Page 74 - Tài liệu Ebook cây cảnh Bonsai and Penjing

chapter five

North American Highlights

The arrival of the Japanese bonsai in 1975 galvanized the interest of the
burgeoning group of bonsai enthusiasts and practitioners in the United States and
focused their attention on the U.S. National Arboretum. Some were bonsai
masters in their own right, others were students of John Naka on the west coast
or of Yuji Yoshimura on the east coast or of other bonsai teachers in America.
Wherever they were, they were united in their desire to encourage interest in
bonsai in North America.
John Naka was among the first to express interest in the bonsai in the
Bicentennial Gift. He traveled regularly from California to Washington, D.C. to
make sure the trees were cared for properly. He also served as a facilitator for
the curator, Robert “Bonsai Bob” Drechsler, with representatives of the Nippon
Bonsai Association. They would visit annually from Japan, nod approvingly

when they were at the U.S. National Arboretum, then stop in California on their
way home to Japan and tell John Naka what they really thought was going on.
He would convey their comments to Drechsler, who was grateful for the experts’
advice.
The impetus to start a North American collection at the museum came from
the Philadelphia Flower Show in 1984 when its theme was “A Trip to the
Orient.” John Naka came from California for the show, bringing Goshin, his
prize forest planting of Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Femina’) to
display. Encouraged by Chase Rosade, Naka was convinced to leave Goshin at
the U.S. National Arboretum’s museum, and soon other American bonsai artists
offered their work to be considered for inclusion in the national collection.
Goshin was the first of several works Naka gave to the museum. Its name
means “Protector or Guardian of the Spirit” and its eleven trees represent his
eleven grandchildren. Goshin is quite large and it is easy for viewers to lose
themselves in the forest glade Naka created, using their mind’s eye. In 1990, he
also gave a Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica), a single tree in a

straightforward pot, in training since 1948. He named it Gimpo or “Silver
Phoenix” because he believed that even a homely tree could become a splendid
bonsai, renewed like the mythical phoenix, rising to new life over and over
again.
A Thorny Elaeagnus (Elaeagnus pungens) was a more recent gift from Naka,
arriving at the Museum in 2004. It has been in training since 1960 and has
several distinctive features. Its split and gnarly trunk gives the illusion of an