Bonsai museum and district

The area around Omiya-Koen, Omiya Park, hosts the Japanese National Bonsai Museum.











It is just north of Tokyo and  about 1/2 an hour from our house.
In addition to the museum  many bonsai growers and nurseries are in this area.


The museum is hosting the World Bonsai Conference next month and a wonderful exhibition is already in place.

Some of the bonsai on display are classified as national treasures and are hundreds of years old.

This was a favourite of mine. its actually a quince tree, I like the natural look and the texture of the trunk.


After the greart Tokyo earthquake of 1923 the bonsai growers of Tokyo moved en-mass to this part of Omiya where there was more land available and  they all settled together in this area.

The growers adopted a set of strict rules beween themselves one of which was that their gardens and nurseries  should be freeely open to the public.




To this day quite a few of the growers and gardens survive and it is lovely to walk and explore amongst them.

The streets are wide, beautful and quiet and a great contrast to the modern jumbled
ugliness of much of settled modern Japan.

As a bonus we came across an archery school practicing.