|
In the spring of 1975, John gave a workshop hosted by the Hukyu Bonsai
Society in Tampa, FL. Early April saw him in at the Federal Plant
Introduction Station in Glenn Dale, MD a few days after the arrival of
the fifty-three bonsai from Japan as the bulk of that country's
Bicentennial gift to the U.S. (The previously year both John and
Yuji Yoshimura -- see below -- had expressed their willingness to serve
as advisors and to assist in the training and maintenance of the collection.
This provided additional reassurance to the directors of the Nippon Bonsai Association
that the collection would be properly cared for.) John walked through the collection
with curator Bob Drechsler giving suggestions. John pointed out
that several of the jin (dead branches retained on trees) needed
treatment with the preservative lime-sulfur to intensify their whiteness.
After John left, Bob obtained the lime-sulfur and painted the jin -- which
promptly turned them yellow-orange. Being relatively new at caring for
bonsai, Bob was horrified at the color. But after a few days, the jin
turned snowy white as they should be. Relief!
In May John was awarded the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's Thomas Roland Medal for his untiring and generous efforts for over 25 years to spread the knowledge of bonsai throughout the U.S. and for bringing this field of horticulture to a superior degree of art and refinement. Later John was a demonstrator at the July 2-6 Bonsai Clubs International Convention in Miami Beach, FL where he gave a "chalk talk" in his superb sketches. The 23-tree all-foemina juniper forest which John created in Pasadena in 1974 was won in a raffle by Art Hellberg of Santa Barbara. John allowed the forest to be raffled on the condition that sensei be allowed to keep it for a year and nurture it. With John's out-of-town commitments of spring and early summer, the forest had grown prodigiously without attention. The master had to spend approximately six hours giving it a "haircut" and rewiring it. (Think how much time that would have taken an amateur...) Also, he said, two of the smaller trees had needed to be replaced. Finally, on September 6, 1975, coinciding with one of John's regular expeditions to the Santa Barbara club for classes, the forest arrived. The local newspaper had sent a photographer to record the event. John had chosen 23 to be the number of trees, commemorating his age when he first met his wife, Alice, who was also there for this long-awaited occasion. Transported to its new home following the afternoon class, the forest -- and site -- received final approval from John. Then the first Australian National Bonsai Convention and Show was held between October 31 and November 2. The Guests of Honor for that were John Naka and Yuji Yoshimura. The previous year at the BCI Convention in Pasadena, John was invited to come to Sydney by Rita Cromarty, David Rich and Zillah Willmott, all foundation members of the Australian National Bonsai Association. Down Under, John worked extremely hard giving demonstrations and workshops all over Sydney. Waiting at the airport for his departure, John was asked by Zillah for permission to make a portfolio of his sketches that he had done at the workshops. The sensei readily agreed, and when pressed for written permission, he signed his authorization on the only material they could find at that late hour -- the inside of an empty cigarette packet. The resulting 500 copy limited edition of 52 of John's sketches proved very popular.
John was one of twenty-two contributors of articles to the BBG's 1976
Bonsai For Indoors
handbook, which was edited by Constance T. Derderian.
"Pruning Can Make the Difference" (pp. 26-29) includes nine line drawings by Naka.
Between Feb. 10 and 12, 1978 John led the Houston Bonsai Society thru
all phases pertaining to the creation of good bonsai. For the
lecture-demonstration John worked on several different plants,
including Japanese yew (
Podocarpus
),
azalea, holly, and juniper. All of the critiques and workshops
were full, the latter using both collected and nursery stock for their
materials. This was the second year in a row that the Society brought the
sensei
to Houston for a workshop.
At the BCI Convention this year from July 19 to 23 "Bonsai Country" in Portland, OR, Toshio Saburomaru and John were the guest artists.
John was elected president of Crane Products, a Pico Rivera, CA importer
of Kaneshin hand-crafted bonsai tools from Japan.
