How Many Enthusiasts Are There?

A new page for your perusal and assistance: http://www.phoenixbonsai.com/BigPicture/Census.html .

Robert J. Baran
Bonsai Researcher and Historian

Hello Robert. Speaking for the UK, I'm not sure how accurate those numbers are. There are plenty of clubs with no affiliation with the Federation of British Bonsai Societies and on the map of the UK, I can think of a further 3 in East Anglia alone.

Trinidad's Bonsai Society had about 200 registered members, active ?
Khaimraj

There are for sure more clubs then that here in Canada. I know of 10 alone just in Ontario. The east coast dosn't have many organized clubs except Quebec, but there is a huge bonsai community in the west. British Columbia has 9 different clubs, not to mention Alberta.

I have to chip in and agree with Will that FoBBS does not fully represent UK bonsai - or, I would surmise based on my personal knowledge, even come close to it. For example, the map does not include the 175 or so members of the Scottish Bonsai Association because it is not affiliated to FoBBBS. Nor does it include the additional "independents" like myself, and I would imagine there are easily 50 of us.

Although I know you say the aim is not to provide an exact figure (despite its tag as a census rather than a snapshot or overview) I was thinking that maybe the good people of this forum could assist in getting more accurate figures for you - certainly for the UK. Might not still be even close to 100% accurate but it would give a valuable indication of not just how many practitioners there are world-wide, but also of what the breakdown of club to non-club members there were. Could be quite revealing actually.

Are we not part of the data? though I am an independent myself and never been part of any club there are I think a sizable number of Filipinos doing bonsai.

regards,
jun

Jun . . . there seem to be a few of you on the IBC, but unless they're organized in some way and have a web presence, Robert has no way to know. Is there a national bonsai organization there?

JimLewis wrote:Jun . . . there seem to be a few of you on the IBC, but unless they're organized in some way and have a web presence, Robert has no way to know. Is there a national bonsai organization there?

Yes Jim, now there are two I think.

but still relatively quiet in terms of international exposure.

...like you said before on me being "talkative", I think it might help someday to show people from other continents that we exists.

regards,
jun

Wonderful! This is what I was looking for. Thank-you.

I definitely know my sparse researches so far have not scratched the moss off the surface roots. I do not mean to slight or undercount anyone. I did the initial notes from an idea for that page about four months ago. For starters, I know I have not tracked down all Internet or newsletter estimates. Before Paul Gilbert's RMBS newsletter article that in China alone "There are over 5 million people who do bonsai" I was estimating that worldwide there might be some 10 million of us. In associated and unassociated clubs, informal workshop/study groups, unaligned independent growers and family enthusiasts. Practitioners of one form or another of magical miniature landscapes, plant or mineral or both.

In the next few days to coming weeks your, hopefully, many responses will be added to the "census" page. Let me know of other referenced estimates I haven't seen yet. "Post up and be counted!"

Most cordially,

Robert

I know New York has ALOT of people that live in New York City, but here in Buffalo we have about 100 members. I know Rochester has alot of members in their great club. Hope this is what you wanted for a reply.

Neil

Interesting see that Atlanta bonsai society not listed. One of the bigger clubs in the U.S. Lots of people doing Bonsai without belonging to a club.

JimLewis wrote:Jun . . . there seem to be a few of you on the IBC, but unless they're organized in some way and have a web presence, Robert has no way to know. Is there a national bonsai organization there?

Yes Jim there is,,its called Philippine Bonsai Society Inc...Which has accreditation among asian club and i think Bonsai int'l...Some of our IBC member are part of it also

Interesting project Robert. In addition to the difficulty of reaching everyone, there is also the problem of the degree that one does bonsai.

Many people have mentioned that they are independents and don't belong to a club. I suppose it depends on the individual circumstance and the club, but joining a bonsai club is a great way to accelerate your learning and it can also provide a social network that can help source tree material, supplies and access to instruction. And as the current President of BCI, I would highly recommend that everyone consider joining BCI, the only truly global bonsai club. BCI is making a push to gain individual members so that we can expand our offerings and help promote bonsai and stone appreciation around the world. In addition to our magazine we offer other programs - for instance an annual convention, competitions, and next year, a BCI Member tour of Japan for the ASPAC and Taikanten shows all in a one week period. If you haven't considered joining BCI now would be the time to become an individual member. Thanks.

http://bonsai-bci.com/

Thanks Rob. I didn't realise you could join BCI as an individual.

I have always agreed that clubs are a great way to get started in bonsai and there will always be excellent club members who are willing to share knowledge and information (and sources), and who keep an open mind as to that thing we loosely refer to as progress. As has been seen on many occasions, I would always recommend to new IBC members (meaning by that those new to bonsai) that they seek out a club.

However, sometimes clubs can also stifle, especially if the administrator(s) of the club are particularly set in his/their ways. We got a flavour of that in the post Iris put up re Definition of a Bonsai? Sadly, my experience has been along similar lines of being considered snotty as Iris puts it because I want to do bonsai better and work with better material. That is why I myself choose to remain largely independent and work on my own or with a small but dedicated and like-minded group of bonsai friends. I say "largely independent" because while not affiliated to the maistream organisation in Scotland, I do maintain a membership of two very forward looking UK-wide groups - the Wirral Bonsai Society and the British Shohin Association.

If BCI is as progressive in outlook as they are, then I would be very tempted to join.

But I would have to ask why is it nearly double the membership fee for a non-USA/Canadian resident if it carries the tag Bonsai Clubs International?