It's always interesting to me that here in the United States on both ends of the bonsai price scale, we have "instant bonsai:" On the low end of the scale, we have the mallsai, mass produced and earmarked for almost certain death on the killing grounds - the coffee tables, window sills and televisions of the masses. On the other end of the priceline there's a wonderful piece of collected material hundreds of years old, worked over in the space of a few hours as a convention demonstration and raffled off to an admiring crowd.

Last weekend, Masahiko Kimura was in California for Yamato Bonsai Club's annual show. In a private area at Centennial Hall in Hayward, California, the Master, together with a cadre of assistants and translators, worked over a California Juniper with an assortment of power tools. The coveted demonstration piece was to be raffled off at $20-apiece tickets, and destined for fame... if it lives.

I've seen Masahiko Kimura twice before. The first time was at the 2000 JAL World Bonsai Contest Finals in Japan, where he restyled a bunjin juniper and the second was when I ran into him unexpectedly at the Tokyo Green Club, where he was preparing a display of bonsai planted on parallel, vertical slabs that was later to be featured in Bonsai Today. Kimura was very gracious and kind, and no one could argue with the bold restyling examples in his published book, The Magical Technician of Contemporary Bonsai, which I've studied for hours.

It's a hard thing to do, to rationalize the pace of bonsai - as we know and practice it ourselves - with the spectacle of a convention demonstration.

• The fact is, the demonstrator needs to be an accomplished showman, maybe more so than a talented artist.
• A quick wit and a quick hand, and the ability to cover a mistake skillfully.
• A ready supply of jokes, colorful anecdotes and voice loud enough to compete with the chatter in the back of the room.

This year's Magic Act was a great time for bonsai: especially in the display and vendor areas. For over two hours in the display hall the trees stood alone in front of white-draped backdrops. The show floor was deserted and quiet. It was a perfect opportunity to move through the displays and study them without being hurried along by others or suffering obstructed views. The vendor areas were similarly vacant, and there was ample time to look over the merchandise and talk to the idle salespeople.

Out front of the demo area stood a display of T-shirts, pins and calendars arranged much like merchandise one might expect to see at a rock concert tour. A woman in a happi coat told me excitedly about the demonstration in the other room. She seemed suprised that I didn't want to purchase a ticket for the demo.

This year, I missed the Big Magic Act, but I don't regret it one bit.

Has anybody reading the forum won or bought a tree from a master? Has it lived or died through lack off experience, or is it still alive and kicking? Anybody want to tell the story? Matt, isn't it so much easier to study and look at trees in a show when theres less people around? You take more info in when u have time to look rather than just glimpse at them when there's a crowd pushing for better views

Matt:

Delete this thread NOW !!

We don't want this secret to get out.

Matt,

I agree.
It's kind of like a guitarist on stage alone with his guitar on open mic night.

As a guitarist, I have found that all of the above quote applies

Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up and see the deepest Asian Secrets of Bonsai revealed here for the very first time!

Take a seat and watch as I magically transform this living specimen of an ordinary bush into a remarkable, living piece of art, formerly impossible, but now available thanks to an incredible streak of circumstance that has allowed my humble self to learn the lost art of the masters.

Knowledge once available only to a select few apprentices in the Far East is now within my grasp thanks to a remarkable discovery of ancient texts, which gave me instant insight into an art form so secret that it took a World War before it was introduced here in America.

Watch as I remove branches, bend trunks, pull leaves, wrap wire, and otherwise perform techniques never before experienced outside of mystic temples. Watch as I create the illusion of peacefulness. Watch as I transform an ordinary bush into a BONSAI!

Pay no attention to the health of the tree, nevermind the pile of foliage at my feet, pay no mind to the man behind the curtain, this my friends is magic!

Pay your money, gets your ticket, see the miracle of Bonsai, experience the magic, see the show, watch the master!



pfffftt

Attached, I hope, is a poor photo of a ponderosa I won in a raffle after it was styled in a demo at our club meeting by Dan Robinson in the mid nineties. Dan also collected the tree. Maybe that has something to do withj its survival -- Dan knew the tree well before he styled it. He didn't see it just before the demo.

Later, about three years later, it was redesigned by Walter Pall on a visit to the US, with Jim Doyle, at my home. It is alive and well and living in a pot by Nick Lenz.

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I have won a few trees, most of which have not survived. The deaths were hardly attributable to the demo artist, as I would never have purchased tickets for trees that were obviously damaged goods.

However, I recently won a bougainvillea from a demo by Mary Madison at the Bonsai Society of Greater Kansas City. You can see my pictures of it at: http://www.bonsaikc.com/bougie.htm. I need to update the article with new pics, the tree has grown tremendously, flowered, and been cut back.

However, I would have no problem purchasing a tree styled by Kimura. If it dies, I am confident that it was not his fault, it was the resulting aftercare or lack of it. The man is far more than "The Magical Technician of Contemporary Bonsai" as anyone who has seen his work with azaleas or other types of trees can attest.

Hmm, I've never thought about it like that. I've been there (on stage) many times...

I think they call it "trying to make a dollar out od 15¢".

.....and I quote to you from the 73rd quattrain of the great prognosticator heyMichel Nostradamus...."A famine shall befall the land of Steinbrenner and they shall be smitten down most harshly by the unshaven from the village of Beans."

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