The concept of Bonsai was first borrowed from China more than a thousand years ago. Since then, a distinctive style of this art form has been developed and nurtured in Japan. Bonsai are miniature trees raised in a pot and carefully groomed and styled to look like a fully grown tree.
Various techniques such as the trimming of roots and wiring are used to keep the trees small but in proportion to how they might have looked if grown in nature. This achieves the effect of condensing the appearance of a natural tree or forest within the pot, leaving room for artistic imagination.
But to grow a bonsai it’s not only about gardening. It also has a therapeutic value, plus enables patience and fortitude and it’s a great activity for relaxing purposes. A bonsai can be with you until the end of your days. In fact, ancient Chinese believed that those who could take care of a miniature tree for a long time got eternity granted for their soul. For them a tree could be the connection between the holy and the human, between heaven and earth.
(This Bonsai is tested to be more than 1000 years old,It is at the Mansei-en bonsai nursery of the Kato family in Omiya, Japan. Photo by Morten Albek.)
Typical trees used in bonsai include those with needled leaves such as pine trees (matsu), with broader leaves such as maple trees (momiji), with flowers such as cherry trees (sakura), and with fruits such as quince trees (karin). Some art pieces also use grass as the subject.
Some trees purposely feature white coloured, dead parts without bark to represent the struggle of a tree in nature. A partially dead trunk is called Shari, while a partially dead branch is known as Jin.
Bonsais are divided by its size: from the smaller ones, called Keshitsubo, to some of the bigger ones called Hachi-uye. There are also different styles of bonsais:
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| Formal & informal Straight Bonsai |
Formal and Informal Straight: The trunk in a formal straight bonsai is straight, and the pinnacle of the tree is in line with the body and the base. In case of an informal straight bonsai, the trunk slants slightly, but the top of the tree still ends up directly above the centre of the base.
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| Slanted Bonsai |
Slant: The entire tree is slanted to one side of the pot.
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| Cascade Bonsai |
Cascade: Rather than in an upright fashion, the tree grows downwards to one side to a degree where its pinnacle ends up at the same height or lower than the pot, like a tree at the edge of a cliff.
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| Forest Bonsai |
Forest and Multi-Trunk: In a forest style bonsai, multiple trees are grown in the same pot, carefully fashioned to mimic a forest. A multi-trunk bonsai is similar to the forest style, except that the multiple trunks have a common root, i.e. they are actually a single tree.
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| Rock Bonsai |
Rock: The tree grows on a rock with its roots anchored in the rock's cracks or in the soil below.
The pots and stones used are also important elements in bonsai. Contrary to their Chinese counterparts, Japanese bonsai tend to use pots with less flashy colours. The idea of deriving beauty from simplicity is prized, and containers used usually have earthen or dark colours. Stones or rocks are not chosen for their rarity or value, but are selected according to how they can blend in and contribute to the aesthetics of the art piece.
To appreciate the bonsai you just take your head to the base of the bonsai and imagine yourself small and enjoy the view of a aesthetic dwarf tree.
Enjoy reading and be open to the things that world has to offer.
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