| 1 |
1969 -- Japan issued a set of four postage stamps commemorating the
16th UPU Congress, which was held in Tokyo. The four
ukiyo-e
images included
Harunobu's
"Two Women Reading a Letter."
That
print, from before
1770, has a depiction of a deep-potted bonsai in the upper right-hand corner.
SEE ALSO: Jan 29, Feb 3, Feb 16, Mar 1, Mar 27, Mar 31, Apr
3, Apr 6, Apr 18, May 6, May 29, Jun 16, Jul 20, Aug 20, Aug 22, Sep 22,
Oct 4, Dec 9.
1990 -- The John Y. Naka Pavilion and the National Collection Of North American Bonsai (which would be housed therein) were dedicated at The U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. Some 1,000 people representing bonsai organizations throughout the U.S. and Japan gathered with officials of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture for the milestone event. The initial collection was composed of 56 bonsai -- out of over 100 nominated specimens -- of various artistic philosophies representing 50 individual donors from 15 states and 38 species in diverse styles and containers. ( Bonsai Techniques by John Naka, pg. 261; International Bonsai, IBA, 1990/No. 4, pp. 20-23) SEE ALSO: Mar 20, May 2, May 17, Jun 9, Aug 16, Aug 26, Sep 30, Oct 10, Oct 15, Nov 5 |
| 2 |
|
| 3 |
|
| 4 | 1981 -- " Dwarfed trees," a set of four postage stamps, was issued by Thailand to celebrate that country's native styles. SEE ALSO: Jan 29, Feb 3, Feb 16, Mar 1, Mar 27, Mar 31, Apr 3, Apr 6, Apr 18, May 6, May 29, Jun 16, Jul 20, Aug 20, Aug 22, Sep 22, Oct 1, Dec 9. |
| 5 | 1986 -- The six day long Chinese Penjing Theory Symposium and Regional Styles of Chinese Penjing Exhibition began at the same time in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in the Peoples Republic of China. The display included 273 penjing (trees and landscapes), mostly of medium- and small-size specimens. In attendance were 182 representatives of 24 provinces and autonomous regions, including the three municipalities Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. Altogether, 48 cities were represented. The symposium was divided into two main parts: lectures and demonstrations, and theory discussions. Topics included the standards for "Penjing evaluation," "Penjing as an art - the historical heritage and the future" and "Penjing production for commercial purposes." ( International Bonsai, 1987/No. 2, pg. 17) |
| 6 | 1982 -- K.C. Jay died. Mr. Jay, a Hong Kong bank consultant and financier, was the founder and president of Hong Kong Bonsai International, the organization which regularly staged an annual bonsai exhibit in March at the Urban Council Center. ( ABStracts, ABS, Vol. 11, No. 1, February 1983, pg. 2) |
| 7 | 1989 -- The Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection was dedicated in Federal Way, Washington on the campus of the Weyerhaeuser Corporate Headquarters to celebrate the Washington State Centennial and to honor the company's trading partners in the Pacific Rim nations. David DeGroot was named curator for the collection of over sixty trees. ("Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection Opens" by David DeGroot, Bonsai, BCI, Nov/Dec 1989, pg. 19) |
| 8 |
2000 -- The first symposium of the newly formed Association of British
Bonsai Artists (ABBA) was held at Failand Village Hall, Bristol.
Staged by the members of the Association with nonmembers being able to
attend by pre-booking, the theme was "Scots pine and its cultivars."
Members' and guests' trees were displayed around the hall and a critique
was held for each tree. The afternoon session started with a lecture/demonstration
by Nobuyuki Kajiwara on the art of presentation in the tokonoma.
A question and answer period followed, and the final part of the day was
an open forum.
