Chapter X. The Shimpaku Protector:
Sennichirou Ikehara
lthough Itoigawa Shimpaku are prestigious, today there is no way that you
can find any of these junipers growing wild in the mountains. Since there
used to be so many of them growing in the mountains, I once thought it would
still be possible to find some previously undiscovered Shimpaku still growing
there. However, after having visited the mountains where they used to grow
in such abundance, I was just amazed to find out that there really are none
left in the mountains.
But what happened to all of those Itoigawa Shimpaku that were collected in the past? When I had almost given up ever knowing the answer, Michio Kataoka (of Kataoka Garden) gave me some precious information. "There is a bonsai devotee -- Sennichirou Ikehara -- who has never sold what he collected," he said. "If you want to see mountain-collected Itoigawa Shimpaku, why don’t you go there?"
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Mr. Ikehara |
I found Mr. Ikehara to be genial with a voice full of life. Wasting no time, he took me where his bonsai were stored. I was just astounded. Perhaps his Itoigawa Shimpaku junipers are locally known but they are definitely unknown to the outside world, and I found that he had first-rate materials one after another in front of my eyes. The patterns on the trunks had been polished out after many years in the mountains, and the marvelous Shari was full of the brilliance that only the authentic ones have.
Mr. Ikehara is 77 years old, with 40 years of bonsai experience and a mind of steel. He takes care of everything himself -- repotting, trimming and wiring -- with great skill. He is honest and not arrogant, but he is not easily persuaded either, which is an admirable trait.
"There is nothing worthwhile showing you," Mr. Ikehara said, but this of course was far from the truth. I had been told that Kennichi Oguchi of Nagano prefecture had once suggested that Mr. Ikehara should open a Shimpaku museum to display his treasures. When I asked Mr. Ikehara if he was going to follow up on Mr. Oguchi's suggestion, he scratched his head and answered, "I don’t have the means (money) to do that." He also added, "No, I will never sell them." That’s why so many are still in existence locally.
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