A Tribute to My Mentor TED TSUKIYAMA
By Felix Laughlin, President of the National Bonsai
Foundation
It is truly a great privilege to say that Ted Tsukiyama has been
my trusted mentor for many years. A lover of bonsai and a
leader of the bonsai community who best exemplifies “bonsai
no kokoro” (the spirit of bonsai), Ted is a man for whom I
have the deepest respect and admiration.
During World War II, Ted served in the Military Intelligence
Service assigned to the U.S. 10th Army Air Force in
India and Burma. He was the first person of Japanese ancestry
to graduate from Yale Law School, and has had a long and
distinguished career as a lawyer and mediator in Honolulu.
Indeed, he is known as the “Dean of Hawaiian Arbitrators.”
Ted was introduced to bonsai in 1964 and, in David Fukumoto’s
words, “befriended the nation of his former enemies.” In 1989,
along with Saburo Kato and John Naka, he was one of the founders
of the World Bonsai Friendship Federation (WBFF). Since that
date he has served continuously as legal counsel for WBFF.
My fateful meeting with Ted took place in 2001, 3 days after
“9/11,” when we met on the Hawaiian island of Lanai to discuss
the history and future of WBFF. I greeted Ted at the airport
after his short flight over from Honolulu had landed, and we
drove to the Koele Lodge where we sat down to talk for several
hours over coffee.
A strong proponent of Saburo Kato’s noble philosophy of bonsai,
Ted spoke of Mr. Kato’s vision for WBFF, which is to promote
bonsai as an instrument for the achievement of greater
international friendship, goodwill and peace. Ted explained
that, through Mr. Kato’s inspired and devoted leadership, WBFF
had already held four successful World Bonsai Conventions,
published two WBFF bonsai magazines, Bonsai of the World I and
Bonsai of the World II (both edited by Ted), and created a
global network of regional bonsai organizations in nine regions,
constituting the only worldwide bonsai organization of its kind.
Ted then invited me to look into the future to see how WBFF
could continue to achieve its objectives. The outcome of the
meeting was that I discovered to my terror that I was going to
succeed both Saburo Kato, WBFF’s Founding Chairman, and John
Naka, the Founding President of the North American Bonsai
Federation (NABF). My only solace was Ted’s assurance that he
would be at my side always, ready to guide and assist when
needed.
Following the Lanai meeting, I stayed in close touch with Ted,
and we corresponded frequently by email, exploring ways to
improve WBFF as an organization especially in its communications
with regional organizations and the global bonsai community. We
also invited prominent American bonsai leaders to join the North
American Bonsai Federation. And we began planning for the 5th
World Bonsai Convention to be held in Washington, D.C. during
2005. With Ted as our guiding light and a team that included
Solita Rosade (a future Chairman
of WBFF and currently
the President of NABF), David Fukumoto as editor and Andy
Rutledge as webmaster, we created websites for WBFF and NABF and
loaded them both with information about these organizations and
the forthcoming convention.
Since Ted and I were also involved with the National Bonsai
Foundation (NBF), the support organization for the National
Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the National Arboretum in Washington,
D.C., I knew well how much he had contributed to the expansion
of the Museum. In 1990, he was NBF’s fundraising chairman for
the building of the Kaneshiro Tropical Conservatory at the
Museum. A close friend of Haruo “Papa” Kaneshiro, they along
with others had co-founded the Hawaiian Bonsai Association and
together they wanted the Hawaiian bonsai community to have a
special place at the Museum for the display of tropical bonsai.
Through his leadership and the generosity of the Hawaiian bonsai
community, Ted succeeded in providing the funds needed to build
this outstanding Conservatory.
In 2002, Ted and his wife Fuku flew to Washington, DC to reunite
with Saburo Kato and his wife Yayoi and participate in the
dedication of the “Kato Family Stroll Garden” at the National
Bonsai & Penjing Museum celebrating the incredible influence
that Mr. Kato and his family have had on the art of bonsai. See
“Kato Stoll Garden Dedicated” in the Summer 2002 issue of the
NBF Bulletin at www.bonsai-nbf.org/nbf-bulletin.
Before the 5th World Bonsai Convention in 2005 in
Washington, DC, Ted traveled to Whittier, California to
interview John Naka in his bonsai garden and to Mansei-en in
Omiya, Japan to interview Saburo Kato for a tribute video that
was presented at the opening ceremony of the 2005 convention.
Ted has also been honored by the Japanese Government with the
Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays, in recognition of his
significant contribution to building American-Japanese
friendship including his work as a founder of WBFF. See
“Bonsai Hero” by Marybel Balendonck in the Winter 2001 issue of
the NBF Bulletin at www.bonsai-nbf.org/nbf-bulletin.
After Solita Rosade became WBFF Chairman in 2005, Ted continued
to provide her with
the same ever-helpful advice and support that he had given to me
during the previous four years.
If any issue
arose about WBFF on which Soli needed advice, she might ask both Ted and
me, but both
Soli and I viewed Ted as having the last word –
we knew beyond doubt that his view was not clouded by any bias but
was informed entirely
by what was the right course for WBFF.
The “high road” was always the road that he took.
More recently in 2010, Ted and Fuku, along with Roy and Jane
Yamashiroya, joined me on a trip to Japan on behalf of the
National Bonsai Foundation. The main purpose of the trip was to
discuss with the Japanese the NBF campaign to raise $2,000,000
to renovate the Japanese Pavilion and the Kato Family Stroll
Garden at the Museum. We visited with Mr. and Mrs. Daizo
Iwasaki at their beautiful home and garden at Takasago-an on the
island of Shikoku, and then flew to Tokyo for meetings with
Hiroshi Takeyama, Chairman of the Nippon Bonsai Association, and
other officials of the NBA.
Throughout that trip to Japan, Ted was our principal spokesman,
explaining our mission in Japanese and handling all meetings
with the skills of a seasoned diplomat. While privately Ted
would disparage his
Japanese language competency, it was obvious that the Japanese
loved him and held him in the highest regard. Everyone we met
addressed Ted as “Tsukiyama-Sensei.”
Reflecting on that fateful meeting with Ted on Lanai, it is
clear to me now that this was just the beginning of a treasured
friendship that would last for many years to come.
Thank you, Ted! Felix Laughlin,
President, National Bonsai Foundation
___________________________________________________________________
Editor note: I thank Felix for sharing and providing an
insight on Ted's extraordinary national and international bonsai
contributions. Saburo Kato has been the inspiration and
Ted Tsukiyama, John Naka, and others made the current bonsai
world possible.
As the transitional successor of both Saburo Kato and John Naka, the two most prominent bonsai giants of our generation, Felix provided the crucial leadership that kept alive Saburo Kato's dream of "World Peace Through Bonsai!" Since then the leadership shifts every four years to the host regional WBFF district that sponsors the World Bonsai Convention. Felix, as the president of National Bonsai Foundation, the bonsai support group for the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum at the National Arboretum in Washington D.C., continues to play a crucial role for today's bonsai generation. For more information regarding the National Bonsai Foundation, please go to: www.bonsai-nbf.org _____________________________________________________________________
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