old man now runs the bonsai garden where Masahiko Kimura and Shinji Suzuki studied. The garden was established by Motosuke Hamano in 1934. I saw several unusual container stands. He has an EXCELLENT YouTube channel “Bonsai Q”. After serving us delicious soup he made for lunch, he showed us around and answered every question we had, in English too.
Of course, we stopped by the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum to study their masterpiece bonsai. Like in all the other gardens the trees were dormant and all the foliage on the Juniper bonsai was a lovely “bronze” color most people would consider to be dead. Many plants prepare by changing color to adapt to the cold winter weather. The recent water garden seems to be maturing and is surrounded by bonsai. Photos are now allowed, except the indoor gallery.
Moving on, we made brief stops at Mansei-en (Takahiro Kato) and Seiko-en (Tomio Yamada) bonsai gardens.
Of course, our final visit was to Hiroshi Takeyama’s Fuyo-en Bonsai Garden. He specializes in fine deciduous and unusual species and forest plantings. Throughout the past decades I’ve seen a couple of his bonsai protected with blankets then covered with poly. There were many more this year. He even builds boxes which are covered with blue tarps which can be seen. The roots of plants are NOT as winter-hardy as the trunks and branches. All the bonsai protected were deciduous flowering and fruiting species, like Chinese quince, Flowering quince and a few Zelkova.
Additionally, Mr. Takeyama carefully removes a ring of soil on many of his pot bound bonsai in autumn. Then he fills the ditch with fresh soil. Yes, many of the circling roots were trimmed. He does this for two reasons, as the soil freezes in winter it expands and often breaks valuable antique containers. These bonsai will be repotted in spring so trimming the roots is fine. Also, they are easier to accept water. His best deciduous trees and those in shallow containers are kept in an unheated poly house.
He showed us a new double flowering winter flowering cherry. I’ve seen a great number of Winter flowering cherry, Prunus campanula, especially at winter exhibitions, but they were light pink with larger blossoms. He mentioned that it came from Taiwan. I thought Taiwan was a warm sub-tropical country.
100th Koku-Fu Bonsai Exhibition opened today, February 8, 2026, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan. When it began in March 1934 two exhibitions were held yearly, one in winter and autumn. This schedule was repeated until World War II began and stopped and began after a few years. Several decades ago a double exhibition was held on the tenth years to commemorate the milestones. Then the Nippon Bonsai Association began to sponsor the exhibition in 1964. Before it was sponsored by the Koku-Fu Bonsai Club. Then it was decided to hold double show yearly where approximately all 250 masterpieces were replaced by new bonsai. So, this historic exhibition commemorates the 100th anniversary, not 100 years.
The weather is unusually cold this year and we had about two inches of snow. Where I come from we don’t even count two inches, and I remember six inches of the white stuff on the ground in mid-May. It was amusing to see the vendors using leaf blowers and water sprayers to remove the snow since paying customers could not even see the smaller size bonsai in the outdoor sales area. The three- story Ueno Green Club, owned and operated by the Nippon Bonsai Growers Association, are packed with trees, containers, tools, supplies, suiseki and even hanging scrolls for the first time. Quite a few masterpiece bonsai were for sale which were displayed in past exhibition. Once a bonsai receives the coveted Koku-Fu Award it is not allowed to win the same award, however, it can be displayed again. All around the world people like to win awards and the Japanese bonsai community is not different. In this case the value of the tree often decreases because it can never win again. However, many bonsai do increase in value because they are award winning trees. The professional bonsai artists tend to promote the unaware trees to their clients because they still have a potential to win. And, the professionals make quite of bit of money shaping, refining, boarding and preparing trees for several years prior to showing.
I have personally visited this exhibition for about forty years and today’s Part I is one of the finest in quality. Often the bonsai in Part I and Part II vary in fine quality, which the public is not even aware of. Usually the bonsai are better in Part II. This year additional display tables were added and the NBA did not have tables to sell the commemorative albums and memberships.
I have seen larger crowds on opening days, but never have seen such a great number of foreign bonsai lovers from around the world. Even the Japanese public braved their “severe” weather to attend.