(ABBA web site, "First Symposium &
Exhibition,"
http://bonsai.bogus.net/sym081000c.htm
) SEE ALSO: Mar 19
|
| 9 | 1999 -- Rolf A. Stein died in Paris. He was born in Berlin where he did part of his Oriental studies. Going into exile in Paris in 1933, six years later Professor Stein joined the prestigious École Française d'Extrême-Orient. His early field studies were done in Vietnam and China. In 1943 he published his first book, Jardins en miniature d'Extrême-Orient, a sophisticated exploration of a complex subject, full of brilliant insights. Later on he taught at the prestigious French institute Collège de France and it was during his tenure there (1966-1982) that he published successively three prominent books in relations to the Tibetan culture. Up until 1992 Stein continued to participate in the academic works, and in collaboration with other prominent Orientalists he authored books on Buddhism, Tantra and Mythology. In 1987 Jardins was republished in its original French along with a 1958 work about "Dwelling Places [of the Spirits], Their Physical Details." Three years later an English translation of those two was published with a new third study, "The World and Architecture in Religious Thought," as The World in Miniature: Container Gardens and Dwellings in Far Eastern Religious Thought. This awesome work brings into sharp focus myriad subtle mutations of the miniature garden which -- reflected in the temples of Heaven, pagodas, the felt tents of nomads, and ultimately the human body itself -- informs cosmology, ritual, ethics, aesthetics, and many aspects of everyday life. Symbolism and history of dwarf potted landscapes unknown anywhere else can be found here. Yes, we do deal with magical miniature landscapes. ["Rolf Stein Passed Away in Paris," World Tibet Network News, Friday, October 15, 1999, http://www.tibet.ca/wtnarchive/1999/10/15_6.html ; Foreword by Edward H. Schafer in The World in Miniature (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990), pp. xviii-xix] |
| 10 | 1984 -- The five day long First International South African Bonsai Convention opened in Johannesburg. The headliners were John Naka and Shigeo Katō. ( Bonsai, BCI, Jan/Feb 1984, pg. 10) |
| 11 |
|
| 12 |
|
| 13 |
1978 -- The original bonsai exhibit opened today at the Morikami
Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida. (The
200-acre Museum
property had been donated to Palm Beach County by George Morikami in
1975. George was a Japanese immigrant who came to the U.S. in
1906 at the age of 19. He became a U.S. citizen in 1967.
During all those years he farmed the land, first with a group of other
Japanese immigrants and then by himself. The Museum opened June
25, 1977.) The Bonsai Societies of Florida started and maintained
the exhibit, donating some of the trees. (The original bonsai
were part of the Edward N. Potter Memorial Bonsai Colection.
Donations from the
public would make up the balance of the 75-plus trees, not one of which
would have to be purchased by the Museum.
The Morikami bonsai
exhibit
would be remodelled and reopened January 23, 2000, with a
splendid new spacious location, the result of the development of five
theme Japanese style gardens.)
["About the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens," NABF Newsletter #2, Feature #3,
http://www.bonsai-wbff.org/nabf/newsletter2/flmorikami.htm
; "The Morikama"
[sic]
,
Journal, ABS, Vol. 11, No. 4, Winter 1978, pg. 93]
|
| 14 |
|
| 15 |
1945 -- The Granada aka Amache Relocation Center officially closed, a month
after the military police left. (This Japanese-American internment camp
was located in southeastern Colorado 140 miles east of Pueblo and 15 miles west of the Kansas
border. The center's common name was derived from the
small town of Granada, less than a mile away. The 10,500 acres of the camp reserve had been 18 privately owned farms and
ranches, acquired by the WRA through purchase or condemnation.
Construction began June 12, 1942, with a crew
of up to 1,000 hired workers and 50 evacuee volunteers. The
center was in operation by the end of August 1942, and reached the
maximum population of 7,318 by October. Although Granada had the
smallest population of the ten relocation centers, it was the tenth
largest city in Colorado when it was occupied. There were over 560
buildings, including a few composed of sections of former Civilian
Conservation Corps buildings transported to the site. The entire
developed area was surrounded by a four-strand barbed wire fence, with
six watch towers along the perimeter. The
central or developed portion of the camp was located on a
low bluff overlooking the flood plain and farmlands, which extended to
the north and east all the way to the Arkansas River. Like most
of the relocation centers, buildings and streets were laid out on a
north-south grid within an area about one mile square.