John visited the bonsai nurseries in
China
in 1981, noting the larger general size of the trees (because of display in
larger gardens, shrines and courtyards), the less defined shapes and styles (due
to a lack of knowledgeable teachers) and the beautiful, well-designed antique pots
"just as I dreamed they would be." On this tour -- which John led -- the group
also stopped in Hong Kong to view the personal collection of Yee-sun Wu, and then
went on to Japan to attend the National Satsuki Exhibition there.
20
John's
Bonsai Techniques II
was published in 1982. (This one and the first would see translation
into four other languages by the end of the decade.) The 442 pages
and 1,005 b&w photos and line drawings made this required reading in
the practice of the art of bonsai. Most of the earlier books in English
leaned more towards basic horticultural knowledge and techniques for keeping
the trees alive. In time, this material shifted towards explaining
the aesthetics involved in styling and shaping.
21
For the twentieth anniversary symposium of the Bonsai Society of Greater
New York in April 1983, Yuji Yoshimura and John Naka were the principal
lecturer/demonstrators. They then headlined July 6 through 10 for
the BCI Convention in Orlando, FL
And Naka-san was one of four leading teachers who participated in a series of Master's Design articles for International Bonsai magazine. Each artist was allowed to discuss his own particular design for the given style. This year's style was Informal Upright, 1984 would have the Cascade, 1985 would be Slanting, and 1986 would see the Formal Upright. Each artist was allocated 100 points to divide among the designated elements pertinent to his bonsai design, and each supplied sketches which were then rendered into a standardized format. 23
After displaying it at the Philadelphia Flower Show March 10 to 17 to some
quarter million people, John presented his masterpiece juniper forest
Goshin
to the
National Bonsai Collection
in Washington, D.C. in March, 1984. The composition
was the first resident of the new American Bonsai Pavilion and the largest
bonsai at the National Arboretum. It was slightly taller than the
49" high, single trunk Japanese red pine (
Pinus densiflora
) donated by the Imperial Household in 1976. At the reception honoring
John,
Goshin
was dramatically displayed against a golden screen, and was the only bonsai
in the room.
In 1985 John Naka came to the
Philippines
with a tour group of mainly Americans. He held a one-day lecture
which included the restyling of a few trees. The event is considered
the turning point for bonsai in that country. Naka was the first
sensei
to speak on the subject there and the members of the Philippine Bonsai
Society, Inc. (formally organized in 1975) attended the lecture in full
force. His advocacy for "the rules" was easily accepted. After
that visit, his second book became available and it became the bonsai bible
there, too. Subsequently, nearly every tree was restyled and judged
in shows in accordance with the "the rules."
A color photograph of
Goshin
graced the May/June 1986 cover of BCI's
Bonsai.
The GSBF Convention in Anaheim from Nov. 5 through 8 was the site of Masahiko
Kimura's first appearance outside of Japan. Knicknamed the
"The
Magical Technician"
Kimura accomplishes fantastic and sometimes
unbelievable bonsai designs with the use of power tools. For his
demonstrations he used two different junipers. During these and his
workshop for ten students, Kimura assisted each student in his quiet, empathetic
manner while John Naka translated (as he often did for major bonsai events featuring Japanese masters).
28
John Naka conducted a demonstration and workshop on April 23 and 24, 1988
for the fifth annual Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Festival held in Willow Grove,
PA, before a gathering of a dozen clubs.
The first World Bonsai Convention was held in Omiya,
Japan
-- the center of the world's bonsai art for most of this century -- between
April 6 and 9, 1989. Its theme was "World Peace Through Bonsai."
Almost thirteen hundred enthusiasts from twenty-eight countries gathered
for the event at which three dozen Japanese masters gave lectures and
demonstrations. John was also a headline demonstrator.
At the 1990 ABS Symposium in Columbus, OH, John was the lead artist (June
27 - July 1). Three days later for the BCI convention in Honolulu,
Japanese grand master Saburō Katō was the headliner with Shinji
Ogasawara and John.
