2    BT by JYN, pg. 257 and color Plate 7 (photo of cedar taken in 1972), Plate 9 (kengai juniper photo taken in May 1972), and Plate 2 (curved trunk juniper photo taken in 1973);  Alice Naka's article, pg. 22;  Elias' article, pp. 10, 60-61; Ragle, pp. 7-8; "John Naka at the Atlanta Bonsai Congress '73," by Ann Getman, Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XIII, No. 6, July/August 1974, pg. 28; "History of California Bonsai Society" by Khan Komai, Bonsai in California, No. 3 (1969), pg. 38, also quoted by Ernesta D. Ballard in Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1969, "It was formed in 1950 by a group of South-land Japanese and 'a few Caucasians'."; Bonsai in California, No. 1 (1967), pg. 1; Young's article, pp. 93-94, also pg. 82; International Bonsai, IBA, 1986/No. 2, pg. 12;  Golden Statements, GSBF, September/October 1994, pg. 20, which gives 1955 as the founding date and has the fourth friend's name as Yamashito; Beauty Behind Barbed Wire by Allen H. Eaton, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1952, which also states that there were more than 90 bonkei (dry miniature landscape) makers at Amache, only one of whom had ever practiced before.  Pictures from the camp art exhibition of these are on pp. 17, 19, and 89; RJB personal correspondance with Tania Rizzo, Archivist, Pasadena Historical Museum, Sept. 23, 1999.

3    Komai's article, pg. 38; Invitation membership per Bob Pressler in Bonsai Time Podcast from late February 2024, "Why You Should Apply for the Ben Oki Scholarship with Bob Pressler - Bonsai Time Podcast Ep31 Part1."

4    BT by JYN, pp. 257, 258, color Plate 8 (photo of azalea taken in June 1962); Komai's article, pp. 38-39; "Birds & Butterflies Space" by William J. McCann, Bonsai in California, Vol. 5, 1971, pg. 38,  states that the shows started in 1957; "Celebrating 35 Years of Progress" by Dorothy Land, Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XXXII, No. 4, July/August 1993, pg. 28; Young's article, pg. 94; IB Digest Bicentennial, pg. 33;  Pasco's article, pg. D2; the cover of Golden Statements, GSBF, March/April 2002, Vol. XXV, No. 2, is a b&w of John's Montezuma Cypress as exhibited at the 1958 show; "About California Bonsai Society, Inc." by Sam Nakano and Kaz Yoneda, Bonsai in California, No. 20, 1986, pg. 52.

5    Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XXII, No. 4, May, 1983, pg. 115;  "I.B.C. '83 Bonsai Horizon Headliners" by Jean Smith, Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XXII, No. 5, June 1983, pg. 161; Golden Statements, GSBF, May/June 1995, pg. 31; BT by JYN, color Plate 5 (photo of wisteria taken in March 1966) and 15 (photo of elm taken in 1971); "GSBF Collection at the Huntington," http://www.gsbf-bonsai.org/huntington/GSBFHuntGalleryBonsai.html, accessed 03/17/03.

6    Komai's article, pg. 39; Nakano and Yoneda's article, pp. 52-53.

7    Komai's article, pg. 39; "About the Cover," Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 19, No. 2, Summer, 1985, pg. 1; BT by JYN, color Plate 3 (photo of silverberry taken in 1969), 4 (cypress photo taken in 1971), 6 (oak photo taken in April 1971), 10 ("Tora" photo taken in 1970), and 11 ("Ryu" photo taken in 1973); There is also a small b&w of "Tora" by R. Shaner, taken at the California Bonsai Show in 1976, in Bonsai Magazine, Vol. XVI, No. 2, March 1977, pg. 52; Kokufu tale per JYN at Demonstration, March 1997, California Bonsai Society 40th Anniversary show, cf. "Naka and NABF" by Ted Tsukiyama, http://www.bonsai-wbff.org/nabf/newsletter1/1c.htm, which gives the date as "1965 when John visited the 39th Kokufu-ten in Tokyo where he was introduced to Kyuzo Murata, Daizo Iwasaki and other leading bonsai figures in Japan, not the least being Saburo Kato."; Elias' article, pp. 12, 13 which gives the show as the "29th Kokofu-ten"; cf. Lawrence, Guy  "Bonsai as a Hobby for the Blind" (Bonsai, BCI, Sep 1972, Vol. XXI, No. 7, pp. 238-239), a first-person story about a blind enthusiast in South Africa.

