A young boy watches intently as he learns for the first time about an ancient artform while watching the 1984 classic film “The Karate Kid.”
“It was so mysterious,” he says, years later as an adult. “It seemed like an untouchable artform that was something only a really wise, old established person could do.”
The artform is not karate, but bonsai. Ryan Neil, who was that young boy, is now a master bonsai artist and founder of Bonsai Mirai. His bonsais sell for up to $750,000, and breathe life into interiors of wealthy clientele and places like the Portland Art Museum.
In the middle of his horticulture degree, Neil tried to court the father of modern bonsai, Masahiko Kimura, for an apprenticeship in Japan. Twenty-two letters to Kimura went unanswered; on the 23rd, Kimura agreed.