The Gafu-ten exhibition in Kyoto was one of the first bonsai stops i made on this recent trip. Gafu-ten is held in the Miyakomesse Building, Kyoto. It is recognised as the highest level shohin bonsai exhibition in Japan. There are over 200 displays in the show and it also has an extensive sales area.

It was my first time to the exhibition and i was thoroughly looking forward to it. We arrived and were very fortunate to be given two free entry tickets by a very nice woman.

Me at the entrance

The exhibition was fantastic. The 200 displays were overwhelming. Although we spent the most part of a day at the exhibition it was not nearly enough time to take everything in completely. The level of trees on display was amazing and each tree was beautifully matched with some truly beautiful pots, stands etc.

Unfortunately the only places i could take pictures was at the entrance and in the sales area. I think i will probably have to buy the album as i would like to spend my time revisiting some of the displays that have stuck in my head.

After filtering through the exhibition we emerged in the sales area. We were there on the last day of the exhibition so i am guessing that the best items may have been sold but there was still a huge amount of things to buy, look at and wish for.

Many of the sales trees looked like they would not be out of place on the display benches.

More sale trees

One of the few tool shops

I spent the afternoon browsing, buying and wishing i had a larger luggage allowance as well as snapping photos. If you are interested in the full gallery of pictures they are located HERE