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A Short History of Bonsai

The Chinese originated the art form as far back as 2500 BC, but their emphasis was not on individual trees but the overall landscape. They called this penjing. Penjing was practiced only by the ruling class. One historian attributes its beginnings to an emperor who wanted to enjoy the beauty of his far-flung kingdom without the bother of leaving his home. He ordered that miniature landscapes be created depicting the different regions of his domain.

Another historian concludes that trees were grown in pots for more practical reasons such as fruit, herbs and medicine. One day a naturally stunted tree was noticed growing on a mountain slope. The tree had been formed by nature and had wonderful character and beauty. Wishing to have the tree close at hand where it could be viewed and enjoyed, the tree was dug up, put in a pot and given the same horticultural treatment as the trees grown for food and medicine. The big difference now is that the wild tree was being appreciated purely for its form and beauty.

When the Japanese adopted the art form about eight or nine hundred years ago, they refined it, creating a new aesthetic with clearly defined guidelines. It is this art form which the Japanese have exported art all over world.

The Chinese art suffered a set back during the cultural revolution where many Bonsai trees, artists and growers were lost to us forever. Today, Bonsai is again flourishing in China.

Bonsai were first experienced in the West when in 1909, the London Society for the Promotion of Garden Arts sponsored an exhibition of Japanese bonsai at the Britain-Japan Fair.

In 1925, a nurseryman named Coe, donated 32 bonsai to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in the USA, but they were never put on public display. The interest shown by soldiers returning from WWII and the new influx of Japanese immigrants prompted the Garden to publish a handbook on bonsai in 1953. The Garden also pioneered in teaching and cultivating bonsai. Today, in the Bonsai Museum housed in a wing of the Steinhardt Conservatories, may be seen one of the world’s finest bonsai collections, including eleven survivors from Coe’s donation.

Other fine bonsai collections in North America can be found in the National Arboretum in Washington, DC, the Pacific Rim collection at Weyerheuser corporate headquarters just south of Seattle and a collection of Japanese and North American bonsai and Chinese penjing at the Montreal Botanic Gardens.