Hey all,

Wanted to let you all know that the WBFF (World Bonsai Friendship
Federation) has just published a wonderful article about the history of
shimpaku junipers in Japan. This is a huge article that comes from a recent
Kindai Bonsai issue. WBFF obtained permission to translate and publish the
article due to a generous donation from Mr. Daizo Iwasaki (WBFF
Vice-Chairman). The article was translated by Ikuyo Shisaka and edited by
Felix Laughlin (WBFF Chairman and NABF President).

This is an amazing article and WBFF is fortunate to have been able to have
it translated and published in English. Please have a look at
www.bonsai-wbff.org/shimpaku/main.htm . Enjoy!

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge, webmaster
WBFF www.bonsai-wbff.org/

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Andy Rutledge wrote:

Hey all,

Wanted to let you all know that the WBFF (World Bonsai Friendship
Federation) has just published a wonderful article about the history of
shimpaku junipers in Japan.

snip

Please have a look at
www.bonsai-wbff.org/shimpaku/main.htm . Enjoy!

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge, webmaster
WBFF www.bonsai-wbff.org/

Thanks for letting us know, Andy. It's amazing how quickly these junipers were
stripped off the mountains. Can any comparison be drawn between this story and the
collection of specimens out west? I already hear Jim Lewis emphatically nodding
his head!

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Cowing"
Thanks for letting us know, Andy. It's amazing how quickly these junipers
were
stripped off the mountains. Can any comparison be drawn between this
story and the
collection of specimens out west? I already hear Jim Lewis emphatically
nodding
his head!
Craig Cowing
-----------------------

Perhaps, but the difference between a couple of mountains in a country the
size of California and a nation whose geography is many times the size of
Japan is significant. Certainly this is a matter of geographic volume only,
but I'd not be so rash as to suggest any significantly relevant parallels as
yet.

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
www.andyrutledge.com
zone 8, Texas

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I already hear Jim Lewis emphatically nodding his head!
Craig Cowing
-----------------------

Emphatic nod. ;-)


Perhaps, but the difference between a couple of mountains in a
country the
size of California and a nation whose geography is many times
the size of
Japan is significant. Certainly this is a matter of geographic
volume only,
but I'd not be so rash as to suggest any significantly relevant
parallels as
yet.

Andy Rutledge

I've yet to download and read the article, but I have to point
out that the Japanese mountains were/are much more lush and green
than our western mountains. Ecologically speaking, they are much
more likely to allow a ground cover (of whatever) to re-vegetate
than the arid American west -- which is where the most
collectible (from the current bonsai fad standpoint) North
American trees grow and are taken.

A tree removed from a pocket of soil in the Rocky Mountains will
never be replaced in our lifetime and in the lifetimes of several
successive generations. Soil would/could be regenerated several
orders of magnitude more rapidly in the cold-humid Japanese alps
than in the cold-arid western North American mountains. Basic
environmental geography and soil science.

Collectors of one ilk or another have extirpated species after
species of plants and animals in many areas of the USA --
malacologists have caused the extinction or near extinction of
perhaps a half dozen species of tree snail in southern Florida
and orchids and bromeliad species are suffering wherever they can
(or could) be found. Saguaro cactus and several species of
barrel cactus in the Desert Southwest are disappearing at an
alarming rate from lands that are not under federal or state
protection. Many reptile species are in severe danger of
extirpation because of collectors.

I do recall someone nattering loudly at me some time ago when I
noted that collectible trees were gone in Japan thanks to the
bonsai "industry." Prolly, some of the same folks over here who
collect and seem to even make a living out of it who are claiming
that it would/could never happen here.

But, enough. People who don't want to know won't listen . . .

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - More details
in "The Ethics of Collecting" in our website's Knowledge Base.

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This is a valid, interesting and important topic, but I'd be interested to
see this discussion enter the realm of fact and historical context rather
than the micro-tempus context one usually encounters. Factor in the fact
that nature, without the help of mankind, has eliminated more species of
flora and fauna than humans could ever hope to. How does this fact impact
such a discussion? Further, how can such a discussion have any objective
meaning when it serves little reason beyond furthering the rhetoric of this
or that environmental philosophy?

Nature is capable of holding its own against any force; there is none
greater. Suggestions that "we're" destroying nature by this or that
activity can only be made by denying the context of nature and the history
of the world. Each such argument is merely a prescription and a
proscription for one or another facet of nature. Do you really believe
you're arguing an absolute? Why?

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
www.andyrutledge.com/
zone 8, Texas

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Lewis"
snip
...I do recall someone nattering loudly at me some time ago when I
noted that collectible trees were gone in Japan thanks to the
bonsai "industry." Prolly, some of the same folks over here who
collect and seem to even make a living out of it who are claiming
that it would/could never happen here.
But, enough. People who don't want to know won't listen . . .
Jim Lewis

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Nature is capable of holding its own against any force; there
is none
greater. Suggestions that "we're" destroying nature by this or
that
activity can only be made by denying the context of nature and
the history
of the world. Each such argument is merely a prescription and
a
proscription for one or another facet of nature. Do you really
believe
you're arguing an absolute? Why?


