The Omiya Bonsai Art Museum in Saitama Prefecture was opened in 2010 and was the first publicly-run museum dedicated to the bonsai art.
It boasts a collection of more than 120 bonsai. Some of the bonsai there are hundreds of years old.
The museum is located in the Omiya Bonsai Village. Some professional bonsai gardeners moved to this land from Tokyo after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 and established the Village in 1925. The Village had four residence requirements:
1. Possession of 10 or more bonsai
2. Agreeing to open their gardens to the public
3. No two-story houses
4. The use of hedges as fencing.
The village still has some private gardens open to the public. The museum only lets you photograph some of the bonsai and the part of the garden from a certain spot. The private gardens generally don’t allow photography.
