Page 43 - Tài liệu Ebook cây cảnh Bonsai and Penjing

from his earliest years. He experienced the grim days of World War II

in Japan when even gray water was rationed and many bonsai were
planted in the ground to survive. After the war, there was a resurgence
of interest in bonsai, driven in part by American GI’s fascination with
the miniature trees.
Kato’s leadership of the Nippon Bonsai Association (NBA) included
the facilitation of the Bicentennial Gift of bonsai to the U.S. in 1976. In
fact, he was instrumental in convincing NBA members to participate by

donating trees and coming to the U.S. to teach Americans how to care
for the trees properly. He himself came to work on the bonsai in
advance of their display at the Dedication Ceremony and returned to
the museum on many occasions over the years to give advice on the
care of the collection. The museum, in turn, honored Saburo Kato

during his lifetime for his invaluable role in making the Bicentennial Gift
from Japan a reality by naming one of its gardens the Kato Family
Stroll Garden.
In 1989, Saburo Kato founded and served as the first Chairman of
the World Bonsai Friendship Federation (WBFF), an organization
whose mission it is to bring peace and goodwill to the world through
the art of bonsai. Today, the WBFF honors Kato’s memory by

sponsoring World Bonsai Day on the second Saturday of each May,
and at the World Bonsai Convention held every four years. Kato
believed that the spirit of bonsai, bonsai no kokoro in Japanese, was
accessible to people everywhere, that by nurturing bonsai anyone
could experience how their love and care creates peace and beauty, a
feeling that can be extended to all of nature and the wider world.