This past weekend I was able to attend Saturday of the weekend Dai Ichi Kai show in Gardena. I saw lots of familiar faces including Jason and Doyle Saito who I met at the Bonsai-a-thon in February. I’ve been putting a lot of work in my website and pushing content on social media so it was great to be approached by people who heard by word of mouth or through my site about my apprenticeship in Japan. Even if you do not know me personally, if you ever see me in person please say hi. I’m always up for a conversation about bonsai or anything.

Vendors had a decent variety of tree and pots. Although I didn’t find anything worth picking up I did grab a Si-Diao carving tool in anticipation of the Will Baddeley workshop next week.

A beginner’s workshop was held in the morning but I did not participate as it looked like they had plenty of instructors. The material provided was excellent though and I give props to whoever sourced it for this show.

It was great to catch up with many familiar faces and also to talk Kaya in person, who like me is pursuing bonsai professionally. I did not photograph all the trees at the show, but did get the tokoname display as well as a few trees I found interesting.

The demonstrator for this show was actually Kaya. He worked on a procumbens he brought through the airport from Hayward. Not without difficulties as the pot cracked post TSA inspection. Having had brought a tree through TSA before I can attest to the additional inspection and strange stares from onlookers.

Overall the demonstration was pretty successful.

Those who watch the live streams on Facebook, give a big thanks to Jason Saito who’s doing the behind the scenes work and filming.

Assistance from a club member

Getting somewhere

Unfortunately I could not stay for the dinner and Sunday I drove back to Riverside. All in all it was an enjoyable show and I was happy to meet and talk to many new people. Next week I’ll be attending the Will Baddely workshop, courtesy of John and Bob who sponsored the fee cost. Should be a good time and I intend to write a post on the event.

Many thanks to all my past and new readers. It’s been a busy month and slow in terms of updates and content. Sometimes I’ll post pictures/updates on my Facebook and Instagram when I don’t have time to write. If you’re on any of those platforms be sure to follow me there. (they’re linked on the sidebar of my homepage)

Hope you’ve enjoyed this update and have a great day!

Julian