Bonsai Village and Rakuten Kitazawa

If I hadn't told you before, I'll tell you now...

I live in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the world. Honestly, when I've gone into Tokyo and told people where I live, they either don't believe me, tell me I'm extremely lucky, or think it would suck to live so far away from the nightclubs.

I live in Bonsai-cho (Bonsai Village). The entire village is basically an open-air Bonsai tree museum. It is, by far, the largest Bonsai exhibition in the world. Former US President Clinton has even been here, where he had an 80-year old ezo spruce Bonsai presented to him by the Prime Minister of Japan at the time (1998). Other world leaders have visited here as well.

From Bonsai-in-Asia.com:

The Bonsai Village was established in Omiya over seventy years ago in 1925, two years after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923. Bonsai growers who had lived in the Hongo Area in Tokyo, learned a lesson from the earthquake and decided to move to Omiya where there was good soil for nurturing bonsai with clean water and fresh air. At its peak, Bonsai Village encompassed more than 30 distinguished Houses. Today, more than 10 Houses can be found in the area, consistently producing some of the world's most envied and beautiful bonsai. In addition, the Great Bonsai Festival draws great crowds and is held each year from May 3rd to May 5th. Bonsai is very popular abroad, and Bonsai Village has hosted young trainees from Europe and the United States while entertaining 10,000 visitors from abroad annually. Though Japanese people tend to regard bonsai as being rather exclusive, bonsai trees are very easy to admire. Visitors are welcome to stroll around Bonsai Village at their leisure. For those who have tired from a day's worth of sightseeing, the Japanese-style "House of Four Seasons" provides a relaxing complementary rest area.


I will note that the "House of Four Seasons" is one block down the street from me. As I live in such a nice area and have a spare bedroom, prehaps I could use my room as a hotel. $250/night would be good, I think. At any rate, it should be entertaining to watch all of the tourists walking around, as I chase them off my property with a broom-stick! Damned tourists, always walking around my neighborhood. When will all of these stinky foreigners go back to where they came from?

...

Bonsai trees are, of course, miniature trees. They are grown in pots, and diligantly pruned; hense their small size. Because they are so well cared for, Bonsai have been known to live for a long time.

Apparently, the oldest Bonsai is at least 3600 years old. Here's a quote about it that I found:

"Archaeologists recently discovered the world's oldest living bonsai dating back at least 3600 years. The potted pine was found in central China, standing vigil over the tombs of the fourth emperor of the Shang dynasty and his queen. The 41 cm high tree stood in a solid gold pot which was itself set on a solid gold pedestal some 75 cm high. A fine dripper arrangement had been built into the stone roof of the tomb complex, allowing a single drop of water to fall onto the tree every single minute. The tree, in absolute darkness for more than three and a half milleniums, was chalk white, having lost all its chlorophyll. The continuos action of falling water has washed away all the soil in the pot leaving only the drainage layer of diamonds. The dense roots were as white as the pine needles. This tree, which is almost as old as the great Egyptian pyramids. might well be classified as one of the wonders of the natural world." -Easterbrook, David; Bonsai Down Under, Autumn 1985.

Of course, I am using a quote from a 21 year-old book that I've never read. As well, withoug sunlight, I doubt the tree could've gotten all of the essential nutriants that it needed to survive. It is a neat story though.

It seems that the oldest actual bonsai is still amazingly old though. Herb Gustafson, from Eugene, Oregon, has a vine maple bonsai that has been dated, via root layering, to 1394 years old. Wow!

Well, let's look at a few interesting pictures of Bonsai-cho in Omiya, shall we?

















Most of the bonsai houses are something like this. There's a house, where the owner and his family live, and a yard, where a bunch of trees are displayed. Some of them do look really cool.

















Here's the back alley that leads up to my place. It sure does look better than any back alley that I saw in Canada... or Korea for that matter! I love all the different colours. A couple of weeks ago, this walkway has covered in pink and white sakura leaves. Now that the green is out, it is still a beautiful walk. Poor me, having to live in the middle of this dump, eh?

















This thing... I'm not really sure how to describe it. I guess I'll just call it the 'ostrich tree', as it looks like it's trying to bury it's crown in the ground.


















Here is a cartoon museum, which features the works of Takuten Kitazawa. Kitazawa-san is considered to be one of the pioneers of manga, or cartoons, in Japan. He founded the, then famous, satirical magazine called Tokyo Puck, in 1905. The magazine was printed in Japanese, as well as both English and Chinese. Much of his later work appeared in many other languages as well. I visited this place last weekend. Although small, it did have some impressive work to be seen.

I literally live half a block from this place.

















Tokyo Puck


























































Just for kicks, here's some old work from the great Osamu Tezuka. Hey, it is part of my site's name!


















To be honest though, my favourite cartoonist is neither Kitazawa-san or Tezuka-san. Above is a sample of the work of Hayao Miyazaki. Maybe some of you will recongize the artwork. It's quite famous.