This has been lurched so far off topic that I answered -- at some
length -- privately.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - VEGETARIAN:
An Indian word meaning "lousy hunter." (Borrowed from a sig by
fellow listowner, Scott Peterson)

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Wanted to let you all know that the WBFF (World Bonsai
Friendship
Federation) has just published a wonderful article about the
history of
shimpaku junipers in Japan. This is a huge article that comes
from a recent
Kindai Bonsai issue. WBFF obtained permission to translate and
publish the
article due to a generous donation from Mr. Daizo Iwasaki (WBFF
Vice-Chairman). The article was translated by Ikuyo Shisaka
and edited by
Felix Laughlin (WBFF Chairman and NABF President).

This is an amazing article and WBFF is fortunate to have been
able to have
it translated and published in English. Please have a look at
www.bonsai-wbff.org/shimpaku/main.htm . Enjoy!



Got it. Interesting read. Thanks for pointing it out, Andy.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only to the
white man was nature a wilderness -- Luther Standing Bear
(Ogallala Sioux Chief)

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Andy Rutledge wrote:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Cowing"
Thanks for letting us know, Andy. It's amazing how quickly these junipers
were
stripped off the mountains. Can any comparison be drawn between this
story and the
collection of specimens out west? I already hear Jim Lewis emphatically
nodding
his head!
Craig Cowing
-----------------------

Perhaps, but the difference between a couple of mountains in a country the
size of California and a nation whose geography is many times the size of
Japan is significant. Certainly this is a matter of geographic volume only,
but I'd not be so rash as to suggest any significantly relevant parallels as
yet.

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
www.andyrutledge.com
zone 8, Texas


I think you can draw some parallels between the shimpaku craze described in the
article and the near-eradication of the buffalo in the West. These animals were
nearly wiped out, were slaughtered by the hundreds for amusement and for their
hides and tongues. It all happened in the matter of a few decades. This is in a
pretty large geographic area too.

It seems to me that the numbers of collectible trees won't be uniform in a large
region, but will be somewhat concentrated in areas where conditions are at least
somewhat hospitable. So, couldn't it be conceivable that a prime area could indeed
be stripped?

Jim's point about the arid climate in contrast to the climate of Japan (which
sounds more like the northeastern US, where I live) is not condusive to the rapid
replacement of plants.

Now, bear in mind that I am fully in favor of collecting trees in the wild, but I
do it in an area where there is an over-abundance of trees of all sorts, and the
ones that need to be protected are protected.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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This is a valid, interesting and important topic, but I'd be interested to
see this discussion enter the realm of fact and historical context rather
than the micro-tempus context one usually encounters.

Not that I have any idea what a micro-tempus is.

Human beings are, unfortunately, animals that have to see something, hold it in their hand, before they understand it. I once rescued a box turtle with vitamin deficiencies from a pet store and nursed it back to health. I had never "known" a turtle before
, and I was impressed by the nobility and good temper, as well as the beauty of this critter. What I learned from owning this turtle, which in its native habitat has a territory the size of a football field, is that people should protect the habitat of th
e box turtle and let it live wild, rather than keeping them as pets. Of course, I had to keep one as a pet to learn this.

It's a common story: duck hunters are often the most ardent protectors of wetlands. I'd like to think that bonsaija are people who would most want to protect cliffside habitats, some of which are the oldest old-growth habitat in their regions. I've colle
cted a few trees from the wild (as opposed to the side of the road, or old fields) and I've decided to stick to the side of the road, or old fields. So I guess I support a person's right to hold something in his hand, and then decide what's right.

Nina Shishkoff


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It's a common story: duck hunters are often the most ardent protectors of
wetlands.

When I was a duck hunter and active in Ducks Unlimited, a leading sponsor of
wetland and breeding ground preservation, I explained DU's mission to a
friend.

He replied "If I were a duck, I'm not sure I'd be grateful."

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Nina Shishkoff wrote:

This is a valid, interesting and important topic, but I'd be interested to
see this discussion enter the realm of fact and historical context rather
than the micro-tempus context one usually encounters.

Not that I have any idea what a micro-tempus is.

snip

Nina Shishkoff


How about a tempus in a teapot? Okay, I'll duck.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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I guess it is an espression someone just made up
meaning a very short period of time .. the events of our span of life
are a micro-tempus comparatively to the lenght of creation Dino
domination on earth something similar
the only real expression concerning time is nano-seconds that means
something as one 1/millionth of a second and is aprt of Quantum
Theo

Craig Cowing wrote:
Nina Shishkoff wrote:


This is a valid, interesting and important topic, but I'd be interested to
see this discussion enter the realm of fact and historical context rather
than the micro-tempus context one usually encounters.

Not that I have any idea what a micro-tempus is.

snip


Nina Shishkoff



How about a tempus in a teapot? Okay, I'll duck.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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