Twenty-nine of the residential blocks were used for housing; the
buildings in one of the blocks were used for classrooms. Each
block was laid out according to standard plans, with 12 barracks each
measuring 20 feet by 120 feet, a mess hall, a combination laundry,
bath, and latrine building, and a recreation building.
Construction of the evacuee buildings at Granada differed from the
other relocation centers. Instead of post-and-pier foundations,
barracks had slab foundations, or concrete perimeter foundations with
brick floors. The evacuee buildings also had fibre board or
asbestos shingle siding, rather than the tarpaper common at most of the
other relocation centers. In spite of its small population,
Granada had one of the largest and most diversified agricultural
enterprises of the ten relocation centers. The farm program
included the raising of vegetable crops, feed crops, beef and dairy
cattle, poultry, and hogs. Even the high school had a 500-acre farm,
operated by vocational agriculture students.) About 2,000 people
from Amache remained in Colorado, which speaks well for the
state. A majority of the Japanese returned to California, their
home.
Why this is important to us: Held here in 1943 was probably the most extensive display of bon-kei seen to date in the Western world. A Mrs. Ninomiya and her two sons had arrived at the camp during an ongoing sand and dust storm. Those first days were so discouraging that she thought something must be done with this sand that was everywhere, inside and outside the barracks. She remembered one of the old home arts she had learned in Japan: the making of miniature dry landscapes, bon-kei. A neighbor built her a first tray from a vegetable crate; two or three close neighbors wanted to know how to make these pleasant employments in this new sparse environment. Word spread and in a short time there were ninety-two students, only one of which had ever done this before. This was a new and special incentive for most of the women who made these bon-kei: they now had [more than enough of] the time and opportunity to search for and express something beautiful out of the commonest and humblest thing around. Eagerness to do something worthwhile and willingness of those proficient to teach their neighbors resulted in the unforeseen high average ability of the evacuees to do these things well. Several exhibitions were the result of the creativity. Some of the tray gardens were of mountain, desert, and seacoast subjects, but most of them were imaginary Japanese scenes; and in no cases were there any duplicates. Fortunately, a few photographs were made. As time passed, the residents of the camps were able to get some of their belongings of this kind out of storage, and plant and flower containers were sent in as gifts, so in later photographs much greater variety is noticeable. (It is also worth mentioning that flower arrangement ( ikebana="dancing flowers" ) was studied, taught, and practiced in every one of the ten War Relocation Centers. The construction of a few small traditional wet or dry gardens were documented outside of a few of the barracks. And one resident at the central Utah Topaz camp, a Mr. I. Ishii, who had left behind a perfect thirty-five year old maple bonsai he had raised, began experimenting with desert plants. When that camp closed, a greasewood shrub had been coaxed along by him for two years into a very attractive form. Its life after the war is unknown.) (Chapter 5 "Granada Relocation Center" in Burton, J. and M. Farrell, F. Lord, and R. Lord Confinement and Ethnicity: Barbed wire divider, An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites, http://www.amache.org ; Eaton, Allen H.: Beauty Behind Barbed Wire, The Arts of the Japanese in Our War Relocation Camps (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers; 1952), pp. 16-19, 59, 88-90 ; see also this and this about two relocation camp-era trees, and the article "A Desert Survival Story" by Nancy Eaton, Bonsai, BCI, Vol. XXII, No. 3, April 1983, pp. 79-80. It is not known if Nancy is related to Allen.) 1993 -- A thirty-nine tree Stewartia monadelpha 'Grove' masterpiece forest which had been created by Saburō Katō at the World Bonsai Convention held in Orlando, Florida the previous May 29 was presented to the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum of the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. Originating in Japan and being 9" to 39" tall, the trees had been planted with mosses and tiny wildflowers on a man-made American stone slab by the most renowned bonsai master and elder statesman. The composition was then put up for auction. It was purchased by the Board of Directors and Staff of Bonsai Clubs International, along with the contributions of a good number of friends. Also dedicated this same day were the George Yamaguchi North American Garden and the Haruo Kaneshiro Tropical Conservatory and Temperate Glasshouse. ("Dedication Day In U.S.A." by Jean C. Smith, Bonsai, BCI, Jan/Feb 1994, pp. 25-27; "Japanese Collection Gets A New Star" by Mary Bloomer, Bonsai, BCI, July/Aug 93, pg. 27) SEE ALSO: Jan 1, Jan 15, Apr 19, May 2, May 17, Nov 3 |
| 16 |
|
| 17 |
|
| 18 |
|
| 19 |
|
| 20 |
1967 -- Shigeru Yoshida died. He had been born on Sept. 22,
1878 in Tokyo as the fifth son of the civil rights activist Tsuna
Takenouchi of Tosa. His mother was rumored to be a geisha.
