Bill said it wasn’t. But, I have a picture of the tree when it was imported. And I’ve compared that picture to the one in the Yoshimura book. And they look like they “could” be the same tree. There’s a crossing branch on both of those trees at the exact same location. The problem is, the picture in the book is tiny. So, it’s really hard to be absolutely certain.
Bill told me that the tree had not been owned by the Yoshimura family when it was displayed at Kokofu in 1954. And it was put up for auction in 1968 at a commercial bonsai auction in Japan. Yugi Yoshimura was acting as Mr. Beach’s agent at the auction, and bought it for him. And it was imported to the US soon after. But to his knowledge, it was never actually owned by the Yoshimura’s. (I have heard that there was some opposition to exporting it out of Japan, and maybe that’s why Yugi got involved. I don’t know.)
Now, the person I bought it from told me that it had been owned by Yugi’s father. I don’t think he was intentionally trying to mislead me, but he may have gotten the story a little mixed up. Bill V was Yugi’s student, and I feel very confident that Bill’s account is accurate.
But… is it the tree in the “Minature Trees and Landscapes” book? I tend to think so, but I can’t be 100% sure. From everything I have found, it was considered one of the best Zelkova (maybe THE best?) in Japan at the time it went to auction. It had been in Kokofu, and I’m sure in many other shows, so there were probably many photos of it, taken at different stages of its life. So, Yugi may have used one of those pictures of it in his book. I just don’t know for sure.