Bonsai exhibitions and events of all sizes are held all over Japan. There are bonsai exhibitions such as The Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition, Gafu-ten and Shuga-ten which are run by large organizations, but smaller exhibitions planned by local bonsai fanciers are also fun and worth a look.
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Gafu-ten
Around 200 bonsai from fanciers around the country are displayed at this event, which centers around small (shohin) bonsai but also includes medium (chuhin) and kifu (between 8-12 inches tall). Events extend to bonsai consultation sessions, contests and exhibitions of artists’ pots.
- Date
- Every January
- Location
- Kyoto
- Host
- All Japan Shohin Bonsai Association; Kyoto City; Kyoto Shimbun
The Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition
The oldest in Japan, The Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition is widely known overseas as well as in Japan as the country’s penultimate bonsai exhibition in terms of level and refinement.
- Date
- Every February
- Location
- Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
- Host
- Nippon Bonsai Association
New Ryokufu Exhibition
On display here are flowering bonsai that befit the season of new greenery, along with bonsai sporting the vibrant, eye-catching new buds of late spring. More than 100 bonsai are selected from all over Japan for this annual exhibition.
- Date
- Every April
- Location
- Tokyo (Ueno Green Club)
- Host
- Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative
Shuga-ten
Holding its inaugural exhibition in 1993, the Shuga-ten is hosted by the All Japan Shohin Bonsai Association’s Kanto branch and is the Kanto region’s largest exhibition of shohin (small) bonsai. The painstaking work of the Association’s members is evident in the 100 or so bonsai on display, and around 50 retailers known for their shohin bonsai gather from all over Japan to sell their wares. The exhibition attracts bonsai fans from both Japan and overseas.
- Date
- Around October every year
- Location
- Tokyo (Ueno Green Club)
- Host
- All Japan Shohin Bonsai Association
Nihon Bonsai Taikanten
This exhibition for bonsai hobbyists to display their work takes place once a year, with the carefully raised bonsai on show alongside other items such as viewing stones. It is held at Miyako Messe, Kyoto International Exhibition Hall, as the leaves change color in the fall.
- Date
- Every November
- Location
- Kyoto
- Host
- Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative
Nippon Bonsai Sakufuten
This exhibition is the only one in which display rights are limited to professional bonsai artists who are members of the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative. At the selection committee meeting prior to the exhibition, entrants’ bonsai care and cultivation techniques are the focus of the rigid selection process to determine the winners of each prize, starting with the Prime Minister’s Award. For bonsai artists, it is both in name and reality the pinnacle of bonsai exhibitions in Japan.
- Date
- Every December
- Location
- Tokyo (Ueno Green Club)
- Host
- The Organizing Committee for the Nippon Bonsai Sakufuten