Page 11 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2014Q2

Honoring Ted T. Tsukiyama

The complex landscape: “The World of Bonsai Aloha” is
dedicated to and honors Ted T. Tsukiyama of Honolulu,
Hawaii.

o one has done more to create Hawaii’s “Aloha Bonsai World” than Ted
Tsukiyama. He was an ROTC cadet at the University of Hawaii when Japan
Nattacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The unit became the Territorial
Guard, were issued a rifle with six bullets and sent to guard the hills above Honolulu
against enemy paratroopers. Soon after, he and other Japanese were unfairly and
summarily discharged and branded enemy aliens.
Ted was part of the legendary Varsity Victory Volunteers who did manual labor to
support the war effort and this made possible the all-Japanese units that included the
442nd Infantry Combat Team that became the most decorated unit of its size as they
suffered awesome casualties to prove their loyalty. Ted did more than his share in the
Military Intelligence Service (MIS) in Burma where interpretation and interrogation
combined with clandestine missions helped to turn the tide and shortened World War II.
After discharge, college, and establishing his legal practice, he befriended the nation
of his former enemies beginning with Kaichi Ito and Saburo Kato of Omiya, Japan. On
his trips throughout Hawaii, Japan, and the United States, he contacted the leaders of
the bonsai world. He effectively cofounded the non-profit Hawaii Bonsai Association
and handled the administrative and diplomatic role of secretary-treasurer for the first
ten years; then as president for many more years.
Saburo Kato led the rebuilding of bonsai in Japan beginning with the restoration
of the historic Imperial Bonsai Collection, the lengthy national exhibit at Osaka
Expo 70, the 1976 Bicentennial Bonsai Gift to the United States, and the 1979 World
Bonsai Convention. Ted and Hawaii played quiet, advisory and supportive roles
internationally but burst on the American bonsai scene when Hawaii hosted the
landmark IBC 80 Hawaii, cosponsored by Bonsai Clubs International (BCI), American
Bonsai Society (ABS) and included the first international participation by Nippon
(Japan) Bonsai Association. It featured a Hawaii 3-ring presentation, the first major
penjing presentation by Deborah Koreshoff of Australia, John Naka trained aged,
collected tropical material as bonsai, and Saburo Kato created his “Peace Forest,” the
first major tropical forest arrangement that now resides at the Fuku-Bonsai Cultural
Center.
As we became the catalyst to create the Kona Fuku-Bonsai Center, Ted assisted
incorporating Fuku-Bonsai in 1985 as the corporate treasurer and director. He
provided steadfast guidance through successful years, during our battle for survival,
and retired from our board in 2007. Ted has accumulated impressive honors for his
accomplishments in bonsai, his legal career, and also for his vast community service.
This photo was taken in May, 2012, when he was named the University of Hawaii at
Manoa Distinguished Alumnus of the year.
On behalf of all associated with Fuku-Bonsai and the Mid-Pacific Bonsai Foundation,
in friendship and respect, “The World of Bonsai Aloha” is dedicated to and honors Ted
T. Tsukiyama of Honolulu, Hawaii.

—David W. Fukumoto, Kurtistown, Hawaii (December 14, 2013)

April/May/June 2014 | BCI | 9