He was sent to live with the childless Yokohama industrialist Kenzo
Yoshida and his wife, who later adopted him and provided him with a
good education and a sizeable inheritance. After attending the
elite Tokyo Imperial University, Yoshida married into a prominent
family. He lived the first thirty-five years of his life in the
reign of the Emperor Meiji and had many of the characteristics
attributed to the leaders of that era, such as education in the Chinese
classics, patriotic pride, loyalty to the throne, and, in many cases, a
broad international outlook. He entered Japan's diplomatic corps
in 1906 just after Japan's victory against Russia in the Russo-Japanese
War. His career included posts in China and Italy before he
became Ambassador to England in 1936. In London he developed
considerable admiration for the British political system, with its
parliamentary politics and combination of aristocratic and democratic
traditions. Barely five feet tall and chubby, he possessed a
sharp wit and willingness to express strong personal opinions which set
him apart from most Japanese, particularly other bureaucrats. In
fact, his public life seemed to be over when he retired in 1939, having
fallen out of favor with the government for his anti-militarism; he was
also imprisoned late in the war for the same reason. But on the
very day
General Douglas MacArthur
established his headquarters at the Dai Ichi
Building in Tokyo, Yoshida was summoned to the capital to join the new
Japanese cabinet as foreign minister. He would serve ably in that
capacity until called to be prime minister in the spring of 1946.
Along with his quaint but very understandable English, such attitudes
made Yoshida a natural choice to deal with the Americans after the
war. From
May 22, 1946
- May 24, 1947 (45th), and then Oct. 15, 1948 through Dec. 10, 1954
(48th-51st), he served 2,616 days as prime minister. On Sept 7, 1951 he
spoke
at the San Francisco Peace Conference where he was a signatory to the
Peace Treaty and the Security Treaty between Japan and the U.S.
He retired from the Diet of Japan in 1955. By setting the course
for Japan in these crucial postwar years, Yoshida became one of the
fathers of modern Japan: his Democratic-Liberal successors would
dominate Japanese politics into the 1990s. He made a great
contribution to laying a foundation for the Japan's postwar
reconstruction and worked to cultivate Japan's future statesmen.
Why this is important to us: Because of a rapid increase in the number of bonsai enthusiasts in Japan in the early 1960s, the necessity to transform the Kokufu Bonsai Society into a nationwide organization became obvious. In 1965, the private Kokufu was dissolved and reorganized to become the parent body of the public Nippon Bonsai Association. The NBA's first president was ... Shigeru Yoshida. For the last two and a half years of his life he thus ably served in that office. <Photos of him at the 40th Kokufuten in 1966 can be found by clicking on the "Celebrities" button of the Kyukaen website.> [He would be followed in the NBA presidency by another former Prime Minister (from Feb. 1957 - July 1960), Nobusuke Kishi, and in 1988, Takeo Fukuda, also a former Prime Minister (from Dec. 1976 - Dec. 1978), would become the third President of the Nippon Bonsai Association.] 
