My good friend Chase Rosade calls one evening and mentions that every year his bonsai studio puts on a display at the Philadelphia Flower Show, and would I be interested in coming up for a day and doing some demonstrations and talk with the public about bonsai. Without hesitation I said yes. You see, Chase is more than a friend; he is like family.
Thursday morning, I and Sempai George headed of to the city of brotherly love to kick the bonsai into high gear. We arrived a bit early so we headed into China Town to see if we could find a store I remembered having sold bonsai and mudmen. We never found the store I remembered from years past, but did find a knick-knack store with bonsai, pots and mudmen. I couldn't resist - I bought one. Two guys sitting enjoying tea,one is white haired holding a tea cup the other dark haired holding a pipe it reminded me of George and I. We then proceeded to find a shop I have been going to for years called New China Book Store. Miss Lily runs the place and she is quite the accomplished artist. She wasn't there early in the morning but would be in the afternoon. I told the clerk I'd be back.
The flower show was crowed upon entry and the booth looked absolutely amazing. Chase and Solita really do an excellent job decorating and putting on one helluva bonsai display. Jack Sustic, curator of the USNA Bonsai collection, had a beautiful juniper raft forest that was breath-taking. The crowd was quite enthusiastic and all throughout the morning I styled little junipers and boxwoods. Soli brought lunch so we ate inside the little hut area the public can't see into. Its kind of neat going into the hut away from the busy crowd.
After lunch I headed into the city once again in search of some Sumi supplies. I was sad to hear that the Book Store was closing- where will I go for rice paper now? I guess I should go up during the closing sales and stock up.
Back at the flower show with rice paper, a new brush, blank scrolls, and a book and calendar given to me by Miss Lily, I ascended back up onto the stage area and worked with Chase and Sempai George on a few trees while answering questions from the crowd.
I really enjoy teaching people who no nothing about bonsai but are fascinated by the miniature trees. There are so many misconceptions out there surrounding bonsai. The best comment I heard was " Really I thought they grew from bonsai seeds." This poor lady had bought a kit from Barnes and Nobel that had a pot, dirt, and some seeds that never sprouted.
Through out the day and evening I tried my best to educate and inform the public that the art of bonsai is not some mystical Asian art with special seeds; it is horticulture and mechanical science combined with art. I told the one elderly couple "I take much better care of my trees in bonsai pots than I do with the ones planted in the ground-can't tell you the last time I fertilized the trees in the ground -but I can tell you the stats of every tree I own in a bonsai container."
As the evening set in and the show was an hour from closing we started packing up and saying our goodbyes getting ready for the 2 hr drive home. It was a great day and I had the most excellent time hanging with my Sempai, George, Chase and Soli along with the Rosade Bonsai Studios crew. I can only hope Chase invites us back next year - it was an honor to help out this year at the Philly Flower Show this year.
I'd like to close with this note it was great hanging with the Rosades and my Sempai but 2 things really made me smile- Rosade Bonsai Studio and the National Bonsai Foundation have collaborated to promote World Bonsai Day a day to celebrate Bonsai. This was started by the World Bonsai Friendship Federation which I am the Art Director and highly passionate about. John Naka and Saburo Kato are two men I hold in very high regard and I believe in their cause. The second was they used my artwork of John Naka's Goshin which sits at the USNA on the logo's and on their fliers being handed out. I am proud to be able to contribute artwork to the WBFF and to Rosade Bonsai Studio. Thanks for reading-see ya next time.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Welcome!
So I guess we should begin our journey with a preface and a few definitions to help you, the viewer, to have a little bit of understanding as to where I have come from. Who knows where we will go…
My name is Steven Miller. Some know me as the 5th Degree Kohai and I am a bonsai junkie. Yes, I admit to being addicted to the living art of bonsai. So a little history about myself and how I got into this awesome world of miniature trees.
I was attending a Flower Show back in the 90's and came upon a bonsai outfit selling trees, starter material, pots, soil, tools, books - the whole nine yards. There I saw a book: The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens book 'Bonsai Special Techniques', and on the cover was a Japanese Maple in it's full red splendor. I fell in love! I bought a starter tree, pot, a bag of soil and that book. I furthered my reading by checking out books from the local library and ordering a few from Ebay. I bought some nice trees from a Bonsai store in Towson Mall and other places along the way. In 1997 I was involved in a horrible car accident in which I suffered a crushing injury to my right ankle, losing part of my ankle bone the talus, which was replaced with pieces of my hip. Needless to say, during the long stay in the hospital and 7 surgeries later, all but one bonsai tree were considered finished. DEAD. A ficus benjamina survived and I still have it today.
I was told I would be in a wheel chair for the rest of my life after the 7th surgery but I told the specialists 'No, I will walk again.', and I do. Most times with much discomfort, so if you see me limping at a show or convention its because I have been on my bad foot all day and it is swollen to twice it's size and aching. I endure; or as my Sempai would say, I persevere.
