Page 66 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2015Q4

Mark and Ritta The show ran for four days, which for Mark and more than a month now, must be nearing its destina-
Ritta went very quickly. In the afternoon of the last tion. They received a message from Maarten that he’d
received a day, they had to leave the show to travel back to Tokyo been advised by his shipping company that the voyage
to catch their flight home to the UK. They said their had encountered unusually bad storms, and that some
message saying farewells to everyone they knew, and of course their sea containers were badly damaged and a few had even
thanks and appreciation to Keiichi Fujikawa, Bjorn, been lost overboard! The boat would also be making
the voyage had Owen, Maeoka, Yuri and Dario. an unscheduled stop to assess the damage. Thankfully,
it transpired that all was well with the Bonsai Plaza’s
encountered The long and risky voyage from Japan to container that Mark and Ritta’s tree was in. The tree
the Netherlands
eventually arrived safely in the Netherlands and it was
unusually bad Christmas 2013 and New Year’s Day soon came placed with all the other evergreen species in Bonsai
and passed, and during the early weeks of 2014 they Plaza’s specialised quarantine facilities where it stayed
storms. Some kept in touch with Maarten regarding the progress of for the months legally required.
their tree’s proposed export from Japan via a refrig- In early summer 2014 Mark and Ritta visited
sea containers erated sea container. This is not a risk free process. Maarten in Delft to collect their tree. Fortuitously,
Most bonsai hobbyists aren’t aware of the risks that Taiga Urushibata was in Europe at this time and they
were badly buying and exporting bonsai entails. For Mark and arranged to attend a private workshop with him at
Ritta there were risks (albeit small) associated with Maarten’s home at the same time. Son of Nobuichi
damaged leaving a living tree in Japan for a year, also the risks Urushibata, Taiga is the second generation of
associated with transportation and care whilst at Urushibatas working at Taisho-en, the family nursery
and a few had the show, and then the journey from the nursery to in Shizuoka, Japan.
licensed exporters premises. After that it would be The Kokonoe pine was in good health and many
even been lost transported to the docks, packed into a sea container new shoots were evident. They took the opportunity
with many other trees, and travel by sea to Rotterdam to do a little light trimming work on the tree with
overboard! in the Netherlands, taking many weeks at a time of Taiga’s guidance, made plans for its future. The idea
year renowned for storms. Finally it would be taken of entering the tree for the Noelanders Trophy in early
by truck to Bonsai Plaza. 2015 was planted. This exhibit is viewed by many as
The following weeks slowly passed, and Mark and the premier show in Europe.
Ritta realized that their tree having been at sea for

Left; Taiga and Kokonoe. In
2000 Taiga Urushibata became
apprentice to Mr Masahiko
Kimura and in the six years he
worked with the great master,
Taiga went on to develop skills
at a very high level. Indeed Mr
Kimura always rated Taiga as
one of the best apprentices
he had ever had. Mark and
Ritta were able to attend a
private workshop with him at
Maarten’s home.
Right; Mark and Taiga defoliat-
ing an elm.
Bottom left; Ritta’s turn to
remove some leaves.
Bottom right; Mark and
Maarten loading the Kokonoe
for the trip to the UK.

64 | BCI | October/November/December 2015