8    BT by JYN, Color Plate 13, Fig. 420; Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. VIII, No. 1, February 1969, cover and pg. 2, which states that "His tall, main tree was chosen first in the spring of 1957" and that the group was created "in 1964 or 1965."; "Goshin History" by Cheryl Manning, NBF Bulletin, Vol. XII, No. 2, Winter 2001, p. 4 (with small b&w photo of Goshin dated Oct. 18, 1969), which also states that the first tree was trained in 1953 for John's first demonstration for his first class and combined with two others in 1963.  One of the latter was a twin-trunk tree made of two trunks of equal size and height, which he manipulated until their difference in size was significant.  The other original tree was a massive specimen which the owner of Del Amo Home Nursery was willing to part with because this tree had a slight bend.  Mas Imai offered him three more foemina junipers so John could make a seven-tree group planting.  Soon the number-six tree and several of its replacements died because of lack of drainage hole nearby; Per Elsie Andrade at the Phoenix Bonsai Society meeting of 11/16/99 after the GSBF workshop, John stated that the center tree in the composition was lost five times because there was no drainage hole right under that location.  John took the planting apart, drilled a hole in the container, and the next tree chosen for the center survived; Journal, ABS,  Vol. 5, No. 4, Winter 1972, pg. 78 corrects Errata for Fall, pg. 46: nine should read 11 for John Naka's yoseuye.  Coffey, Danny "National Bonsai, Part I: Goshin," National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, "Tree The People" blog, June 30, 2015.

9    BT by JYN, pg. 258.

10    Komai's article, pg. 39; Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 2, No. 2, Summer 1968, pg. 14; International Bonsai, IBA, 1983/No. 3, pp. 12, 14; Bonsai in California, Vol. 3, 1969, Goshin is Fig. 10 on pg. 8.  John also has "A Photographic Bonsai Demonstration" with 16 b&w illustrations on pp. 40-42 of that same issue, and b&w Fig. 78 on pg. 35 of a Kuzuya Ishi, a thatched hut-shaped viewing stone.

11    Conversation with Leroy Fujii of Phoenix Bonsai Society.  The same story was told at other times to other members;  Per Manning's "Goshin History" article, the composition made its debut at the Descanso Gardens during the dedication of Van de Kamp Hall.

12    BT by JYN, pg. 258; Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. VIII, No. 2, February 1969, cover and pg. 2 with the observation that the planting "may very well become a famous one in the U.S.A."; Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 2, No. 2, Summer 1968, pg. 2; Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1969, pp. 2, 14; Internet Movie Database, http://us.imdb.com/Name?Shimada,+Teru.

13    Land's article, pg. 29; Golden Statements, GSBF, September/October 1994, pg. 20; Indianapolis Bonsai Club History,http://www.indybonsai.org/page18.html.

14    Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 4, No. 1, pg. 10, by George F. Hull with 7 b&w photos by the author; Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 2, 46-47, by George F. Hull with 6 b&w photos by the author, and the note that ABS was preparing a color slide set of the demonstration; BT by JYN, pg. 258.

15    Various advertisements in the specialty magazines for Naka-led tours; conversations with Leroy Fujii of Phoenix Bonsai Society who was on the 1977 trip; Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. X, No. 1, February 1971, pg. 2.  The entries continued only through October 1971, with another for February 1972.  Page 2 of other issues did include haiku by recent and past poets.

16    Jaboticaba story per post by Patrick Giacobbe, 02 Jan 2011,  http://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t5169-jim-smith-s-dura-stone-nursery#52562; "Activities and Program Ideas," Bonsai Magazine, BCI, September 1972, pg. 22; Bonsai Magazine, BCI, December 1971, pg. 4; Bonsai Magazine, BCI, July/August 1978, pg. 197, with two b&w photos of John at home with his trees.

