I read recently that a bonsai called Goshin, created by John Y. Naka, has been described as "the Mona Lisa of the bonsai world". That piqued my interest so I had a look for some more information. Happily, it even has its own Wikipedia entry which I'll now plagiarize a little but you'd do better just to click the link. Naka was a Nisei born in America in 1914 who lived in Japan from the age of eight before returning to the US in 1935. He became a driving force in the worldwide spread of bonsai and Goshin is recognized as his masterpiece. He began it in 1948 but it took around 25 years to reach the form you can see in the picture above. It was a centrepiece of the Philadelphia Flower Show in 1984 and Naka then donated it to for display at the National Arboretum in Washington. He continued tending to the piece for a further twenty years before he died in 2004. The North American Bonsai Federation has a selection of photographs which trace the development of Goshin here. Initially, I thought the "Mona Lisa" tag meant that Goshin should be seen as the finest example of bonsai in the world but it seems instead the label refers to the fact it is probably the most recognizable. That makes me feel a little embarrassed I'd never heard of it. Naka himself, according to his own Wiki entry, did not feel qualified to offer bonsai classes in Japan because he felt it would be like "preaching to Buddha" so he was modest about his own achievements.