"The first NBA President Shigeru Yoshida gives a speech
during the inauguration of Nippon Bonsai Association in 1965." ("Shigeru Yoshida," http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/cabinet/45_e.html ; "Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru (1878-1967)," http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeAMEX110.html ; "Historical Figures," http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/figures.html ; "Shigeru Yoshida," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigeru_Yoshida#As_Prime_Minister ; Morita, Kazuya and NBA Editorial Staff "Bonsai in Japan," in Tsukiyama, Ted T. (ed.) Bonsai of the World, Book I (Japan: World Bonsai Friendship Federation, 1993), pg. 89, including photo.) |
| 21 |
|
| 22 | 2000 -- Connie Addenbrooke Hinds died in a retirement complex in Palo Alto, California. Born on April 13, 1913 in Winettka, Illinois, she married Horace Hinds, Jr. and resided in Glen Ellyn, IL for a number of years. They became interested in the art of bonsai, relatively new to Westerners, but freezing weather took its toll on their small collection. Moving to Mountain View, California in the early 1950s they began to study bonsai in earnest -- pausing for a brief residency in Venezuela where Horace, a dairy executive, set up powdered milk processing plants. The couple returned to Mountain View in 1957 and then joined the Kusamura Bonsai Club in Palo Alto, once an all-Japanese group whose doors were opened to non-Japanese by Tosh Saburomaru. Connie studied under Tosh and his new teacher Yuji Yoshimura as early as 1960 and 1961. While Connie was the bonsai artist in the family, Horace was the CEO. He became Bonsai Clubs Association President in 1964, and editor of the BCA Newsletter the following year. The couple began to enlarge both the scope and subscribership, adding paid advertisements and photographs to the six pages and 200 copies per issue. The magazine came to life in 1966 as Bonsai, Magazine of Bonsai, Japanese Gardens & Suiseki. In two years 1,200 people were receiving the 15 page issues. For many years the couple became worldwide organizers, promoting bonsai and helping to establish satellite groups over the globe. In 1972 Horace became BCI Executive Secretary. The couple's darkest hour came in November 1974 when Horace had lung surgery (from which he would recover slowly); Connie continued to put together the 26 page issues for 2,600 members. At the height of their bonsai adventure their personal garden held over 800 trees and 50 suiseki. In 1977, Connie and Horace stepped back to become Editors Emeriti. Horace died in late 1991, and Connie, growing outdoor terrace bonsai, continued to attend meetings of both the Kusamura and Midori Clubs, the latter also dating from those early days. ("BCI's Mom and Pop: Connie & Horace Hinds" by Mike Halle and John Planting, Bonsai, BCI, March/April 2001, pp. 33-34; "Leaders From The Sixties Into The Nineties," Bonsai, BCI, November/December 1993, Vol. XXXII, No. 6, pp. 23-24; "Hindsight On BCI" by Tom Heitkamp, Bonsai, BCI, January/February 1978, p. 4-5) |
| 23 |
|
| 24 |
|
| 25 |
|
| 26 | 2001 -- Sona Krishnan died. He had been born on the 14th of November 1936 at Madurai in the south of Tamilnadu, towards the southern tip of India. [Some 420 kilometers to the northeast and on the eastern coast of India is the region's largest city, Chennai (formerly called Madras), India's fourth largest urban center.] Sona received his education at Madurai and was qualified in Tamil Literature (the region's primary Indian language). By the age of fourteen he had mastered the art of writing poems and had won several accolades. This drew his interest towards learning more, and so he then mastered the Hindi literature (the most widely used Indian Language). He also was an artist and developed his hand at drawing and painting. As a small boy, however, he was mostly inclined towards sculptures and wanted to someday be a sculptor. Sona's interest in gardening and Bonsai started after his regular visits to the flower shows held across the country. His penchant for fine arts and love for gardening led to the making of his first Bonsai in the year 1977. There was no looking back in craftsmanship for him from