Tomorrow I will report, with new photos of course, on the statics and more personal comments on the 100th Koku-Fu Bonsai Exhibition Part I after I complete my calculations since one visit is long enough for me to study the 200 plus trees, I’m a slow learner but thorough.
A few of the ridiculous trees in Part I of the Kokufu-ten. Wednesday was the take-down and switch-out to new trees. And now it’s open again for Part II.
The entrance to the show looks down on the large displays. This is in the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno. This view gives a sense of the scale and impact these huge trees might have only a few feet away.
Needle Juniper. A well-known juniper making an appearance in the 100th Kokufu.
Chinese Quince. Every last twig had once been wired on this massive specimen.
Japanese Black Pine; Kokufu Prize. Huge tree.
Korean Hornbeam; Kokufu Prize.
Ume. Excellent Ume in this year’s show.
Satsuki Azalea.
Shinpaku Juniper; Kokufu Prize.
Magnolia. Resets the tone with an airy whimsicality.
Shinpaku Juniper; Kokufu Prize.
Selaginella, or club moss (light green plant).
Japanese White Pine. A quiet multiple-trunk bunjin. The Kokufu highlights thicker-trunked trees.
Trident Maple. Grown in a small pot it’s whole life, maybe 75 years.
Ume.
Red Pine from the Imperial Family. Notice the lack of conformity to modern bonsai expectations, particularly the lack of compaction.
Japanese White Pine worked on by Mr. Shinji Suzuki. He was excited about this entry as it has a grand history…
The White Pine was shown in the first Kokufu-ten in 1934. It’s a great addition to this 100th show (not year, they took two years off and some of the early years had double shows). The entry is a nod to the durability of the show and the trees in it.
Zelkova.
Dwarf Flowering Quince ‘Chojubai’.
Honeysuckle.
Chinese Quince. The intense ramification at this small scale is not easy.
This medium sized display won a Kokufu Prize.
And the shohin displays notched a prize winner.
An unusual raised-root Japanese White Pine—the lowest branch falls away to the back.
Ume.
Ezo Spruce. Only a few spruce in this year’s show.
A gathering of global bonsai friends—left to right—myself, Juan Andrade, Mario Komsta, Peter Gregg, John Eads, Carmen Leskoviansky, Evan Cordes, and Masaki Shimada.
I’m back home already, but with spies abroad I hope to offer a photo reel of Part II—
Part I of the exhibition continued for four days, Sunday through Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday all the bonsai on display will be removed and replaced with fresh trees. That’s a monumental task, especially since all the bonsai are quite large and heavy, usually requiring two, three or four people to lift the largest bonsai. The flatbed rolling carts are limited in number so that makes the time longer for moving. Fortunately, all the large size bonsai are on the first floor. The smaller trees require using elevators which also takes time.
2026 Part I Exhibition Statics\
181 display areas
287 individual bonsai–
Counting the individual medium and shohin specimens
159 Large Bonsai
39 Medium Size Bonsai Compositions– 78 Specimens
10 Shohin Bonsai Compositions–50 Specimens
11 Important Bonsai Masterpieces–
Hawthorn displayed in Part I by Frank Jesse from Germany on right
There are a great number of bonsai which have been cultivated and loved for several generations by many people which have been elevated to the level of art, making them valuable cultural assets. The Nippon Bonsai Association examines bonsai which art artistically shaped with the understanding excellence, having horticultural values in terms of their species, shapes and have historical value in terms of Provence and history. With the understanding of their owners every method possible for preservation of future generations. To date there have been approximately 2,000 bonsai registered.
Hawthorn displayed in Part I by Frank Jesse from Germany. Flowering image courtesy of Sara Camacho from Team Suzuki.
11 Kokufu Awards–
The following images are Kokufu Winners
The greatest number of awards ever presented. Perhaps because of the exceptional fine-quality bonsai displayed this year commemorating the 100th exhibition. This coveted award is selected by a committee after a careful and comprehensive examination of all the bonsai are placed. It is presented to bonsai of particularly outstanding beauty, considering the species, container quality and appropriate to the tree, display table, training techniques, accessory and presentation to the viewers.
25 Foreign Exhibitors–
Representing approximately 20 different countries. These are bonsai which have been trained and refined in Japan and purchased by foreigners waiting to be imported to the owner’s countries.
