Tokyo 2010 - Ueno Green Club - Black Pines

Here are some Japanese Black Pines from Kokufu 2010's vendor area. The rest of my Green Club photos are at http://cid-5c2bbe8223ddbf8d.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Kokufu%20Vendors%202010

Here's an interesting one. Just looking at a photo of the front, you would never know it was actually turtle-shaped.

Front:


Left side:


Right side:

Seeing these reminds me why I am a lover of the traditional style
Great photos - thanks. Hope you had a great time there.

Best regards
Morten

Hi William. Thanks for posting these photos!

DaveV

Thanks so much for sharing the link and photos! A nice way to wake up in the morning!!!
All beautiful trees!
Regards, Todd

Oh yes! Very nice to see some trees at this level of development. Exquisite. Extraordinary. Especially no. 5. "Naturalistic" be damned! These trees make that "style" seem just an excuse for inadequate development and training.

Gosh! I thought #5 was a perfect example of a "broom style."

These are lovely, very traditional, trees. Thanks for posting them.

Thanks for posting.
Great work on your part.

hi willian,
thanks for posting! i wish i could go there some day. This exibition is once in a year? do they have stuff to sell like pots, tools?
where is it? tokio? omiya?

Thank you very much for sharing your photos. It means a lot to those of us that can't be there!!!

Bravo! We needed this desperately. Thanks!

Q

I thoroughly enjoyed your pictures. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to visit japan to see the quality and artistry of japanese bonsai for myself. this being said, I am still blown away by the quality of the " for sale " trees at kokufu. makes one wonder what the "keepers" look like ?? a random selection of trees from the sales tables would make a eye popping exhibit anywhere.

amazonida wrote:hi willian,
thanks for posting! i wish i could go there some day. This exibition is once in a year? do they have stuff to sell like pots, tools?
where is it? tokio? omiya?

The Green Club is in Tokyo. They have a store on premises that sells trees, pots, tools, books, etc. Here's a map, in case you ever get there:

Thank you so much for posting these, and the links to your great photo albums. Truly stunning.

I realize this may seem a little out of taste, but I've always wondered what the prices are like for this level of material. Also, how do prices for "regular" material differ from prices in the U.S.? I've always wanted to know how material is valued in places where the art is so popular. Less expensive because more material is readily available or more expensive because there is more of a demand? Thanks for any insight.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. The pictures are incredible and much appreciated. The pics in the link are especially inspirational. Thanks

amazonida wrote:hi willian,
thanks for posting! i wish i could go there some day. This exibition is once in a year? do they have stuff to sell like pots, tools?
where is it? tokio? omiya?

The Kokufu Exhibition is at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, a short walk or van ride from the vendor area...
http://www.phoenixbonsai.com/days/kokufuten.html

Myrtle wrote:I've always wondered what the prices are like for this level of material. Also, how do prices for "regular" material differ from prices in the U.S.? I've always wanted to know how material is valued in places where the art is so popular. Less expensive because more material is readily available or more expensive because there is more of a demand? Thanks for any insight.

There are a few price tags visible in the photos. This one is one million yen, or about $11,000 US dollars, according to the online currency calculator.


This one I think says 880,000 yen, which is about $9600.


This little guy is a bargain at 460,000 yen, or about $5000. What looks like a "75" after the "46" is actually the Kanji character for "ten thousand".


In regard to "regular" material, The white pines in the front row are all 30000 yen ($330) or 35000 yen ($385). They likely came from mass-produced nursery material.

And the turtle-shaped one is 280,000 yen, or $3085.

William Feldman wrote:Here's an interesting one. Just looking at a photo of the front, you would never know it was actually turtle-shaped.

Front:

William, thanks for this information. Many of the "for sale" pines have cut needles. Did you see any show trees with cut needles? Thanks, Todd

No, I didn't see any cut needles at the show itself. I did see some wiring still on the trees, though.

Myrtle wrote:I realize this may seem a little out of taste, but I've always wondered what the prices are like for this level of material.

The prices are visible on some of the last photos. One is 28 man. A Man is 10,000 yen. (Japanese convention is to put commas every 10,000 not every 1,000 like in the west.) So 28 man is 280,000 yen. A yen is roughly one penny or 100 yen to a dollar so 280,000 yen is $2,800.

When I was in Japan last fall, I saw lots of trees with visible price tags. Most nice pine trees sold for several thousand US dollars.

Sorry I didn't notice William's explanation.

Makes me wish i was a wealthy world traveler living in the us and japan when the mood suited me.

Hi William,

Thank you for the beautiful photos.

On the 3 photo, bottom left, we see a blue and white porcelain pot.
This is a valuable Owari Japanese pot.

Here is info about this:
http://www.bonsaipots.net/index.php?page=japan-blue-and-white

Best regards
Peter
_____________________________________________
THE WORLD OF THE POT: http://www.peter-krebs.de/

[quote="William Feldman"]

Myrtle wrote:I've always wondered what the prices are like for this level of material.

This one I think says 880,000 yen, which is about $96,000.

I believe that is only $9,600 dollars at $100=$.91 which seems high but not as high as I would have thought.

Thanks. I've corrected the post.