Engelsk artikel

Bonsai master Yasuo Mitsuya knows what a bonsai tree needs, and he s not afraid to strong arm one to make it happen.

Just ask Carl, a volunteer at Lake Merritt s serenely beautiful Bonsai Garden where Mitsuya is holding classes this weekend. Carl said he watched in horror as the bonsai master stretched and straightened the curved trunk of an Atlas Cedar that he had nurtured for years.

"He started wrenching it around and wrapped wire around the trunk to hold it, and now it s upright, said Carl, 60, of Walnut Creek, who did not want to use his last name, perhaps in fear of Mitsuya. "It s my baby. He took one look at it and knew what it was supposed to be.

Carl was one of several bonsai hobbyists and experts taking a class this weekend from Mitsuya, an internationally acclaimed bonsai master from Japan.