Page 92 - Tài liệu Ebook cây cảnh Bonsai and Penjing

Naka believed that bonsai should be accessible to all and he was

one of the first to teach bonsai techniques and principles to English
speakers. His two books, Bonsai Techniques I (1973) and Bonsai
Techniques II (1982) are considered masterworks to this day. Naka
was one of the founders of the California Bonsai Society and he
assisted Saburo Kato in founding the World Bonsai Friendship
Federation in 1989, affirming his stated belief that “There are no
borders in bonsai. The dove of peace flies to palace as to humble

house, to young as to old, to rich and poor. So does the spirit of
bonsai.”
Naka was a well-regarded and sought-after bonsai teacher, using
proverbs to make Japanese aesthetics and principles of Zen
accessible to Westerners. One of the proverbs he used was

“experience is better than learning.” By this he meant that we can
understand Zen through personal experience of the life force in both
animate and inanimate forms of nature, leading to the development of
thought and language around the experience.
In 1984, Naka gave Goshin or “Guardian of the Spirit,” a forest
planting of eleven Chinese Junipers (Juniperus chinensis ‘Femina’)—
one for each of his grandchildren—as the first contribution to the North

American Pavilion. His magnanimity inspired others to give important
specimens and now the pavilion that is dedicated to John Naka is
home to a distinguished collection of North American bonsai. Naka’s
essential role in extending bonsai to the world was recognized by
Emperor Hirohito in 1985 when Naka was awarded the 5th Class
Order of the Rising Sun, the highest order Japan gives to non-citizens.

Marybel Balendonck watches as John Naka works on a Shimpaku Juniper (Juniperus