On the occasion of the State Visit to the UK, His Majesty the Emperor of Japan toured the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to celebrate the rich history of Kew’s collaboration with Japan and the Japanese Royal Family, and to learn more about scientific and conservation efforts between the UK and Japan.
The tour of Kew, which marked one of the final stages of the State Visit, began in the historic Temperate House where the Emperor was greeted by Richard Deverell, OBE, director of RBG Kew.
Richard said: “We were honoured to welcome His Majesty the Emperor to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. We have had a longstanding and close relationship with Japan which can be seen through beautiful structures in our landscape as well as in our living collections, economic botany and art collections. In 2021 we celebrated the relationship through a wonderful month-long Japanese festival in the Temperate House. We are especially proud too of the scientific links we have through our Millennium Seed Bank in Wakehurst which includes important conservation work under the Global Tree Seed Bank Programme, amongst other achievements.”
Conservation and art on display at Kew
Inside the Victorian glasshouse, the Emperor was presented with material from Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst, which is home to the world’s largest collection of more than 2.4 billion wild plant seeds from more than 97 countries. Dr Elinor Breman, Senior Research Leader at the seed bank highlighted several collections, including seeds banked from trees that survived the Hiroshima atomic bomb and which are now being grown under the Global Tree Seed Bank Programme with the University of the Ryukyus and Kyushu University for conservation in Hokkaido, Kyushu and Okinawa.
The Emperor was then presented with five artworks by Kew’s resident botanical illustrator Masumi Yamanaka, who has worked at Kew since 2006 and whose detailed illustrations aid scientific efforts to describe new species of plants. The paintings on display were: Japanese Pagoda Tree, Tulip Tree, Miracle Pine, Indian horse chestnut (Summer), and Indian horse chestnut (Autumn).
The tour continued with the Emperor meeting Paul Denton, Head of Visitor Programmes and Exhibitions and British artist Marc Quinn, whose metallic sculptures are prominently displayed in the Temperate House and across Kew Gardens as part of the summer programme Marc Quinn: Light into Life. A key element of the exhibition includes Held by Desire in the Temperate House – two 5m-tall bonsai trees cast in bronze and surrounded by life-sized sculptures and specimens from Kew’s own collection of bonsai trees.
The Emperor then met horticulturist Richard Kernick, who maintains Kew’s collection of about 60 bonsai trees, the oldest of which is 180 years old, and which can be admired in Kew’s Bonsai House.
Richard explained: “Often thought to be dwarf forms of trees, Bonsai are, in fact, miniature trees that have been expertly pruned and shaped to prevent them from growing to their natural full size. This intricate and precise art form transforms trees into tiny living treasures. A living bonsai is a never-finished artwork that usually outlives its artist. Inheriting a tree is like being a rung on a ladder – there are often many rungs behind and hopefully many rungs ahead.”
A timeline of Kew’s collaboration with Japan and the Japanese Royal Family
- 1910: The Japan-British Exhibition is held at Shepherd’s Bush, London. The Chokushi-Mon, a replica of the Gate of Nishi-Honganji, Kyoto is created and moved to Kew after the exhibition in 1911.
- 1998: Emperor Akihito and the Empress Emeritus visit Kew.
- 2001: Crown Prince Naruhito visits Kew, including the Japanese Garden.
- 2012: The Japanese Embassy and Kew hold a memorial service in the Japanese Garden one year after the devastating Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
- 2014: The Emperor’s brother, Prince Akishino, and Princess Kiko visit Kew.
- 2015: Prince Akishino’s first daughter Princess Mako pay a visit to Masumi Yamanaka’s Heritage Trees Exhibition at Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. That same year, the Princess visits Kew again to see the Japanese Library and Economic Botany Collection.
- 2016: The Flora Japonica Exhibition is held at at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery and the Japanese Embassy in London. A painting by Masumi Yamanaka of the ‘Miracle pine tree’ that survived the 2011 earthquake and tsunami is exhibited at the Embassy and then donated to the Japanese Government by Kew.
