Page 8 - BSAM 2017 Q3

Masahiko Kimura presented the commemorative demonstration
on the rst day.
He created a masterpiece with 15 Shimpaku junipers planted
on a massive stone mountain. The trees were previously
air layered and shaped.
to world peace’. e inauguration was graced by the presence of His Imperial Highness Prince Akishino- miya and Princess Akishino-miya. e Prince in his speech touched upon the history of Bonsai art. Mr. Nikunj Parekh, Director of WBFF - India region, in his speech delineated the history of WBFF and spoke about the relevance of bonsai in bringing all commu- nities of the world together as well the spiritual aspects it brings to our lives. Mr. Jiro Fukuda the Chairman of WBFF introduced the headliners who were uniformly clad in black T-shirts signifying unity of all regions of the world.
A commemorative demonstration was present- ed by Mr. Masahiko Kimura. Contrary to his usual style of creating bonsai with dramatic deadwood in his demonstrations, Mr. Kimura created a beautiful mountain landscape which he said was inspired by the Wulingyuan mountains in China. e rock itself was stunning, created from two pieces of so featherstone which were cemented together and carved to create hollows and crevices. Cavities were pre-created in the rock formation and wires to hold the plants were ce- mented in place. Mr. Kimura planted een Shimpaku Junipers in the cavities, all of which were air layered a year ago and pre-trained to the desired shape. Mr. Kimura said he chose to demonstrate the mountain landscape as it was something everyone could easily create by themselves. Mr. Kimura was ably assisted by two of his apprentices while Mr. Ryan Neil enlivened the atmosphere with his excellent translation from Japanese to English. The resulting rock landscape turned out to be a masterpiece, perfect in all respects and was later displayed in the exhibit area.
6 | BCI | July/August/September 2017