On February 21, 1991, in the city of Cali,
Columbia
the Latin-American Bonsai Federation (LABF) was formally organized.
The meeting coincided with the celebration of "Cali-Bonsai-10 Years."
Among the impressive co-signers of the Constitutive Act was WBFF Vice President,
John Yoshio Naka.
The IBC'92 Convention, "Magic in Memphis," took place from May 21 to 25
in Memphis, TN with Masahiko Kimura and John Naka as the guest artists.
The aforementioned LABF held its first formal meeting here.
32
The 2nd World Bonsai Convention of the World Bonsai Friendship Federation
(WBFF), "New Horizons," was held in Orlando, FL from May 27 to 31, 1993.
This was in conjunction with the BCI and ABS conventions. Saburō Katō,
Yuji Yoshimura, and John were the headliners for the over seven hundred
delegates who attended.
From November 3 to 6, 1994 a joint BCI/GSBF convention took place in San Jose, CA. Guests of honor were John Naka, Toshio Saburomaru, and Yuji Yoshimura. Enthusiasts attending from outside this country hailed from Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Brazil, the Netherlands, Italy, Australia, and Japan. The GSBF was seeking to establish permanent masterpiece bonsai collections in two different areas of the state. The Huntington Library and Gardens would have Collection-South. 34
On March 25, 1995 John donated an olive bonsai to the Golden State
Bonsai Federation Collection at the Huntington Botanic Garden.
This was the olive he had collected on July 4, 1958.
From Aug. 30 through Sept. 3, 1996 John was the headliner for the Bonsai Societies of Florida 24th annual state convention held in Fort Lauderdale. This convention was one of the most successful for the state in many years. Having John was the highlight for the more than 250 attendees who came from all over the U.S., the Carribbean and South America. Nine other artists and teachers were there, also, but it was the appearance of Naka-san that drew these people from so far away. John performed a master workshop for ten of the lucky attendees who were fortunate enough and fast enough to sign up and take advantage of his expertise. He did a special ten tree critique of the exhibit, as well as generously spending a multitude of hours signing his books. 35
March 20-24, 1997 was the 40th Anniversary Show of the California Bonsai
Society. It featured a two part "retirement" demonstration
by John Naka, ably assisted by the likes of Ben Oki, Mel Ikeda,
Ernie Kuo, and similar star pupils of the grand master.
Roy Nagatoshi was the emcee. Spry and entertaining at age 82, Naka-san
could still deftly wield a medium-sized chain saw to sculpt a large California
juniper, requesting various tools from his senior students in Japanese.
Ben Oki, John Naka, Mel Ikeda, and Roy Nagatoshi. (Both 1997 photos by RJB)
Notable bits of Naka-san's philosophy heard there include:
"Bonsai is not the result: that comes after.
Your enjoyment is what is important."
This convention also included fifteen workshops, benefit drawings, vendors,
banquet, and the Exhibition of Bonsai: Treasures of the Heart at the Huntington
Botanical Gardens. Here, the permanent Collection-South was officially
inaugurated with a few dozen of the local artists' best compositions, some
truly magnificent examples of this hobby. Most if not all of these
specimens owe some of their shaping to John's teachings.
From June 12 - 17, John was the guest of honor in Pisa,
Italy
of the European Bonsai and Suiseki Convention 1998. This year Marc Noelanders'
Bonsai Art
book was published with a Foreword penned by John.
RJB with Goshin in Washington, D.C., July 1998.
In April, 1999 John went to the National Arboretum for three days to direct
work done on
Goshin. He worked on a number of other trees as well.
A Warren Hill color photograph of
Goshin
graced the Fall 2000 cover of the ABS
Journal.
Of note are the fine guy wires rising from places along the
outer edge of the soil up to some of the outer branches of the composition.
John
was honored at the Forty Fifth Anniversary Exhibition and Convention of
the California Bonsai Society, March 21 through 24, 2002.