- 2017: Flora Japonica and The Golden Age of Botanical Art Exhibition is held at The Nature and Science Museum in Tokyo with Richard Deverell attending the opening reception.
- 2021: Kew hosts a Japan-themed festival and exhibition in the Temperate House. Masumi receives the Foreign Minister’s Commendation from Japan, presented by Japan’s Ambassador at the opening reception.
- 2022: Kew is presented with a ceremonial Peace Lantern in the Japanese Garden and collaborates on a Peace Symposium linked to the Japanese Garden at Portland Botanic Gardens in the US.
Kew’s links to Japan through science and horticulture
Kew’s Economic Botany Collection is rich in Meiji paper, lacquer and wooden objects, and is regularly visited by makers and curators. The Library, Arts and Archives department recently held an exhibition about food plants that is presently touring Japan for the next 3 years and spans 30 or so illustrations.
The collections at Kew are also home to a very rare work, the Honzo Zufu (Manual of Medicinal Plants), which was conserved over the last eight years with the help of the Toshiba International Foundation and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. Many illustrations by Japanese artists can also be found in the collections, as well as Engelbert’s Kaempfer’s History of Japan (1728), which is believed to be the first work in English about Japan.
Kew’s Herbarium is also home to many dried plant specimens from Japan and two members of Kew’s science department visited herbaria in Japan last year to discuss how herbaria collections can be made more accessible.
Horticulturists at Kew have recently worked with Barakura English Garden on a series of lectures on horticultural techniques and are in discussion with the Omiya Bonsai art Museum at Saitama about collaborative projects and exhibitions.
For high-res images, please download from the following link and credit as named: https://we.tl/t-citXKYANvQ
For more information, images and interview requests, please contact Sebastian Kettley, Media Officer (s.kettley@kew.org) or the Press Office (pr@kew.org)
About Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world-famous scientific and horticultural institution and conservation charity, whose mission is to understand and protect plants and fungi for the wellbeing of people and the future of all life on Earth. It is internationally respected for its outstanding collections, horticultural and scientific expertise in plant and fungal diversity, conservation and sustainable development in the UK and around the globe. Kew Gardens, with its 132 hectares of historic, landscaped gardens, is also a major attraction for international and London visitors alike. Dating back to 1759, the site has a rich history and was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003. Combined visitor numbers with Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex, total over 2.5 million per year. Wakehurst is home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world and a safeguard against the disastrous effects of climate change and biodiversity loss. RBG Kew receives approximately one third of its funding from the UK Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils, with the remaining two thirds coming from supporters, sponsors, memberships and commercial activity including ticket sales. This enables RBG Kew to carry out its vital scientific and educational work. For tickets and membership options, please visit our website. Since implementing a new accessibility scheme for those in receipt of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Legacy Benefits, Kew has welcomed over 88,000 visitors with £1 tickets across both UK sites.
About Kew Science
Kew Science is the driving force behind RBG Kew’s mission to understand and protect plants and fungi, for the well-being of people and the future of all life on Earth. Over 470 Kew science staff work with partners in more than 100 countries worldwide to halt biodiversity loss, uncover secrets of the natural world, and to conserve and restore the extraordinary diversity of plants and fungi. Kew’s Science Strategy 2021–2025 lays out five scientific priorities to aid these goals: research into the protection of biodiversity through Ecosystem Stewardship, understanding the variety and evolution of traits in plants and fungi through Trait Diversity and Function; digitising and sharing tools to analyse Kew’s scientific collections through Digital Revolution; using new technologies to speed up the naming and characterisation of plants and fungi through Accelerated Taxonomy; and cultivating new scientific and commercial partnerships in the UK and globally through Enhanced Partnerships. One of Kew’s greatest international collaborations is the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, which has to date stored more than 2.4 billion seeds of over 40,000 wild species of plants across the globe. In 2023, Kew scientists estimated in the State of the World’s Plants and Fungi report that 3 in 4 undescribed plants globally are already likely threatened with extinction.