What is Bonsai?

So what is Bonsai?

Perhaps it is wiser to begin by saying what a bonsai is not. A bonsai is not a genetically shrunken plant, it is not given special potions to curb its size and, above all it is not kept small by brutality in any way. Actually, given a good supply of water, air, light and nutrients, a correctly looked after bonsai should outlive a full sized tree of the same variety . The origin of Bonsai, while oftenaccredited to the Japanese, is actually Chinese in derivation. Many authorities concede that bonsai, known as Pensai in China, was practiced by academics, monks and the upper classes of China as far back as 600 A.D. A few hundred years later, bonsai, together with Zen Buddhism, and much of the better of Chinese art was brought to Japan.

The word "Bonsai", which is pronounced "Bone- Sigh", is made up of the two Japanese characters: "Bon" meaning pot and "sai" meaning plant, which when literally translated means: pot plant. Of course, the growing of bonsai trees has advanced much since its simple beginning as plants in trays.

An earthquake is the reason for moving the "hub" of bonsai growing in Japan. In 1923 an 8.3 proportion earthquake devastated the whole Kanto belt of Japan. Destroying vast areas of the two largest cities: Tokyo and Yokohama; along with a majority of the commercial growers businesses. As a result, the bonsai business community, in an effort to save their living, collectively bought a tract of land on the outskirts of Tokyo, in the Omiya area, where their businesses once again thrived. Therefore, a new hub of bonsai growing in Japan was formed (which exists and thrives to this day).

In 1976 the nation of Japan, to mark the American Bicentennial Celebration, gave to America 53 precious bonsai trees and 6 amazing viewing stones. These presents were to become the basis of our national collection. This outstanding group is kept at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum,found inside the U.S. National Arboretum, in Washington, D.C. It has now become the largest collection of its kind - housing bonsai from all over the world!

The most ancient bonsai in the national collection is more than 300 years of age. The bonsai tree is a White Pine that is affectionately known as the Yamaki Pine, in tribute of its donator, Masaru Yamaki. The Yamaki started its life in the 1600s and, despite being less than five miles away from the impact site, it survived the atomic bomb blast at Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

Many of the trees in the national collection were presented as presents to different Presidents of the United States. Actually, in 1998, the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Obuchi, gave President William Jefferson Clinton an 80-year-old Ezo Spruce. The present was really significant to the national bonsai collection for two reasons: the first and most visible reason is the fact that it is a masterwork and the second, and lesser-known reason, is that the gift of an Ezo Spruce - any Ezo Spruce - to an American president is significant, because the United States has a long standing bar on the importation of all Ezo Spruce and, as a result, the national collection has been without an Ezo Spruce example.

For many types of deciduous trees the size of the leaf is directly connected to the quality and amount of sunlight the tree is cultivated in. A bonsai that is grown in partial shade or in full shade will have longer and larger leaves, because the tree is endeavoring to maximize the amount of sunlight it can assimilate to enable it to maintain its photosynthetic processes - a larger leaf has more surface area with which to store sunlight. In contrast, a tree that is cultivated in direct sun, all or most of the time, will have smaller and more dense leaves, because it is getting all of the sunlight it needs. As a result, it can devote its energy to growing. This is essential for all trees, but more important for trees cultivated for bonsai, as smaller leaves are proportionate to the smaller scale of a bonsai tree; smaller leaves are, therefore, a useful trait, both to look at and from a growing perspective, because a tree is healthiest when it has access to all of the energy it needs to develop..

If you would like to learn more about Bonsai, please visit this link:
www.alfiesbonsaigarden.com