Per John's insistence, this month a new election of NABF officers
resulted in John being elected "President Emeritus" of the North
American group and Felix Laughlin as the new President of the
group. In turn, the WBFF Board then approved the
appointment of Saburō Katō and John Naka as "Chairman Emeritus" and
"Vice-Chairman Emeritus" of WBFF, respectively.
The premier issue of the North American Bonsai Federation Newsletter was released online on November 8. As a tribute to his longtime efforts, the NABF Newsletter #1 was primarily dedicated to John Naka. Best wishes and personal insights from friends and admirers in North America and around the world were presented. Pictures of many of the key players during this sensei's first 88 years are therein presented.
A photo of John, with a massive
shari
'd juniper during a recent workshop at his home, graced the cover of the
September/October 2003 issue of BCI's
Bonsai
magazine. The accompanying story (pp. 20-22)
has twelve photos by May McNey, Patrick Heath, and Peter Bloomer taken
from the late 1970s through August 2003, John's 89th birthday.
On
May 19, 2004, Grandmaster John Yoshio Naka died at Whittier Hospital
Medical Center at 11:35 a.m. He had been hospitalized with
complications from shingles which apparently compromised his immune
system and caused respiratory and renal failure, three months short of
his 90th birthday. His legacy shall live on. A
French site quickly put up a cartoon of
Goshin
with the translated caption: "John Naka has gone. A whisper
of astonishment wanders in between the branches of Goshin."
39
"Universally
acknowledged as the most famous and most popular bonsai artist in
history, Naka-san touched the lives of every one of us, whether we met
him or not. John Naka was the sort of person who connected well
with people, whether they were the leaders or the first time
visitor. John had a charismatic penchant for seeming to remember
everyone’s name. And he would remember details of the trees you
had in workshops that even you probably didn't recall. John is
remembered by many for his awesome bonsai talent and knowledge, but he
had tremendous political skills, too. He had a rather unique
ability to tolerate any level of skill while striving for perfection.
A great leader and a great friend, John is the stuff of legend."
"His enthusiasm for life and for bonsai was boundless, and his sense of
humor was never more spontaneous than when he told a story for the
hundredth time and burst out laughing every time. He was generous
of spirit and with his time, and he had no patience for pettiness or
pessimism. Chief among his attributes was humility; he never
referred to himself as a 'master,' but as a 'student.' He
considered the trees to be the teachers."
A
tribute article consisting of 32 reminiscences, 1 color and 10 b&w
photos was published in pp. 6-10 of the July/August/September issue of BCI's
Bonsai
magazine. The cover of issue No. 93 of
Bonsai Today
had a picture of
Goshin
on it and there were photos of a couple of John's other trees inside.
The January/February/March 2005 issue of BCI's
Bonsai
contained seven tribute articles and a timeline between pages 8 and 23,
plus with 19 color and 7 b&w photos, a color cartoon, and 3 line
drawings.
In May, the bonsai world gathered at the
John Y. Naka Pavilion of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington, D.C.
as part of the World Bonsai Friendship Federation's Convention to
commemorate John's many contributions to bonsai. An impressive
film was shown about Saburo Kato and the late John Y. Naka, paying
tribute to these two men for their historic work in founding the WBFF,
which is dedicated to promoting peace through bonsai. The session
concluded with the ceremonial igniting of the Candle of Peace by Saburo
Kato. After a review of the exhibits of trees, scrolls, stones
and pots by Mr. Kato and Mike
His devotion to his teacher (guru) and mentor, the great John Naka was the part that really touched me. In ancient Indian culture, the Guru is the sum total of the trinity -- the creator Lord Brahma, the preserver Lord Vishnu and destroyer Lord Shiva -- the father and mother put together. Naka Sein [sic], from what I have know about him, was a true Guru. The kind we only get to read about in the old stories of India. Roy paid obeisance to his guru Naka and invited his grandson Michael Naka to the stage and said he would guide him in shaping the tree through his grandson's eyes.[sic] It was his ultimate reverence to the guru. He worked on the tree like a man possessed and the result was a masterpiece." 40 |
