ITALIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS 2007 

ABANO TERME, 16-18 MARCH 2007
The Italian national congress will be held for the second consecutive year during the “Higan” event. In the past we had been honoured to host both President Tomio Yamada and Master Hideo Suzuki. The congress will offer many opportunities to study different topics that are partly, linked to bonsai technique and also to the world culture in which they have developed . The work will then focus on bonsai in relation to calligraphy. This work began during the meeting of September 2005 and then continued in the previous national congress of 2006.

CONGRESS INTRODUCTION
The Italian national congress of Nippon Bonsai Sakka Kyookai Europe (NBSKE) will be held on 16/17/18 March 2007 and will be hosted, like last year, by Higan event, which will take place at the Congress Centre of Abano Terme (PD). You’ll have the chance to assist or to take part in numerous activities as well as join the activities offered by NBSKE. Anyway, as the general program is still under construction at the moment, we invite you to visit the site www.Higan.com to read all the information and news.

As far as our program concerns, we have outlined it, in order to clarify topics related to the cultivation techniques as well as to the Extreme Orient, as we Occidental people don’t understand some aspects of bonsai without studying the culture

TECHNIQUE
Honoured guest for technique will be Abe Kenichi, member of the Japanese mother house and probably the most knowledgable expert on pentaphylla pine cultivation (bonsai and News n°98-November-December 2006)

On Saturday the Master will hold a seminar, with 60 participants maximum, during which he will explain the pentaphylla pine cultivation techniques and he will apply them practically to a sample. The small number of participants will allow for questions to the Master

This is the only activity with a fee the prices for each person are the following:
NBSKE members: 40,00 €
NBSKE Club members: 72,00 €
Non-members: 80,00 €
Booking will be confirmed at the moment of payment. If you’re interested, we advise you to book in time as we already have numerous requests.


On Sunday you will be able to participate in a demonstration on one or more pines by the Master in collaboration with some expert members.

NBSKE: There will be some demonstrations by expert members of the Association and, at the same time, some conferences will be held in order to use the dead time resulting from the setting up of equipment. The demonstrators will explain the kind of work that will be done on the plants, the plants will be photographed and at the end of the conference, there will be an opportunity to discuss the work done using the finished plant as well as picture screening.
Also, the Associative Exhibition of the best bonsais and suiseki of 2007 will be layed out in the traditional way.
Othmar Auer will be responsible for the choice of materials and for the exposition.


CULTURE
Prof. Giangiorgio Pasqualotto, Prof. Aldo Tollini, Dr. Fabio Smolari, Nippon Bonsai Sakka Kyookai Europe.
Saturday: Japanese calligraphy and bonsai styles
Continuation of the 2005-2006 project about the relation between calligraphy and bonsai.
Speaking of last year’s work, you will find an article published in Bonsai & News n.98, November-December 2006, available upon request by NBSKE secretary.

Sunday: Conference “Evolution as origins keeper in arts and school” - The idea of evolution in our culture and in that of Extreme Orient. The function of schools in preserving tradition in arts.
In these last years bonsai has been evolving towards an emphasis on the aesthetic aspects, often getting extremely flashy and spectacular results, missing out on the traditional bonsai values. Abe clarifies this concept in his article on Bonsai & News which we mentioned before: “….People often say that bonsai evokes nature, by the way the national exhibition Kokofu-bonsai-ten presents, for the majority, the more current trends that show works in which you can still see the hand of the author. You can in fact often hear comments such as: What a marvellous creation!, rather than:- What a natural tree! The principles that determine bonsai charm can’t be found anywhere else but in nature…”
During the conference the experts will help us to understand the differences between our culture and that of the Extreme Orient, in relation to the idea of evolution as well as the idea of the value of tradition in arts.

ITALIAN CONGRESS NIPPON BONSAI SAKKA KYOOKAI EUROPE
ABANO TERME, 16-18 MARCH 2007 – Congress Theatre


PROGRAM

Hotel accommodations:
Special terms and 10% discount on hotel price agreed with Higan (www.Higan.com) if you book:
1) on line, directly from the site area dedicated to hotel booking: you’ll just have to follow the instructions given by the System;
2) calling the Booking Centre 049/738 95 55 from Monday to Friday, from 9.30 to 12:30 and from 15:00 to 18:00.
In both cases you’ll be able to enjoy a discount just by entering the promotional code NipponBonsai835735 in the “promotional code” area if you book on line or by giving the code to the Booking Centre operator if you book by phone.