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Yuji Yoshimura (February 27, 1921 Tokyo, Japan – December 24, 1997 Boston, Massachusetts) was a second-generation distinguished bonsai master who taught traditional Japanese techniques and aesthetics to enthusiasts in the West. ==Early life and career== Yoshimura was the second son born to the family of Toshiji Yoshimura. Toshiji (1891-1975) was a leader in the bonsai world and one of the top suiseki (viewing stone) authorities in Japan. He was also a co-founder of the Nippon Bonsai Society. Toshiji's father had been a samurai and a renowned garden designer.〔Valvanis, "Yuji Yoshimura", p. 29.〕 In April 1952, the 31-year-old Yoshimura, assisted by German agricultural diplomat Alfred Koehn, began the first bonsai course for foreigners in Tokyo at his Kofu-en nursery. Yoshimura refused to believe the prevailing wisdom that westerners could not understand, appreciate, or technically master bonsai. The class was an instant success, and within three years over 600 students—mostly foreign dignitaries, military personnel and businessmen and their wives—took the six-lesson course in classical bonsai art.〔Valvanis, "Yuji Yoshimura", p. 32-33.〕 For the class, Yoshimura grouped the various stylings of bonsai trees into five primary categories. He also systematized much information that previously had only been passed down orally and by example from teacher to student. With the assistance of Giovanna M. Halford, a student of his from England, Yoshimura worked on a companion text. Empirical information about hundreds of types of plants used for the compositions was also compiled into a detailed database at the end of the book. In 1957, ''The Japanese Art of Miniature Trees and Landscapes'' was published by Charles E. Tuttle Co. of Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo. Although there had been a few earlier Bonsai books in English by this time, this was the first comprehensive and practical work on the subject. It was received with excitement by those who were eager to learn classical bonsai as refined during the first half of the twentieth century. The book later came to be referred to as the "Bonsai Bible in English"; it is currently in its 37th printing.〔''Golden Statements'', p. 24.〕 Yoshimura was invited in 1958 to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden by its director George Avery. Yoshimura came to the United States with over one ton of teaching and demonstrating material, and six weeks later he gave his first course at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, entitled "Bonsai Study & Practice". This very successful course was one of many which Yoshimura taught on many levels during the spring and autumn of that year while on the C. Stuart Gager fellowship grant. Yoshimura extended his teaching and lecturing to the West Coast and Hawaii, later returning to teach at Longwood Garden near Philadelphia.〔Smith, pp. 159-160.〕〔Dillon, p. 6.〕〔Valvanis, "Yuji Yoshimura", p. 34.〕 In 1962 Yoshimura spent two months in Australia, where he made a lasting impression. Bonsai was still in its infancy in Australia, and he assisted the early teachers and students, and became the patron of a bonsai group.〔Valvanis, "Yuji Yoshimura", p. 35.〕 At the beginning of 1963, Yoshimura and several of his students founded the Bonsai Society of Greater New York. Within three years there were 555 members, including 339 corresponding members in thirty-one states and several foreign countries.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yuji Yoshimura」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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