is a

bonsai Bonsai ( ja, 盆栽, , tray planting, ) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of ''penjing''. Unlike ''penjing'', which utilizes traditional techniques to produce ...

garden in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It was founded in 2002 by bonsai master Kunio Kobayashi. __TOC__

History

Kunio Kobayashi began studying bonsai in 1976. In 2002, he opened the Shunkaen Bonsai Museum in the Edogawa ward of Tokyo. It is designed as a courtyard surrounded by a traditional Japanese house. Now, the garden attracts about 10,000 foreign visitors each year.

Collection

Shunkaen houses over 1,000 trees. One of the most famous of these is estimated to be 1,000 years old, and is located in front of the house. Though most of the trees are displayed in the courtyard, certain trees are displayed in traditional

tokonoma A , or simply , is a recessed space in a Japanese-style reception room, in which items for artistic appreciation are displayed. In English, a could be called an alcove. History There are two theories about the predecessor of : the first is ...

alcoves inside the house. The building also houses a sizeable collection of books and antique Chinese pots and tables are also displayed.

References

{{authority control Museums established in 2002 2002 establishments in Japan Bonsai Museums in Tokyo