17    "John Naka at the Atlanta Bonsai Congress '73" by Ann Getman, Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XIII, No. 6, July/August 1974, pp. 28-29; BT by JYN, pg. 258, Color Plates 12 and 13, and Figs. 420 and 421; "'Goshin' -- The Making of a Masterpiece" by Dorothy S. Young, Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 18, No. 2, Summer 1984, pg. 27 states that the increase was done in 1972; Per Manning's "Goshin History" article, "By 1976, John had four more grandchildren, so Goshin grew to be an eleven-tree forest planting."; "Bonsai At Longwood Gardens" by Leslie F. Lutz, Jr., Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 12, No. 3, pg. 53.

18    BT by JYN, "Author's Words"; Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XIV, No. 1, January/February 1975, pg. 25; Buller, Lew "Clump," BCI website, accessed 01/20/2018; "A Great Bonsai Event - Slow as Bonsai Taking Shape" by Susanne Barrymore, Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XV, No. 3, April 1976, pp. 72-73; "Cover Story," Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XII, No. 10, December 1973, pg. 3; Nakano and Yoneda's article, pg. 53.

33    Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XXXI, No. 4, July/August 1992, pg. 21; "Oakland's Bonsai Park -- Life and Death among Little Trees" by D.M. Roche, New California Media Online, January 14, 2000, http://web.archive.org/web/20010209005125/http://www.ncmonline.com/arts-and-culture/2000-01-14/bonsai.html.

34    Golden Statements, GSBF, November/December 1994, pg. 5;  "Federation's Prodigious Undertaking Was a Bonafide Success, IBC'94/GSBF XVII, A Day by Day Account" by Dorothy Land, Golden Statements, GSBF, January/February 1995, pg. 19.

35    "GSBF Collection at the Huntington," http://www.gsbf-bonsai.org/huntington/GSBFHuntGalleryBonsai.html, accessed 03/17/03; Personal e-mail correspondence to RJB on 10 Jun 1999 from Mike Sullivan, President, Gold Coast Bonsai Society, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

36    Per JYN as noted by RJB at Demonstration, March 1997, California Bonsai Society 40th Anniversary show; short article and three color photos by Peter Bloomer can be found on pg. 48 of Bonsai Magazine,BCI, Vol. 36, No. 4, July/August 1997; NBF Bulletin, Summer/Fall 1997, Vol. VII, No. 1, p. 1. 

37    "What's Up John?" by Cheryl Manning, Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 5, September/October 1999, pp. 9-11.  Two personal emails to RJB from Chris Cihlar, Jan 19 and 24, 2018, an art dealer who acquired the Persimmon Paining from the estate of a friend of John's.  The painting would soon be put up for sale and Chris contacted RJB after finding these JYN biopages.  "Photos attached.  Please feel free to use however you feel appropriate."  Per the plaque at the bottom of the painting "Mary Ann Orlando from NBF - May 2, 1996.  'The thanks of millions yet to be.'"  Two personal emails to RJB from Cheryl Manning, Jan 28, 2018, including verifying that the printed "John Naka" signature on the Persimmon painting -- unlike the more familiar cursive we see on his workshop tree sketches -- was indeed John's: "I can verify his signature because it matches a gorgeous painting of watermelon wedges that he gave me in 1999."  See "Goshin II, A Photo Essay" by David Gulick, Bonsai Today, No. 69, pp. 58-61, with 16 color photos; and "Goshin Two: John's Swan Song" by Cheryl Manning, Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. XXXIX, No. 4, July/August 2000, pp. 30-33, with six color photos, and a b&w sketch of G2 after the fact; Per Manning's "Goshin History" article, "Once a year, John returns to the Museum to visit his old friend.  Crowds gather to see him work on his masterpiece: a bonsai that can be traced back to the very beginning of John's professional bonsai career."; Roche's "Oakland's Bonsai Park" article.

