The location of the photoshoot today is the long-established bonsai garden in Fukushima belonging to the Abe family, now into their third generation of bonsai growing. The first generation, Kurakichi Abe and his son Kenichi Abe have grown many Azuma white pine bonsai from the seeds of trees local to their area in Fukushima. This is now being continued by the third generation, Daiki Abe.
At the age of 28 in Showa 10 (1935), Kurakichi Abe started to study with Saita Kinsaku, first generation of Houjyu-en in Sugamo ward, Tokyo. He was so enchanted by the Azuma white pines that grew around his home town in Fukushima that he developed the idea of' Kukan Yubi', the beauty of space.
In his native dialect, he explained that the succinct phrase had a deeper meaning. 'Each tree has its own natural growth habit and character that's often destroyed when we create bonsai, making them look awkward and unnatural. The concept of 'Kukan Yubi' is to search for and bring out the natural character of each tree, to understand its natural growth habit and to skilfully use that to create a bonsai that looks more natural than nature itself.' As soon as he returned home he started to grow his own white pine material from seeds, a momentous achievement. The material has been styled into every style of tree growing in the mountains around Fukushima by the three generations of the family Abe.
Esta historia es de la edición September / October 2022 de Bonsai Focus EN.
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Esta historia es de la edición September / October 2022 de Bonsai Focus EN.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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BETULA
The challenge to grow bonsai from scratch
Refreshing accents
Summer accent plants that grow near water
Cast in Iron
Saad Khayar's naturalistic and detailed tenpai
BONSAI FROM FRUIT
Propagate by sowing seeds, or taking cuttings to create new bonsai
THE ROUGH DIAMOND
Bjorn Bjorholm works on a juniper with hidden qualities
Little, but wild
Bringing out the best from material with many faults
My victory
The bonsai passion of Alfredo Salaccione
The Azuma pines
Daiki, the third-generation Abe, works on seed-grown pines
No turning back
David Quintana works on a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris)
Kid's play or pot?
A (very) young artist creates unconventional pots that are seriously cool