The masterpiece Bonsai trees are displayed spaciously and very orderly, giving visitors the opportunity to appreciate the trees from all sides. From the entrance of the museum you enter the garden through a gallery of Bonsai and walking into two famous and very large pine trees.
Both trees have great historical significance and have been growing in containers for over 200 years. Proceeding into the main garden you will notice the carefully raked gravel immediately. The entire garden is very clean and modern, with great eye for detail.
Tyler Sherrod was an apprentice of Mr. Suzuki and gave me the full tour around the garden and explained about the collection. You will meet him in the video (above), where he explains the history and significance of the two most important trees owned by Mr. Suzuki.
How to get there
The museum is centrally located in Obuse, about 15 minutes by foot from the Obuse station. Obuse is 35 minutes away from Nagano, from Nagano’s “Nagaden station” (inside the Nagano JR train station).
Taikan Bonsai museum address: 28-7 Obuse-machi, Kamitakai-gun, Nagano, 381-0201 Japan.
When visiting in December – March, the Bonsai garden will look much less spectacular as all the trees are stored in cold houses to protect them from the great amounts of snowfall that Obuse receives.
Map: Taikan Bonsai
Open this map on Google Maps: Shinji Suzuki’s Taikan museum.
