Bonsai Gardens!!!

Well, I love bonsai trees. So today I decided to take myself to Bonsai Village somewhere outside of Tokyo. It was well worth the 1.5hrs of train rides to get there. Bonsai Village is simply a community full of bonsai gardens and growers. The details I had were sketchy, simply that there were numerous gardens between these two sets of train tracks. So when I arrived, I picked a direction and off I went. It didn't take long to find a house with quite a few bonsai growing in the garden. There was an elderly woman pruning some plants and I managed to sign language to her that I wanted to look around the garden. She motioned that I wait while she walked past the car in the driveway and started screaming someone's name in the general direction of the house. This prompted a swift response from the car, which proceeded to beep, unlock and flash its headlights twice. She screamed the name again. Again, a beep, locks unlocking, and two flashes from the headlights. Again with the scream, again with the unlocking. I kid you not, this happened at least 3 more times before finally she walked up to the house and shouted in the door. This seemed to inform the person inside that she didn't need the car unlocked, as these shouts no longer elicited a response from the car. After a brief discussion through the doorway, the woman signaled that I could stroll around. I was soon greeted by an old Japanese man who was more than happy to guide me around his garden and babble at me in Japanese. He had some impressive trees, especially a few that were growing off of rocks. He even tried to give me a starter plant as a present! I had to refuse however, because I had no idea how I was going to get that on a plane and through customs. Still, a wonderful gesture!

After this lovely introduction to the village, I strolled on. The next garden I found was not in someone's yard, it was a true bonsai garden. Once you walk in, there are literally rows and rows of bonsai trees to stroll through. I'd say this garden had at the very least 50 mature specimens, probably more, and many smaller ones. I took my time slowly strolling up and down the aisles, each tree a different shape, style and size. There was also a large diversity of species, which took me by surprise. And admission was free! This is extra surprising considering everything in this country seems to have an admission fee, even some of the city parks! After this garden, I found a map pointing me to other such gardens, which weren't hard to find. More rows, more styles, all free! The last place I went to did actually have an admission fee, but it was only about $2.25 CAD, and someone there spoke English (she went to University in PEI!) so she was able to tell me a few things about the trees they had. Most, if not all, were well over 100 years old, and she even showed me one that was thought to be over 1000 years old! I was blown away...this tree had to survive a thousand years of wars, earthquakes and social upheaval. While trees have been known to do this, bonsai trees need constant care and pruning to survive and to develop their artistic shapes. This tree had to be passed from gardener to gardener for 1000 years...truly a beautiful tree to behold.

In conclusion, no pictures were allowed so you're all screwed, but I can tell you about my favourites! The 1000 year old one, obviously. I was about 3 feet tall, the wood definitely looked very old and twisted. There were also several in one garden that had multiple shoots going straight up into the air off of a single root structure. These were made to look like mini-forests. Fantastic. Some of the older ones had lots of whitened dead wood on them, those were really interesting. Oh man so many to choose from, can you tell I'm excited?! The exclamation mark count in this post is the highest yet by far I think. Many of them are just miniature trees, but perfectly formed and pruned, usually about 3 feet tall. Those were all classic bonsai awesomeness. Okay I'm starting to wonder how many people are still reading at this point, so I'll describe one more style and then call it. These ones sit on pedestals and they are grown down. So you end up with these long trunks growing down a ways before ending in foliage. Really cool.

In conclusion (for real this time), the variety, the area (very quiet, almost no people, very green) and the trees themselves made this a fantastic Saturday afternoon. BONSAI!!!!