Judging & Awards

Three distinguished and experienced judges from outside the United States will carefully evaluate each bonsai. They will draw from their vast knowledge of plant material and bonsai aesthetics to determine the award winning bonsai.

8th U.S. National Exhibition Judges

Koji Hiramatsu, Japan

Koji Hiramatsu is an award winning fourth-generation bonsai grower and artist from Takamatsu, Japan, an area famed for pine bonsai production. He is the current proprietor of Hiramatsu Shunsho-en Bonsai Garden and Bonsai No Takumi School of Bonsai. Although known and renowned for his shohin bonsai pine and Juniper techniques, he is skilled and teaches with most any species used around the world.

Mr. Hiramatsu is currently a Managing Director of “All Japan Shohin Bonsai Association,” Chairman of Gafu Bonsai Exhibition Organizing Committee, as well as holding several other executive positions associations promoting bonsai education throughout Japan and the world. He is friendly, concise and passionate and speaks very comfortably in English, always patient and striving for excellence.

Mr. Hiramatsu keeps a busy international schedule as well as directing and teaching at his recently completed bonsai school which houses serious students from around the world. He always has time to work with elementary and high school classes to continue in the traditional bonsai culture of their ancestors to the next generation.

Gerald Rainville, Canada

Gerald Rainville is a professional bonsai grower and landscape designer from Vancouver, Canada. He discovered bonsai in high school while hosting a Japanese student during the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. Soon after graduating from the Horticulture Program at the Algonquin College in Ottawa in 1979, he traveled to Takamatsu, Japan to become Hiroyoshi Yamaji’s first apprentice.

Mr. Rainville was welcomed into the “Kokubunji Successors Bonsai Club,” formed to train the new generation of bonsai growers of Kokubunji. Veteran, award-winning bonsai grower Kuniaki Hiramatsu was the teacher of the group. He began a special relationship with Koji, Kuniaki Hiramatsu’s first son. He taught Koji English, while his father taught Gerald bonsai, and continues to teach him now, 40 years later.

Upon returning home to Montreal, he founded Shikoku Bonsai with Arthur Skolnik. In1986 Mr. Rainville returned to Japan to continue his bonsai studies in Takamatsu. The following year he moved to Vancouver, BC and established Takamatsu Bonsai, a one-acre nursery and downtown retail outlet. In 1990 he once again returned to Japan where he apprenticed with landscape architect Shunmyo Masuno. Several years later he established Shikoku Bonsai Canada on a 2.5 acre property in Roberts Creek, BC, where to this day he continues to care and train decades old Japanese black pine, Junipers and Dawn Redwood bonsai.

Corin Tomlinson, England

Corin Tomlinson is a professional bonsai artist and co-owner of Greenwood Bonsai Studio with his brother Paul in Nottingham, England. These second generation bonsai growers learned from their father, noted bonsai artist and author Harry Tomlinson. Paul runs the business section and mail order business while Corin concentrates on growing and training bonsai.

Mr. Tomlinson received a National Diploma in horticulture from Merrist Wood College in England and completed his internship through Ohio State University studying with William N. Valavanis at the International Bonsai Arboretum in Rochester, New York. His 30 plus years of bonsai experiences include studies with F. Chase Rosade and Yuji Yoshimura in the United States.

Having developed his skill and knowledge of bonsai combined with his natural artistry leads Mr. Tomlinson around England and the world sharing his talents. He is currently hosting a regular free YouTube channel demonstrating and explaining his techniques for bonsai growing and training. His enthusiasm for bonsai, and cars, is catching and he has many followers around the world.

Sean Smith, U.S.

Sean Smith lives in Marysville, Pennsylvania, where he owns and operates Three Mountain Bonsai School and Custom Oriental Wood-craft. With a passion for bonsai and suiseki for 30 years, and an extensive background in carpentry, he combined the two and started his own business in 1994. He makes bonsai display tables and carves daiza for renowned bonsai and suiseki enthusiasts and collectors around the world. He was the only student of Koji Suzuki, master daiza carver in Japan.

Mr. Smith has lectured and demonstrated bonsai as well as suiseki in the United States and Europe and is internationally known for his skills in bonsai and suiseki. His bonsai, suiseki, daiza carving, scroll making and display table workshops are quite popular. Collecting suiseki is one of his passions and travels extensively hunting for distinctive stones. He is a member of the Nippon Suiseki Association, European Suiseki, and the past president of the Susquehanna Bonsai Club in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Awards

Award Banquet

Cash awards will be presented for the finest bonsai in the following categories at the Award Banquet held on Saturday evening, September 12, 2020. Attendees must register for this event.