If your visions or memories of Japan lead to thoughts of bonsai trees, you should visit Omiya, Japan, a town specifically founded for bonsai growers.
Omiya
Though mentioned as if still an independent city, in 2001 Omiya was combined with nearby cities to create the city of Saitama. It is north of Tokyo, just over an hour train journey from, for example, Shinagawa Station on the Ueno-Tokyo line.
History of Omiya Bonsai Village
The Omiya Bonsai Village was founded specifically for bonsai, when professional bonsai gardeners wanted to leave Tokyo after The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and find a location suitable for growing/maintaining bonsai.
Once this location was chosen, rall village residences were required to:
- posses at least 10 bonsai;
- agree to open their gardens to the public;
- build only single-story homes;
- use live hedges as fencing (between lots, between lot and streets, etc).
A walk around the village shows these requirements are mainly still enforced; a tranquil and quiet area with office towers popping up as you round the corner.
Mansei-en Bonsai Nursery
Manseu-en is one of six remaining nurseries in Omiya Bonsai Village. After walking through the gates, you immediately see dozens/scores (hundreds?) of bonsai, arranged on tables to create walking paths to allow you to enjoy the bonsais.
As bonsai novices, my wife and I found it difficult to enjoy because many are works-in-progress and without any English descriptions of what we’re looking at. This nursery as a place where local residences can work and exchange ideas and techniques for training their bonsais.
Note that personal photography is not allowed – the above is from bonsaitonight.com – so all memories must be implanted in your mind!
The Bonsai Museum
Officially the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum – our trip coincided with an exhibit on a local Manga artist – was without question the highlight of our visit to Omiya. The museum has an inside bonsai collection and an outdoor bonsai garden.
The inside collection of approximately 15 bonsais represent their more impressive or unique bonsais. Each bonsai has a flowing description (in English) of each bonsai: its name, the inspiration, the age, the gardener or owner, the artist. They encourage you to view from different angles to better understand the artistic intent, the layers and complexity, the serenity provided.
The outside Bonsai Garden was much more enjoyable and interesting. First, it is an outdoor Japanese garden that just happens to display many bonsais. The weather during our visit was a gorgeous fall afternoon – sunlight, comfortable temps, slight breeze – so you could casually walk among the bonsais, appreciating each from any angle desired. Second was the ages of the bonsai: some centuries old and one believed to be over 1000 years old. Bonsais require almost-daily care, so the gardeners must be incredibly responsible: you don’t want to be responsible for killing something so old!
Foreign-Owned Bonsai
Our trip to Japan came just a month after the government reopened the country for tourism after their COVID lockdown, arriving before an expected onslaught of tourists fulfilling their pent-up demand.
Also visiting that day was a bonsai aficionado and gardener from Los Angeles, whose 2020 trip was (obviously) canceled/rescheduled multiple times before she was allowed to travel. Unsurprisingly, she was ecstatic to be in Omiya, her last trip being over 5 years prior. She attempted to explain the techniques, intricacies, and beauty of bonsai, most of which went over my head.
More interesting was discussing foreign ownership of Japanese bonsai. Because of agriculture import restrictions, in general bonsais cannot be imported to the United States. This doesn’t prevent Americans from owning bonsais: the bonsai remains in Japan and the owner pays a Japanese bonsai gardener to maintain the tree on their behalf.
Presumably the owners physically visit or virtually visit via webcam.
Recommendation: Visit!
Even weekend gardeners with no knowledge of bonsai should enjoy this day trip. My wife and I tried to do both Omiya Bonsai Village and The Railway Museum in the same day, but that was overly-optimistic and we spent less time on each than hoped for, as the travel from Tokyo really eats into the day. There’s also skipped the other nurseries in the village.
Helpful References
- Day Trip From Tokyo Planning
- Bonsai Tonight: a site all about bonsai, Make Beautiful Bonsai
- Omiya Bonsai: general site about the Bonsai Village, it’s history, gardens, museums, etc.
