Hong Kong(CNN) A bonsai thief has stolen seven tiny trees worth at least 13 million yen ($118,000) from a garden space in Saitama prefecture near Tokyo.
The loot included a rare 400-year-old shimpaku tree, a star of the bonsai world, which was due to be entered in a Japanese beauty competition this month.
The prize shimpaku alone was worth over 10 million yen ($90,000), according to Fuyumi Iimura, wife of the bonsai master who crafted the trees.
"We treated these miniature trees like our children," she said. "There are no words to describe how we feel. It's like having your limbs lopped off."
Iimura added that those responsible for the thefts, committed over a series of nights last month, were likely professionals, as they had identified the "most valuable trees" from the couple's roughly 5,000 hectare park, which has around 3,000 bonsai trees.
Also abducted were three miniature pine trees, called goyomatsus, and a trio of less-valuable shimpaku, a juniper tree which is now rare in the wild.
Four centuries' worth of work
Fuyumi Iimura's husband, Seiji Iimura, is a fifth-generation bonsai master whose family practice dates back to the Edo period (1603-1868).
Originating from the Chinese ancient art of "penjing," or miniature landscaping, bonsai was introduced to Japan in the 6th century by a group of Japanese Zen Buddhism students returning from their overseas travels.
They dubbed it "bonsai", which literally means "planted in a container," and -- at its most elementary level -- the art is simply growing a wild tree inside a small vessel.
While some bonsai grow from seeds, creating the shimpaku is a laborious process, not least because the original trees are dangerous to collect, growing on precarious cliffsides.
Iimura said that the 400-year-old stolen tree had been taken from a mountain centuries ago. Through an in-depth knowledge of plant physiology, Iimura's family had gradually shrunk the tree to its miniature form. It measured one meter (3.2 feet) tall and around 70 centimeters (2.3 feet) wide when stolen.
"It's not something that can be done overnight," said Iimura.
'They can live forever'
Bonsai 'In Training'
Washington DC-based portrait photographer
Stephen Voss started photographing bonsai in 2014, as a personal side project. One of the US National Arboretum's most spectacular bonsai, this Japanese white pine survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It was presented to the US from the Japanese government in 1976, as a symbol of peace. "It's astonishing how long these trees live," says Voss. "Every single day for 400 years, there has been someone caring for this tree. These people make this their life's work and then they pass it on to someone else." (Credit: Stephen Voss)
Voss made nearly 80 trips to the US National Arboretum over a two-year period and the project evolved into a fine art book entitled "
In Training," which refers to the art of training a bonsai. Voss captured abstract and emotive images of nearly 75 trees from the Arboretum's collection. (Credit: Stephen Voss)
"I wanted nothing superfluous in these images. I sought to strip away everything until I reached the essence of the tree, the beautiful curve abstracted into this interesting, textured form," Voss says. (Credit: Stephen Voss)
An example of a uniquely American approach to bonsai, Voss says this California juniper has a wild yet refined look that's beautiful and raw. (Credit: Stephen Voss)
One of the smallest and most delicate trees at the US National Arboretum, this Crape Myrtle represents an "appreciation of the stark, simple beauty of bonsai -- without artifice or pretension," says Voss. (Credit: Stephen Voss)
Voss says he thinks the tree's leafless body and dramatic form reminds him of a tree growing on a rock along a coastline, battered by the wind. (Credit: Stephen Voss)
"The Drummond's red maple had just begun to show leaves when I photographed it," explains Voss. "This is a tree in transition, beginning to lose the bareness of its winter appearance, but not yet fully showing its springtime look. I think the end result feels like a watercolor painting and I love the abstraction of the leaves, these little spots of color amongst the trunks." (Credit: Stephen Voss)
Voss wanted to share the spirit and unique characteristics of each tree he photographed, as well as the sense of peace he felt while alone with them. "I wanted to explore the substance of the trees, the essential elements that made each one feel sacred and vital," he recalls. (Credit: Stephen Voss)
Gracing the cover of "In Training," this Japanese black pine serendipitously mimics the shape of Japan. (Credit: Stephen Voss)
He captured this smooth-leaved elm while it was indoors. "I was really taken by the light that day which came in through the skylights and felt diffuse and crisp at the same time, rendering the tree more like an old painting than a photograph," says Voss. (Credit: Stephen Voss)
Stolen bonsais can fetch a small fortune on the black market, and have been known to be shipped abroad to Europe, said Iimura. Some artisans have spotted their bonsai on social media sites, she added, but few have been able to reclaim their tiny trees.
"It's hard to regain ownership of your tree once it's switched hands," said Iimura.
Ideally, the couple want their bonsais to be returned, but failing that they appealed to the thief to take good care of their miniatures.
"I want whoever took the bonsais to make sure they are watered. The shimpaku lived for 400 years. It needs care and can't survive a week without water," said Iimura.
"They can live forever -- even after we're gone, if they receive the proper care."