38    Tsukiyama's internet article, "Naka and NABF"; RJB conversation with Naka-san after RJB earlier viewed the North American Collection during International Scholarly Symposium on Bonsai and Viewing Stones, May 18, 2002.  RJB had briefly met JYN at the Huntington Botanical Gardens reception, March 1997.  In Washington, John couldn't quite place RJB but said that I didn't have a moustache before -- which is absolutely correct (by May 2002 my upper Sensei's body may have been getting old but his mind was as sharp as ever.

39     Cheryl Manning's article "Memorable Montezuma," Winter 2004 issue of NBF Bulletin, Vol. XV, No. 2, pg. 6; various May 19 and May 20, 2004 posts on the Internet Bonsai Club, especially by Theo,
http://web.archive.org/web/20070222110256/http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0405&L=bonsai&T=0&F=&S=&P=22967 ; "John Y. Naka, 89; Brought Art of Asian Bonsai to the West" by Joy Buchanan, Los Angeles Times obituary, May 24, 2004, http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-naka24may24,0,7189493.story?coll=la-news-obituaries, accessed 05/27/04; "President's Message" by Alan Walker, BCI, http://web.archive.org/web/20041010234159/http://bonsai-bci.com/presmsg.html, accessed Sept. 6, 2004;

40    "President's Message" by Alan Walker, BCI, http://web.archive.org/web/20041010234159/http://bonsai-bci.com/presmsg.html, accessed Sept. 6, 2004, also on pg. 1 of July/August/September 2004 issue of Bonsai Magazine ; "In celebration of a life...John Yoshio Naka, 1914-2004" by David Meyer, Tucson Bonsai Society Newsletter, July-September 2004 issue; Bonsai Today reference per posting to Internet Bonsai Club newsgroup by Jim Lewis, October 23, 2004; "World Bonsai Convention," NBF Bulletin, Summer 2005, Vol. XVI, No. 1, http://www.bonsai-nbf.org/wp-content/documents/bulletins/vol16no1.pdf; "The Bonsai Bridge" by Dr. Saraswathy Unnithan, Horticulture World, Vol. 5, Issue 4, January-March 2006, pg. 42, sent to RJB in a personal e-mail from Dr. Unnithan on Feb. 4, 2006.  Reprinted by permission of Dr. (Mrs.) Unnithan on Feb. 8, who also stated that Horticulture World was the only Indian magazine dealing with horticulture and bonsai.

41    May 2 Bonsai Book of Days listing for 2014.

42    "Collecting Naka Drawings" by Chris Cochrane, NBF Bulletin, Summer 2000, Vol XI, No. 1, p. 4; personal e-mail correspondence 29 Jun 2000 from Chris Cochrane.  Forthcoming book per insert in the Winter 2001 issue of NBF Bulletin, Vol. XII, No. 2.  Per Cheryl Manning's article "John Naka's Last Sketch," Winter 2004 issue of NBF Bulletin, Vol. XV, No. 2, pg. 5; "Jack Billet: In Memoriam" at http://www.betterbonsai.com/billet/billet.html.

43    Per personal e-mail to RJB on 17 Jan 2007 from Joseph McCoy of ttsbe.org who had been directed to this web page; "My Workshop at Donna Dobberfuhl Atelier in San Antonio Texas," May 25, 2008, http://hans-van-meer.ofbonsai.org/2008/05/25/my-workshop-at-donna-dobberfuhl-atelier-in-san-antonio-texas/; "John K.[sic] Naka," http://collections.si.edu/search/record/npg_DC520001; Goodnick, Billy  "Tripping on Bonsai," http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?id=3329.

SEE ALSO:

"Visiting with the Masters -- John Naka" by Peter Aradi, Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 34, No. 3, Fall 2000, pp. 119-122 with nine color photos.

The continuing depth of Naka's Bonsai Techniques are mentioned in Ryan Neil's interview with Australian Lindsay Farr in the second part of the August 2024 podcast conversation here, specifically marks 48:30 to about 50:00 and 55:10 to 56:15.]