Kokufu ten Japans Best Bonsai (first show) #bonsaijapan

Hey, good morning, this is Jelle. In the middle of Ueno Park, Tokyo. I'm on my way to the Kokufu Bonsai Show. The Kokufu Bonsai Show is probably one of the most reputable bonsai shows in the world. This year is the 100th edition, so it is bound to be exciting. There's expected to be 250 trees in two settings. So first a show for four days, and then a pause. And then build up the show again for another four days. I'm not going to show you every single tree. I'm just going to do a walk around and highlight a few of my favorites. But now we're waiting. We're getting to the reception. Let's go inside and have a look at a few trees. On the first thing that I notice here, upon coming in, it's busy. The hallways are narrow and the trees are big. I mean the first tree that you see here as you enter, this massive azalea. Gorgeous pseudocydonia. Look at the flaking bark on this. So much fun. We're queuing here to get through the trees. Oh, this is fun. This is a tree by Maarten van der Hoeven, the owner of Bonsai Plaza in the Netherlands. And I know it's been one of his childhood dreams to have a tree at the Kokufu. Maarten, congratulations. This is an amazing tree. I think to know that it is hosted through Suzuki-san who prepared this for the show. And you were here just days ago. Really nice. Spring is upon us also here on the Kokufu with this flowering cherry. I think it's a sakura. Interesting to see. Ramnification on this is not all that high. But I think that's common for these larger cherries with flowers. This is one of the biggest pines that I have ever seen in a show. Very large. Look at that. Almost completely free of wire. Very, very nice. Even length of all the needles. Which is, of course, a sign that this tree has been in cultivation for decades. Perfect example of fine bonsai. Another very, very large flowering sakura cherry. And I've come to one of the trees that I was asked to film by one of my friends in Germany. This tree has been bought by someone in Europe. And it will be transported to Europe. And will hopefully be visible in the No Landers Trophy next year. So not this year. It is a hawthorn. And this hawthorn is in full fruit. Look at how many of these red fruits are in there. What I really like here is the twist in the trunk. Let me see if I can zoom in. Hard to tell. Look at this gorgeous Japanese maple. And the nebari really has fused into one of those pancakes. Sign of age and tremendous skill. Although not to everybody's favor. And the ramification is just gorgeous. Look at how fine these twigs are. And although you can find some scars on the trunk. Nothing obvious for the last decades. This is what age does people. Just have to love flowers, right? Brunus muma of course. The Japanese flowering apricot. And look at that trunk. And the tables are of course of a decent size. And here we have a special tree. Not sure what this is. Cedar? But you see the little label here. Little metal tag. Which means that it is part of the recognized masterpieces of Japan. Gorgeous planomalus. I'll have to go a little bit up close. Not sure what we have here. Looks like a hornbeam. It is a hornbeam. And right next to this massive five needle pine. We see a very nice planomalus. On the rock. Twisted pomegranate. And the nice thing is the trunk twists by itself on this species. You don't have to do anything yourself. Well prune, wire, style. Now this behind me. Twisted juniper. Absolutely gorgeous. Let me flip the camera. And what you see here is a very nice ribbon forming of the deadwood. And this is created by over time. Every time reducing the living vein. So that more of the deadwood becomes visible. And you see it layer after layer here. Formed over time. And of course some styling of the deadwood itself. Gorgeous. Look at this deadwood. But also the styling where you see a very nice shape coming down on this side. With a second canopy on this area. You see each foliage pad is formed as an individual little dome. Together shaping the overall canopy. We wouldn't be in Japan without Japanese maple of course. I'm trying to show you the length of the internodes. But it's hard to see. These internodes are so short to each other. They've been pruned year after year after year. Only the short internodes have been kept. Very very dense ramification. Very fine twigging. And of course the taper in the branches right. Gorgeous magnolia. Very very long cascading branch. Very old Japanese five needle pine. On its own roots of course. And if I look underneath. Let's look at the branching. Follow the lifeline on this one. And into the canopy. Lost. You can smell the fragrance of this tree through the video I'm sure. Of course prunus muma. Ancient. There's so many trees here. Another enormous white prunus muma. I don't think I've ever seen any tree like this muma in Europe. Just look at the ancient trunk on this. And this is very big right? One of the largest chanomelis. Presumably chojobine. That I've ever seen. Look at the poor sparkle on that. And right in time. The first flowers are on it as well. Before this strident maple. I'm wondering whether this is not just a twin trunk over a rock. But it's actually two trees over a rock that have fused right there. And the accent plant. I'm not so innocent. I'll show you why. With bamboo planted together. Right now I'm standing in front of one of the biggest pseudocydonias that I've seen. Let's flip it around. With a peeling bark. Try to find the start of the lifeline at the base. Dipping around the back. Then coming up. All the way following the shari. What looks like a gin. All the way to the top. And then dipping down into the canopy. To form the crown of the tree. So all this foliage is actually hanging down from one point. In the top of the tree. So what looks like individual branches is actually just a crown of branches. Hanging from this one point all the way up there. And just for size comparison. Look at how big these trees are. Very nice big taper. Tremendous piece of art. Look at the styling. And also the enormous amount of deadwood. Well lit out. True masterpiece. Enormous pseudocydonia. Look at the taper of the trunk. And ramnification is possible. As you can see here. As I think everybody knows. Shogun is not really my thing. But they have lots of them. Look at this tiny zelkova. This display really is an end of winter. Starting to wow towards the spring. With their little oranges. And then the flowering choyaba on top. Very nice small broom. Let's take a look at the top. It's an inspiration for one of the trees that I'm trying to make. These are all very old trees. All with a story. Now can you imagine a tree that was on the very first kokufu exhibition? This tree was. So roughly a hundred years ago. Not exactly because the kokufu doesn't rain every single year. And in the beginning it rained twice. But this tree was there on the first exhibition. And here's the picture proof of it. And another one of those trees that has been around for a very very long time. So the 61st kokufu exhibition. The tree. And let's look at it now. This must be one of the oldest greenest mumus ever. Very hard to see. Wind swept. I would say also choyabai. Hanomerus. With gorgeous orange little flowers. Announcing spring. Very nice lonissera display. So and there you have it. Kokufu part one. I'm still going to walk around a little bit more. But I think more or less I've seen it all. It is really really busy. There's people everywhere. I don't know whether you can hear me. If not, I'll do a voiceover later on. This was Janne for kokufu part one. Maybe I'll do a kokufu part two. See you next time.