Long-time readers of the blog may remember I apprenticed under Mr. Shinji Suzuki in the early aughts, before moving to Portland in 2006. Being a busy fellow, Mr. Suzuki had never been here. The Portland Japanese Garden, who often bring in Japanese masters to give presentations on various traditional arts, invited him over.

Personally, having him tour my garden felt like a mid-career review. But first we brought him to the Japanese Garden to see the bonsai terraces there, and the garden itself. Then he gave two presentations at the Portland Japanese Garden. Another at the Bonsai Society of Portland. And then we took him for a day of sightseeing. A busy five days.

The first day at the Portland Japanese Garden. Mr. Suzuki far left, Hugo Torii, Garden Curator, far right.

His first walk through the lower bonsai terrace. There’s a second one above the administration building—this is a semi-secret, you-must-find-me sort of space, but bonsai aficionados at least should know about it. The big Shore Pine in front here is on loan from the Pacific Bonsai Museum.

The next day we took him on a tour of Matt Reel’s, Andrew Robson’s, and my bonsai gardens. This is at Matt’s garden.

Here we are at Andrew’s garden, choosing display items for his presentations.

More display choices.

In my garden.

The 3D printed slabs intrigued him.

We fed him lunch during this garden tour. A dreadfully posed photo, but the food was captivating (thank you John, Masaki, Alicia, and Andrew).

Though we had a lot of people taking photos, I think this is the only one where Mr. Suzuki and all various and assorted apprentices are gathered—three bonsai generations in one photo. Left to right: Patch Clark, Mr. Suzuki, John Eads, Andrew Robson, Carmen Leskoviansky, Matt Reel, me, and Tyler Sherrod (Bobby Curttright was sadly not able to join us).

The keystone event happened the next day, at the Portland Art Museum, organized by the Portland Japanese Garden. This bonsai greeted guests for his presentation “The Way of Bonsai”.

This was out of the ordinary for a bonsai presentation—a standing ovation before anything was said or done. As a Japanese Garden staff member said, “I really got the sense of his rock-star status”.

The Museum presentation was in several parts. Mr. Suzuki first gave a brief intro about the demo trees that Matt Reel and Tyler Sherrod worked on, a Trident Maple and a Rocky Mountain Juniper, projected on a screen throughout. Then he gave a detailed photographic account of his background (including the story of arriving as an apprentice with long hair and his master, Mr. Hamano, saying he didn’t have time to take care of hair, so for six years he had a buzz cut). Then we sat down for a “fireside chat”—the above photo—and then back to the demo trees for a wrap up.

The next day Mr. Suzuki gave a presentation on display at the Portland Japanese Garden. He shared one way to think of this display, that when the walking person returns to the same tree after the journey, that person may not feel the same way as when they left. The orientation of the figure is important to show if the figure is starting the journey or returning.

That evening he gave a similar presentation about display for the Bonsai Society of Portland. On the slide is a key intention of bonsai display, mitate, which is inviting your guest to swap places with part of the display imagination, perhaps that wooden figure of a person walking past a tree. Your guest might become that person.

This reminds me of the tea ceremony and how it is focused on the guest. It’s something westerners setting up a three-point sekikazari display —like the one two photos up—might think about.

A new tree swapped out and a new scroll for another display example.

As a wrap up to this visit, we brought Mr. Suzuki to see the waterfalls that tumble over the basalt cliffs to the Columbia River. At the river there is an antique fish hatchery that opened in 1909. One outdoor tank has immense white sturgeon that live in the river. The largest is named Herman the Sturgeon, at 10’ long and 500 lbs. The ghosty fish to the left of the photo is either Herman or one of his tankmates.

Multnomah Falls—the tallest waterfall in Oregon, and the second-tallest in the US next to Yosemite. In 1995 a boulder the size of a school bus fell from the top and made an almighty splash, soaking a wedding party on the bridge, and at the time there was worry the falls might lose its second place status. Mr. Suzuki appeared impressed regardless. The sturgeon may have been his favorite of the day, though he thanked us each time we saw a waterfall (there were six in all), and he did seem to enjoy our attempts at birding with binoculars (he did get on a Stellar’s Jay for a few moments, I think). In any event, a memorable visit.