then onwards. He was the first person to try growing trees in Bricks and Laterite stones. He also tried growing mame and miniature Bonsai in egg shells. He was considered a person with a 'Midas touch' for whatever plant he pruned with his hands grew out to be a differently and beautifully styled tree. He had a special interest for the 'Windswept Style.' His most sought-after tree was the Banyan ( Ficus benghalensis ) and all his Banyan trees had Prop (aerial) roots on them. His versatility in designing his trees made people wonder if he possessed magic wands instead of the normal tools! Such was his style of crafting. He held many demonstrations on the art of growing Bonsai and there were many students who learned the art from him. He participated in numerous shows and won several prizes for consecutive years. He could be presented with a honorarium for having taken the art which was known only to the classes to the masses. He held shows at both educational institutions and commercial organizations. The encouragement and support of the people led him to write a book on Bonsai. His interest and knowledge of Bonsai culture as well as Tamil literature led to the publication of the book Tharaiai Thodatha Tharukkal ( Trees which never touch the earth ) on 5th September 1987. This book is considered to be the first of its kind in any Indian language. The book indeed is a blend of art and science. (An English translation of the book is yet to be published.) His Bonsai collections were featured on television and radio many times as well as in almost all the regional magazines in Tamilnadu. [Personal e-mails to RJB from Navasona Krishnan, Sona's son, 10/17 and 10/20/2002.] |
| 27 |
1994 -- The First Bonsai Symposium was held (through the 29th) in
the Hotel Royal Pedregal in Mexico City. It was
organized by an established business, "Bazar de Plantas." That
organization was based on the idea, starting in 1991, of a group of
bonsai enthusiasts in Mexico who put together a directory with the
names of all the people that were dedicated to the art of bonsai in
Mexico, be it as a hobby or commercial business. [At the end of
the Symposium, the idea of
founding the Asociacion Mexicana de Bonsai would come up and it would
formally be constituted one year later, in October 1995, together with
the First Bonsai Exhibition in the Museum Del Carmen in Mexico City.] (
"Mexico," by Solita D. Tafur Rosade, President of FELAB , WBFF Director of Latin America Region, Latin America Region, World
Bonsai Friendship Federation,
href="http://www.bonsai-wbff.org/rlatinam.shtml", accessed 01/09/05.
)
|
| 28 |
1956 -- One of John Y. Naka's first California junipers was dug today.
[Seventeen years later it would stand 27"H in a round Tokoname pot and
have a trunk diameter of 7-1/2 inches. Although the tree would be
exhibited at the 4th Annual Exhibit of the California Bonsai Society (1961),
it would not be pictured until it graced the first color cover of Bonsai
Club International's
Bonsai
magazine in December 1973.]
("Cover
Story,"
Bonsai, BCI, Vol. XII, No. 10, December 1973, pg. 3.)
1980 -- A 150-year old Ponderosa Pine ( Pinus ponderosa ), styled for seven years by Dan Robinson, was the first tree included in the new American bonsai collection. It was unveiled at the U.S. National Arboretum on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Forest Service. (Both the Arboretum and Forest Service are part of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture family.) Collected from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state, the tree stands 58" tall and has a 14" diameter trunk. High altitude and lack of rainfall naturally dwarfed this presentation specimen in a region where its cousins sometimes grow over 200 feet tall and occasionally have trunks eight feet thick. It can be expected to live for at least another century. ( "First American Bonsai," Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 14, No. 4, Winter 1980-81, pg. 80) |
| 29 |
|
| 30 |
|
| 31 |
1975 -- Australia's First National Bonsai Convention and Show
opened today in Sydney. John Naka was the headliner for the three
day event.
("Australian National Bonsai Convention,"
Bonsai, BCI, Vol. XIV, No. 6, July-August 1975, pg. 194)
|