Page 51 - Tài liệu Ebook cây cảnh Bonsai and Penjing

Before he became emperor, Prince Hirohito was photographed in 1921 with his brothers: left to
right, the future emperor, Prince Mikasa, Prince Takamatsu and Prince Chichibu.
The third tree with a Japanese imperial connection is a Trident Maple (Acer
buergerianum), which was trained as a bonsai from a seedling. It was a gift from
Prince Takamatsu (1905–1987), the third son of Emperor Taishō. Prince
Takamatsu served in Japan’s navy through World War II, after which he played
largely ceremonial roles in a variety of activities, ranging from international
relations, health and welfare to fine arts and sports. The Prince’s tree has a quiet
nobility and is treasured for its distinctive curving trunk, its artful roots and its

dramatic fall foliage. It is believed to have been in training since 1895.
The other 50 trees assembled by the Nippon Bonsai Association may not
have had imperial pedigrees, but each was specially selected from private
collections to represent Japan, and some had amazing stories of their own.
The oldest tree in the gift and at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum
today is the Yamaki pine, a Japanese White Pine (Pinus parviflora ‘Miyajima’),
which has been in training since 1625. Its designation as ‘Miyajima’ shows it is
from an island not far from Hiroshima, famous for its torii gate and the
Itsukushima Shrine. While the tree was known to be ancient when it arrived in
American quarantine in 1975, no one knew its full story until 2001 when
grandsons of the bonsai master Masaru Yamaki, who had given it, visited the
tree at the U.S. National Arboretum. The young men explained that their family

had operated a commercial bonsai nursery in Hiroshima for several generations.
On August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb dropped less than two miles from their
home, blowing out all of the glass windows. Each family member was cut
though miraculously no one suffered any permanent injuries. The Yamaki pine