Adventures in Japan...Pt 4 Omiya Nursery. Manse-en

[Jow]

Spot on Jarrod. The nursery also underwent a huge rennovation a year and a half/ 2 years ago which is why some may not recconise it from visits prior to then....... Its a beautiful new setup!

[bodhidharma]

Thanks Bodhi, Its a stunnning place isn't it. This is, i believe, the nursery of the late Saburo Kato, now run by his ?son?? Hatsuji Kato. Please correct me if i am wrong. Those groups were Saburo Katos self confessed "Greatest acheivement in display" These trees, as i understand it, were all collected from russia.

Very inspiring.

Howdy Jarrod, yep, his son. He has also spent a fortune getting these groups back into the family as they were sold on i believe from this nursery and were deteriorating. Please correct me if i am wrong as it was hard to understand the story attached to them

[Justa_Grl]

Wow, that is amazing Bodhi Thank you so much for sharing!! That has certainly brightened my day.
2000 years old is amazing! I don't believe I visited this place when I was in Omiya 2 years ago. I'll defintiely have to make an effort to find it in May if I return to Omiya!
Thanks againb for sharing mate

This was the nursery that was being renovated when we were in Omiya

[Andrew E]

Wow, my wife and I travelled to Omiya in 2005 and visited Kato's nursery and were priveliged to meet Saburo Kato before he passed. Very humble man who was very friendly. The nursery was amazing then let alone the transformation to today!! Bodhi, that 2000 yr old bonsai, it is HUGE yeah? If it is the one I'm thinking of the apprentices were working on it at the time and it was just incredible...days of work. Alex Bennett (of Bonsai Art at Terry Hills- Megumi's son) had just fininshed his 2 yrs there as an apprentice to Kato when we were there. The trees there are inspirational to say the least.
Andrew

[bodhidharma]

[quote="Andrew E"]Wow, my wife and I travelled to Omiya in 2005 and visited Kato's nursery and were priveliged to meet Saburo Kato before he passed. Very humble man who was very friendly. The nursery was amazing then let alone the transformation to today!! Bodhi, that 2000 yr old bonsai, it is HUGE yeah? If it is the one I'm thinking of the apprentices were working on it at the time and it was just incredible...days of work. Alex Bennett (of Bonsai Art at Terry Hills- Megumi's son) had just fininshed his 2 yrs there as an apprentice to Kato when we were there. The trees there are inspirational to say the least.
Andrew[/quote

G'day Andrew, It was a very large tree but when i saw it it was a little overgrown. I imagine that would keep it healthy. It is something else to see trees with such incredible ramification. Thats where we (aussies) are gonna be in another 200 years or so

[whereswally007]

Nice work,

Could you tell me what the tree is in picture 2 thanks

[craigw60]

looks like a needle juniper to me. Juniperus ridgida
Craigw

[bodhidharma]

looks like a needle juniper to me. Juniperus ridgida
Craigw

Yes, definitely a Juniper.