Phoenix, Arizona - Matsuri - Bonsai and The Candy Man
A Japanese festival would not be complete without those amazing Bonsai trees. These never fail to catch my eye. I saw a lot of trimmed trees when I was in Japan (not all Bonsai) and my poor desert trees have been suffering every since! I had to stop and see "The Candy Man" perform because I found out about these artists when I was researching for the Asia trip but did not get a chance to see one perform. These are traditional ame zaiku (candy sculptures) made with mizuame (boiled starch sugar) mixed with shokubeni (food coloring). He takes a ball of the hot candy in to his hands. The ball is put on to a stick so that he can work with it and it can be held later. He snips little pieces and pulls and tugs to make the ears, nose and other parts of the animal. At the end of his performance, a candy animal. I did research on these artists, called shokunin (artisans). They study for years to pe...