Bonsai

The Art of Bonsai. Beautiful, timeless, and awe-inspiring, the art of bonsai has captivated enthusiasts for centuries. This is the story of how it evolved and spread around the world.

For many, bonsai conjures up images of Asia and ideas of an obscure practice that takes a lifetime to master. The reality is very different: bonsai is a truly international art form that is open to everyone—a challenging combination of technique, artistry, and horticultural ability that allows you to create living works of art that will potentially last longer than your own time on earth.

It is generally accepted that bonsai originated in China, and there is evidence of plants cultivated in containers in Babylonian times. However here an important definition needs to be made: any plant grown in a pot cannot be considered a bonsai. Before delving into the history of bonsai, we should first look at what is a bonsai in the modern age.

What is bonsai?

Bonsai professionals like myself ask themselves this question every day. Throughout my apprenticeship, working late into the night, the same question was asked many times. It is very subjective and personal: many see bonsai as an Asian art form, some see it as an extreme form of gardening. Others think it is a path to spiritual enlightenment, while for some it is a simple hobby. It is all of these things and more. To the question of what bonsai is, the simplest, most profound answer I could come up with was “It is a small tree in a pot.” Within that statement lies something deep and fascinating: an art form fused with horticulture, taking in aspects of design, culture, religion, craftsmanship, and discipline. The definition of bonsai can be understood from the etymology of the word itself. In Japanese “bonsai” is written as two words or characters: the first, “bon,” means tray or container; the second, “sai,” means planting. So a plant in a pot could be termed a bonsai— but there is a great difference between a young houseplant in a plastic pot and a six-hundred-year-old pine tree, growing in a four-hundred-year-old antique Chinese container.