Goshin is a bonsai created by John Y. Naka.

Goshin is a bonsai created by John Y. Naka. It is a forest of eleven junipers (Juniperus chinensis 'foemina'), the first of which Naka began working with bonsai in 1948. Naka donated his work at the National Bonsai Foundation in 1984, to be exhibited at the United States National Arboretum, and since then, there is exposed. Each tree represents one of the grandchildren of Naka.

Naka began working with the first two of the eleven trees that would eventually Goshin formed in 1948, he created a composition "two-trees" using two juniper trees of the same height. In 1953, he created Naka, during a demonstration for its school of bonsai, a juniper-style "formal upright." Later, he also bought a taller mast (destined to become the main shaft, the higher Goshin) , that has been transplanted in the ground and gradually worked and trained staff; was ready to be exhibited in 1960.

Goshin took the form of a forest for the first time to 1964.

"I feel honored and proud that my Goshin has found a permanent home where it can be admired by many people, especially those who are interested in bonsai culture. How much for my other bonsai, behind his birth there is a history, the creation of Goshin took a long, long time and it was almost a challenge. Goshin is composed of eleven trees, Alice and I have eleven grandchildren. The smaller tree has been my first demonstration. For the meaning it has for me I wanted to do something more, I have not sold at the appropriate time, I do not have selfishly kept it, but I offered to everyone so that everyone can enjoy its views. In other words, belongs Goshin to all the inhabitants of the United States as well, the people of the whole world. There are no borders in Bonsai, Bonsai is to create a universal appeal, universal peace. dove of peace flies, from the palace to the humble abode, from rich to poor, so does the spirit of Bonsai. Hopefully this will encourage the next generation to look back with pride this art alive and also leads to a maggioren brotherhood among all people, wherever they are. "-

John Yoshio Naka

John Yoshio Naka (16 August 1914-19 May 2004) was born in Fort Lupton, Colorado by a second-generation Japanese-Americans, but at the age of 8 years, moved to the country of origin of their parents where, because of ' influence of his grandfather, he studied the art of bonsai. He returned to the United States near Boulder, Colorado in 1935, and then at the end of 1946, he settled in Los Angeles, California.In Orange County, Naka, along with four friends, founded a bonsai club in November 1950, which is now known as the California Bonsai Society . It became a very important figure in the American art of bonsai in the 1950s - 60s. Naka was a driving force in the spread and appreciation and practice of the art of bonsai in the West and elsewhere. Naka traveled and taught extensively throughout the world, conferences and club, but refused to give lectures in Japan (where the bonsai was been highly developed over the centuries), saying: "They want me to teach, but I tell them that it would be like trying to preach to the Buddha." His main publications were two books, entitledBonsai Techniques and Bonsai Techniques II , the texts that are revered as the bibles of bonsai technique by many Western artists. These books have been translated into French, German, Italian and Spanish. He has contributed to articles, prefaces and photographs for numerous professional journals and books.In 1985, Emperor Hirohito of Japan has bestowed on Naka the most prestigious award for a non-Japanese citizen, Fifth Class Order of the Rising Sun. A Nina S. Ragle collection of 287 proverbs presented in both Japanese and English by Naka,Even Monkeys Fall Out of Trees , was published in 1987. (The title refers to the fact that even a bonsai master can make a mistake.) was director and founder of the World Bonsai Friendship Federation (WBFF) and a co-signer of the Constitution of the Latin-American Bonsai Federation (LabF). He was an honorary adviser to the National Bonsai Foundation . Naka was chosen in 1992 as one of the thirteen winners to receive a National Heritage Fellowship, was the first bonsai artist to receive this prestigious award. When he received the award he said, "It 'a beginning but no end. A bud today becomes a branch tomorrow. " His other quotes: "Bonsai is not the result: what comes next. The important thing is the godimendo of that is that you do now, " "There must be behind philosophy, botany, art, and human quality to be a bonsai", "Bonsai is not you that you're working on the tree, you must have the 'tree that works in you " "Let there be among you space your branches so that the birds can fly through them." Of all the works of Naka, the composition is more recognizable Goshin , which means "protector of the spirit." It 'a group of eleven Juniperus foemina, each of which represents one of the grandchildren of Naka. The bonsai can be seen on display at the National Arboretum in Washington. Approximately one month before his death, Naka gave his first bonsai, a Montezuma Cypress (Taxodium mucronatum), at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. In May 2005, a collection of more than 80 of his drawings of how he imagined the future development of various trees of the participants in his workshop, was released as John Naka's Sketchbook , edited by Jack Billet and Cheryl Manning.

Inspired by a forest of Cryptomeria japonica which is located near a shrine in Japan, Naka has put together first four trees that had already been used in another composition than 1.2 meters in height. He soon was joined by three others, to create a forest of seven bonsai. Naka also had to change the pot to improve drainage - the lack of which caused the death of one of the trees and its repeated replacements. At the moment, Naka had seven grandchildren, each of which was represented by a tree. At the instigation of fellow artists of bonsai, has given a name to its composition, has called "Goshin," which means "protector of the spirit", in reference to the name of the shrine which is located in the forest that inspired it. Since 1973, Naka had eleven grandchildren, and he ratcheted up eleven number of plants of Goshin.

After the donation, Naka returned frequently to Washington to inspect and supervise the maintenance of Goshin, including the remarkable work that was done in 1999. By that year, he created another bonsai forest is known as Goshin both. Naka died in 2004, his death a French website has posted the following: "John Naka is gone. A vague murmur of astonishment among the branches of Goshin."