John, both you and Owen answered my question perfectly. I've often wondered about "is it mine if I have someone else work on it"...in fact it came up when I signed up for a workshop with Ryan O'neil at the upcoming Midwest show called "Bring Your Own Tree" workshop. So Ryan will be helping me on my Bald Cypress, and maybe my maple as I'm not sure how much work can be done on the BC due to me hacking off all the old/wrongly grown/out of proportion branches. Thanks to Don Blackman for teaching me how to work on these trees. So I'll bring a 'backup' tree just in case...this is a rare chance for me to get a real pro's advice and hopefully a little work. Ryan's work speaks for itself.
But getting back to your gorgeous pine John, I can understand your reasoning, and Akio did a fantastic job. If it was mine, and if I could afford it

, I would've hired him too as the tree is so old, with so much history, and a good chance of doing well in a show. It's very interesting in these old trees to have so many famous professionals style over time. It adds interest to the 'story' of the tree immensely. And I'm sure you're right, a tree like this is an investment, and will outlive us. Thanks for the perspective, I feel a bit like Owen, in that my view has now changed 180 degrees

) I had mixed feelings about it at first, and signing up for Ryan's workshop, but now I feel much more 'secure' in accepting help from others.....and perfect timing for me too. lol
Thanks for a great conversation guys! And I hope John's right, that we will embrace the consult of professionals, japanese, americans trained in Japan, and pros being taught right here by american pros. It's an exciting time to be in bonsai in America.