Page 32 - BSAM 2017 Q3

Top; Panorama of the exhibit.
Middle left “one thousand years in the making, this juniper called Hiryu greeted the forty ve thousand who came in the front door.
Middle right; Stones of every size and shape could be found in the retail area.
Bottom left; One Thousand Bonsai, Trees all prepared by school children as a feature of the convention to help promote Bonsai to a new generation.
children from the local area and one very famous Bonsai Master giving a very special demonstration (rumored to be his last ever in public) namely Bonsai Master Masahiko Kimura. English translation respon- sibilities were ably handled by none other than Ryan Neil.
ursday night also featured the reception party where all who attended could mingle. Now it hit home we are in for something very special and Friday awaited.
Friday: Meeting “Hiryu” and One Thousand other Bonsai
Arriving early to see the ribbon cutting ceremony outside the Saitama Super Arena I had passed a full oral display in the Saitama Shintoshin station de- picting that very famous artwork by famous Japanese painter Katsushika Hokusai further showing the level the host had gone to for all.
Lining up with the media, front row to get the pho- tos I wanted of the Japan Bonsai Suiseki SHIHO-TEN Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, one simply had to see that the public were going to embrace this event as the line to get in stretched for at least three hundred meters around the building. Registration has its advantages.
Ceremony over the rush to get in commenced and once there none were disappointed despite the crush of people. I am sure that other articles will be cover- ing the displays so not to steal any thunder I will just say that the delegates and public all had access to the Shimpaku Juniper“ Hiryu” claimed to be around one thousand years old as well as a display of bonsai and pots nearly 400 years old from the Imperial Palace, a display of nearly 300 bonsai and suiseki from en- thusiasts all over Japan, one thousand Bonsai along a single wall created by children for the event, around one hundred and eighty retail booths selling abso- lutely everything Bonsai related and two stages set up to feature international as well as national and local demonstrations by Bonsai artists.
Delegates also had access to two other stages where key Bonsai Artists gave demonstrations away from the crush on the main oor. e hardest choice once inside was where to go rst given some of the dem- onstrations were held either concurrently or over lapped and how to photograph everything as well. e
30 | BCI | July/August/September 2017