Which leads us to how I became a Kohai. I had found a Japanese Maple growing in the woods and needed bonsai soil. You see, in 2007 I got bitten by the bug; the bonsai bug. So I called up my old friend, whom I knew would have bonsai soil even though he had closed his nursery back before my accident. I payed a visit to John Howle of Black Pines Nursery to obtain some official bonsai soil. There in I meet one Jim McDonnell, who was also into bonsai and lived about 20 minutes from me. Jim and I were persuaded to join the Baltimore Bonsai Club. We found out that there was a big Bonsai Festival in DC, so we headed there and were in bonsai heaven. It was there I met Kip from Natures Way Bonsai Nursery and he informed us of their open house the following weekend. I decided to attend, and I ran into Jim who introduced me to his friend George who I discovered lives five minutes down the road from me. I began going over to George's home, and we begin a bonsai friendship that only grows as our trees continue to do the same.
George comes from a nursery /horticultural background and he is a roofer, so his mechanical skills are quite impressive. He started teaching me and one day referred to him self as the Sempai and called me the Kohai. As I started taking workshops with George and traveled around to different conventions, festivals and shows, I learned a lot. Being in the bonsai club also helped me learn a lot. I got George to join the club eventually and I know even though he was against it at first, he is glad I did.
Along the way I am advancing in my skill levels and jokingly said one day, 'I guess I'm a third degree kohai now, huh?'. George just looked over at me and nodded in approval. I kind of had the mentality that as I was learning it was like martial arts in the respect that levels of advancement were degrees.
I am a freelance illustrator. I work for MARVEL Comics, Lucas Film (Star Wars), Star Trek, Universal Monsters. Basically, I draw or paint pretty pictures for manufactures who hold licenses to produce products based of the trademarked property. I also draw and paint bonsai, and have done a few for my friend Harry Hirao and a few others along the way. So my artistic background and "eye" for things coupled, with Sempai George's horticulture wisdom and mechanical skill and the fact he lived so close by, we wound up traveling together and learning a lot from each other. Let me tell you we get into some crazy adventures traveling across this great nation in search of a fix for our bonsai obsession. Along the way we always seem to meet the greatest people and instantly become friends, and with some, family. Let me just say it feels really good to be invited to stay at my friend Chase Rosade's Studio just to visit with he and his wife Solita, or to be invited as family to Frank Mihalic's Annual Bonsai BBQ, or hang out up in NY with my good friend Pauline Muth. These are people I look up to, that inspired me and continue to do so. My grandpa always said the more friends in life you have the better off you are, and I believe that to be true.
I'll try and share some of the crazy adventures that I have had in the past, as well as keep you all up to date as to whats going on the life of the 5th Degree Kohai. Oh, and for those who don't know or who are curious, here's the definition of Kohai dnd Sempai.
Sempai (先輩?) and kōhai (後輩?) are terms applied to the mentor system in wide use in Japanese culture; often found at all levels of education, in sports clubs, businesses, and informal or social organizations. The relationship is an essential element of Japanese seniority-based status relationships, similar to the way that family and other relationships are decided based on age, in which even twins may be divided into elder and younger siblings. The sempai is roughly equivalent to the Western concept of a mentor, while kōhai is roughly equivalent to protégé, though they do not imply as strong a relationship as these words mean in the West. More simply, these may be translated as senior and junior, or as an elder compared with someone younger in the family/company/organization; the terms are used more widely than a true mentor/protégé in the West and are applied to all members of one group that are senior (the sempai) to all the members of another group (the kōhai). There is usually no average separation in age between a sempai and his or her kōhai.
A junior student will often refer to senior students as "sempai", and alumni will often refer to alumni from earlier classes as "sempai". This holds true particularly if events bring them together later on, such as joining the same company, serving on a board together, or simply being in a club or parent's organization at the same time.
On rare occasions, a younger person may also be considered the sempai of an elder person if circumstances dictate—such as if the elder entered an organization or company at a later time than the younger did.
Sempai – せんぱい (or 先輩 in kanji) refers to one that is older or superior in skill. On the other hand, kohai – こうはい (or 後輩 in kanji) means “one who comes after”, or simply “junior”.
Thanks for reading my blog talk to you all soon. Peace!
My name is Steven Miller. Some know me as the 5th Degree Kohai and I am a bonsai junkie. Yes, I admit to being addicted to the living art of bonsai. So a little history about myself and how I got into this awesome world of miniature trees.
I was attending a Flower Show back in the 90's and came upon a bonsai outfit selling trees, starter material, pots, soil, tools, books - the whole nine yards. There I saw a book: The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens book 'Bonsai Special Techniques', and on the cover was a Japanese Maple in it's full red splendor. I fell in love! I bought a starter tree, pot, a bag of soil and that book. I furthered my reading by checking out books from the local library and ordering a few from Ebay. I bought some nice trees from a Bonsai store in Towson Mall and other places along the way. In 1997 I was involved in a horrible car accident in which I suffered a crushing injury to my right ankle, losing part of my ankle bone the talus, which was replaced with pieces of my hip. Needless to say, during the long stay in the hospital and 7 surgeries later, all but one bonsai tree were considered finished. DEAD. A ficus benjamina survived and I still have it today.
