We set up a pine tree bonsai on a square box measuring 2,800 on its diagonal. It was installed after the mall closed for the day on December 29th. It was completed in 5 hours with 17 people, which included the Tamagawa Takashimaya SC maintenance team.

The Japanese black pine and plum tree have roots,while the Japanese quince, wintersweet, young pine, camellia, and chrysanthemum are cut flowers. In order to compliment with the crafted design inspired by a long-tailed rooster, we prepared a “monkaburi no matsu,” or Japanese black pine whose branches spread laterally.

The “monkaburi no matsu” represents social status in traditional Japanese houses. Although there are those who dislike fallen camellia flowers, we proposed it as a flower that was just right for welcoming spring as, in ancient times, they were believed to house spirits and herald the coming of spring.

Based on a stacked-box concept,we inserted the camellia and young pine in such a way as to make their upper surface flat. It was made this way with the perspective of customers walking along the second-floor corridors in mind.

At the main entrance, we set up a spring garden centered around a bonsai Japanese white pine. We focused on giving it a gorgeous appearance worthy of an entrance while also keeping the height low so as not to obstruct the display windows. We adjusted the temperature of the buds in greenhouses at the end of the year so that the plum flowers would blossom on January 2nd, the first sale day of the new year.

With bonsai, the best place to see the shape of the trees is from the front. However, bonsai also looks gorgeous from behind. Thus, we set it up so that customers on the stairs behind the garden leading to the basement levels could also admire the back of the bonsai display.

In the plaza, we hung an assembled comb-like bamboo decoration from the ceiling. We adjusted the balance of the piece repeatedly in order to ensure that the layered bamboo would look good from any direction. Although it looks simple, it was delicate work that allowed for no shortcuts, which made it the piece that took the most time to complete.