Approximately 20%– of the displayed bonsai are owned by foreigners.
Masahiko Kimura’s Artistry– was represented by over 40 bonsai owned by clients.
Kunio Kobayashi’s Artistry– represented by approximately 24 clients.
Shinji Suzuki’s Artistry– represented by approximately 20 clients.
Opening Day Attendance– 2,500 visitors (over 70% foreigners.)
A Few Observations– Most common species were Japanese black and five-needle pines. Closely followed by Sargent’s juniper and Japanese flowering apricot and Japanese maple and Trident maple. Several rock plantings, both clinging-to-a-rock and root-over rock. Only two Ezo spruce. Normally the number of species are split between Part I and Part II.
There were a tremendous number of old famous masterpieces, making Part I the best representation of Japanese bonsai.
I wonder what Part II will bring along with the opening of the 63rd Masterpiece Suiseki Exhibition held on the 4th floor of the same building.
100th Kofu-Fu Bonsai Exhibition- Part I, 2026– Part 2
Part I of the exhibition continued for four days, Sunday through Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday all the bonsai on display will be removed and replaced with fresh trees. That’s a monumental task, especially since all the bonsai are quite large and heavy, usually requiring two, three or four people to lift the largest bonsai. The flatbed rolling carts are limited in number so that makes the time longer for moving. Fortunately, all the large size bonsai are on the first floor. The smaller trees require using elevators which also takes time.
2026 Part I Exhibition Statics
181 display areas
287 individual bonsai–
Counting the individual medium and shohin specimens
159 Large Bonsai
39 Medium Size Bonsai Compositions– 78 Specimens
10 Shohin Bonsai Compositions–50 Specimens
11 Important Bonsai Masterpieces–
There are a great number of bonsai which have been cultivated and loved for several generations by many people which have been elevated to the level of art, making them valuable cultural assets. The Nippon Bonsai Association examines bonsai which art artistically shaped with the understanding excellence, having horticultural values in terms of their species, shapes and have historical value in terms of Provence and history. With the understanding of their owners every method possible for preservation of future generations. To date there have been approximately 2,000 bonsai registered.
11 Kokufu Awards–
The greatest number of awards ever presented. Perhaps because of the exceptional fine-quality bonsai displayed this year commemorating the 100th exhibition. This coveted award is selected by a committee after a careful and comprehensive examination of all the bonsai are placed. It is presented to bonsai of particularly outstanding beauty, considering the species, container quality and appropriate to the tree, display table, training techniques, accessory and presentation to the viewers.
Frank Jesse from Germany displayed his Hawthorn in Part I. Flowering Image courtesy of Sara Camacho of Team Suzuki.
25 Foreign Exhibitors–
Representing approximately 20 different countries. These are bonsai which have been trained and refined in Japan and purchased by foreigners waiting to be imported to the owner’s countries.
Approximately 20%– of the displayed bonsai are owned by foreigners.
Masahiko Kimura’s Artistry– was represented by over 40 bonsai owned by clients.
Kunio Kobayashi’s Artistry– represented by approximately 24 clients.
Shinji Suzuki’s Artistry– represented by approximately 20 clients.
Opening Day Attendance– 2,500 visitors (over 70% foreigners.)
A Few Observations– Most common species were Japanese black and five-needle pines. Closely followed by Sargent’s juniper and Japanese flowering apricot and Japanese maple and Trident maple. Several rock plantings, both clinging-to-a-rock and root-over rock. Only two Ezo spruce. Normally the number of species are split between Part I and Part II.
There were a tremendous number of old famous masterpieces, making Part I the best representation of Japanese bonsai.
I wonder what Part II will bring along with the opening of the 63rd Masterpiece Suiseki Exhibition held on the 4th floor of the same building.
So, despite the fact we are absolutely inundated with orders from all you lovely folk I managed to find a few hours to do a slap up job on my field maple. We are currently shifting about 3/4 of a ton of goods every single day and both Richard and myself are suffering under the weight of it all but, the show must go on. I would rather drop dead of exhaustion than boredom.
My oldest and best mate Stu’ was on hand to lend a hand which made for a very pleasant few hours and a nice break. Here’s a quick video of the work. I know a great many of our customers love deciduous bonsai. Getting a good foundation laid early on is so important, I thought ya’ll might like to Take a Sneaky Peek at This!