I was told I would be in a wheel chair for the rest of my life after the 7th surgery but I told the specialists 'No, I will walk again.', and I do. Most times with much discomfort, so if you see me limping at a show or convention its because I have been on my bad foot all day and it is swollen to twice it's size and aching. I endure; or as my Sempai would say, I persevere.
Which leads us to how I became a Kohai. I had found a Japanese Maple growing in the woods and needed bonsai soil. You see, in 2007 I got bitten by the bug; the bonsai bug. So I called up my old friend, whom I knew would have bonsai soil even though he had closed his nursery back before my accident. I payed a visit to John Howle of Black Pines Nursery to obtain some official bonsai soil. There in I meet one Jim McDonnell, who was also into bonsai and lived about 20 minutes from me. Jim and I were persuaded to join the Baltimore Bonsai Club. We found out that there was a big Bonsai Festival in DC, so we headed there and were in bonsai heaven. It was there I met Kip from Natures Way Bonsai Nursery and he informed us of their open house the following weekend. I decided to attend, and I ran into Jim who introduced me to his friend George who I discovered lives five minutes down the road from me. I began going over to George's home, and we begin a bonsai friendship that only grows as our trees continue to do the same.
George comes from a nursery /horticultural background and he is a roofer, so his mechanical skills are quite impressive. He started teaching me and one day referred to him self as the Sempai and called me the Kohai. As I started taking workshops with George and traveled around to different conventions, festivals and shows, I learned a lot. Being in the bonsai club also helped me learn a lot. I got George to join the club eventually and I know even though he was against it at first, he is glad I did.
Along the way I am advancing in my skill levels and jokingly said one day, 'I guess I'm a third degree kohai now, huh?'. George just looked over at me and nodded in approval. I kind of had the mentality that as I was learning it was like martial arts in the respect that levels of advancement were degrees.
I am a freelance illustrator. I work for MARVEL Comics, Lucas Film (Star Wars), Star Trek, Universal Monsters. Basically, I draw or paint pretty pictures for manufactures who hold licenses to produce products based of the trademarked property. I also draw and paint bonsai, and have done a few for my friend Harry Hirao and a few others along the way. So my artistic background and "eye" for things coupled, with Sempai George's horticulture wisdom and mechanical skill and the fact he lived so close by, we wound up traveling together and learning a lot from each other. Let me tell you we get into some crazy adventures traveling across this great nation in search of a fix for our bonsai obsession. Along the way we always seem to meet the greatest people and instantly become friends, and with some, family. Let me just say it feels really good to be invited to stay at my friend Chase Rosade's Studio just to visit with he and his wife Solita, or to be invited as family to Frank Mihalic's Annual Bonsai BBQ, or hang out up in NY with my good friend Pauline Muth. These are people I look up to, that inspired me and continue to do so. My grandpa always said the more friends in life you have the better off you are, and I believe that to be true.
I'll try and share some of the crazy adventures that I have had in the past, as well as keep you all up to date as to whats going on the life of the 5th Degree Kohai. Oh, and for those who don't know or who are curious, here's the definition of Kohai dnd Sempai.
Sempai (先輩?) and kōhai (後輩?) are terms applied to the mentor system in wide use in Japanese culture; often found at all levels of education, in sports clubs, businesses, and informal or social organizations. The relationship is an essential element of Japanese seniority-based status relationships, similar to the way that family and other relationships are decided based on age, in which even twins may be divided into elder and younger siblings. The sempai is roughly equivalent to the Western concept of a mentor, while kōhai is roughly equivalent to protégé, though they do not imply as strong a relationship as these words mean in the West. More simply, these may be translated as senior and junior, or as an elder compared with someone younger in the family/company/organization; the terms are used more widely than a true mentor/protégé in the West and are applied to all members of one group that are senior (the sempai) to all the members of another group (the kōhai). There is usually no average separation in age between a sempai and his or her kōhai.
A junior student will often refer to senior students as "sempai", and alumni will often refer to alumni from earlier classes as "sempai". This holds true particularly if events bring them together later on, such as joining the same company, serving on a board together, or simply being in a club or parent's organization at the same time.
On rare occasions, a younger person may also be considered the sempai of an elder person if circumstances dictate—such as if the elder entered an organization or company at a later time than the younger did.
Sempai – せんぱい (or 先輩 in kanji) refers to one that is older or superior in skill. On the other hand, kohai – こうはい (or 後輩 in kanji) means “one who comes after”, or simply “junior”.
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| Me, along with Sempai George and Solita Rosade, posing at the Philadelphia Flower Show. |
Thanks for reading my blog talk to you all soon. Peace!
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