Page 62 - BSAM 2015 Q4

Top left; Keiichi Fujikawa is the second generation owner of Fujikawa Kouka-en and is one of the most respected bonsai nurserymen in the Kansai area of Japan.
Top right; A view of Taisho-en, November 2012, where Mark and Ritta met Maarten van der Hoeven, the owner of Bonsai Plaza in Delft, Netherlands.
Bottom left; Kokonoe and Ritta, November 2012, Kouka-en. The rst time Mark and Ritta saw their tree.
Mark and Ritta Bring Kokonoe Home
60 | BCI | October/November/December 2015
Importing bonsai trees from Japan to Europe
By Kath Hughes, UK. Photos courtesy Mark and Ritta Cooper, UK
It was in November 2012 that Mark and Ritta privately visited Fujikawa Kouka-en Bonsai Nursery for the rst time. Keiichi Fujikawa is the second generation owner of Fujikawa Kouka-en and is one of the most respected bonsai nurserymen in the Kansai area of Japan. Fujikawa’s nursery is located not far from the town of Ikeda, which is north of Osaka, and is usually home to several foreign students of bonsai. Keiichi Fujikawa’s reputation was already well known to Mark and Ritta, and they had admired his trees for many
years prior to their rst visit to Kouka-en. ey had always been impressed by how well his trees were presented for sale in the sales area of Taikan-ten, a show held in Kyoto annually, which they had visited many times before.