Looking back….we can tell a tree’s story…..admire an image…..capture a moment…..remember a special event…..be inspired – to create a memory for tomorrow.
I hope you enjoy this regular peep into some of John’s bonsai history.
Memory Lane – Nobutaka Sakuma Newstead 2006
In September 2006 we held our second Newstead Bonsai Extravaganza and this time we had invited a Japanese bonsai master to join us.
Nobutaka Sakuma arrived at Manchester airport on the Thursday evening welcomed by me and my daughter. It was to be quite a weekend……he spoke no english whatsoever and I spoke even less japanese. Fortunately my daughter had bought us “Japanese for Dummies” ….and I suspect it was tailor made for me!!!
Nobutaka was to carry out demonstrations on the Saturday and Sunday. He had selected
specially some ibigawa rocks in Japan and these had been shipped over at the beginning of the year. When these arrived it was a case of WOW!… these were the best I had ever seen. When the invoice arrived a few weeks later it was an even bigger “**??**!!” WOW!!!
specially some ibigawa rocks in Japan and these had been shipped over at the beginning of the year. When these arrived it was a case of WOW!… these were the best I had ever seen. When the invoice arrived a few weeks later it was an even bigger “**??**!!” WOW!!!He spent most of Friday selecting suitable planting material from our sales benches and preparing balls of keto to act as the planting medium. In the evening my good friend Danny Use arrived from Belgium to help with the demos and translation.
The pictures below will give you an insight into the excellent rock landscapes he created and to those of you fortunate enough to be there, a nostalgic reminder. It was a privilege to have Danny and Nobutaka at our event and I am sure everyone who attended enjoyed their efforts.
It cost me a lot of money to bring a demonstrator over from Japan but it was something I had always wanted to do. I have always believed that the future of Bonsai in this country lies in Japan and what we can learn from them. In giving my students and visitors the opportunity to learn directly from a Japanese bonsai master I had achieved one of my ambitions.