Part II of the exhibition on Saturday. I have never seen such a crowd in the 40 years I’ve attended. It looked that there were even more foreign visitors than Part I. There were no Stewartia displayed. Lots of cascade styled trees.
In the past, both parts of this exhibition has had magnificent bonsai, often the bonsai in Part II seemed to be better. NOT this year the NBS went all to get superb trees for both part I and Part II. I asked a skilled professional bonsai dealer and a leader of the Japanese bonsai community and he said both parts were equal AND there were too many visitors. Usually in the morning the crowds are heavy, then lessen. Not this year. Many friends went early to photograph and they did not even try. The room was packed and made it difficult to even move. In the late afternoon the crowds are less.
2026 Part I Exhibition Statistics
181 display areas
253 individual bonsai–
Counting the individual medium and shohin specimens
131 Large Bonsai
36 Medium Size Bonsai Compositions– 76 Specimens
10 Shohin Bonsai Compositions–50 Specimens
28 Important Bonsai Masterpieces–
There are a great number of bonsai which have been cultivated and loved for several generations by many people which have been elevated to the level of art, making them valuable cultural assets. The Nippon Bonsai Association examines bonsai which art artistically shaped with the understanding excellence, having horticultural values in terms of their history. The judging is usually done in autumn.
10 Kokufu Awards–
This coveted award is selected by a committee after a careful and comprehensive examination of all the bonsai are placed. It is presented to bonsai of particularly outstanding beauty, considering the species, container quality and appropriate to the tree, display table, training techniques, accessory and presentation to the viewers. This year a small black plaque was displayed for these important bonsai
12 Foreign Exhibitors–
Representing approximately 10 different countries. These are bonsai which have been trained and refined in Japan and purchased by foreigners waiting to be imported to the owner’s countries.
The 63rd Japanese Suiseki
Heled on the 4th floor of the museum, but this distinguished will be covered in a future blog post
These two bonsai were displayed next to each other.
Here are all the trees used in the show as well as some photos’ from the British Shohin Bonsai Co-operative and the UK Bonsai Group exhibition, talk and demo held in the fitness room at the centre on Sunday the 15th February 2026. Thanks to Andy and Mandy for the pictures. [click to enlarge the photo]……..
Many thanks to Evan Cordes, Carmen Leskoviansky, and Masaki Shimada for these photos of Kokufu-ten Part 2.
The Kokufu is well-known to showcase impressive, thick-trunked, dizzyingly developed old bonsai. I’ve included some of those meat and potato trees, but whimsy also shows up here and there. In this Part 2 I’ve included some of that.
Shinpaku. Crazy live vein.
Japanese White Pine. A formal-ish upright bunjin in a simple bridge pot.
Hitting the same note twice, here’s a formal upright Ume. Never seen that before. Appears to be in a hexagonal rectangle.
Japanese White Pine. Big famous tree. This was in Mr. Suzuki’s garden when I first arrived in 2003.
Hornbeam.
A Harland Boxwood. Unusual in the Kokufu. Excellent nebari. You’d struggle to get a fine and detailed nebari like this in the ground, likely pot-grown from a cutting or air-layer.
Root over rock Trident Maple.
This shohin display got a Kokufu Prize.
A swirling Shinpaku. Likely grafted foliage, it usually is when fine and tight. But not always.
A smaller Trident Maple.
Lovely accent.
Hinoki forest. That tenjin deadwood rising off the right side strikes me as odd and out of place. Especially coming from one of the younger trees.
Needle Juniper. Kokufu Prize.
Japanese Maple.
A dancing pair of Shinpaku and Chojubai.
Japanese Red Pine.
A stone exhibited by former apprentice Andrew Robson.
And another stone shown by Andrew’s father, Jeffrey Robson.
This one always starts growing as soon as temps get over 45 for a few days. It requires that I repot far sooner than I am mentally prepared for. So last weekend, I broke the seal on the 2026 repotting season. Which also means temps will for sure drop into the 20s within a few… Continue reading Chinese Quince Repot
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Ezo Spruce. Only a few spruce in this year’s show.
