Bonsai in Japan: A Short History
Japonista Universe › Volume V
Bonsai (盆栽), literally a planting in a tray, reached Japan from China, where miniature landscapes in containers, penjing, had been made for centuries. Over some eight hundred years the Japanese turned the practice into an art of its own, quieter and more concentrated than its Chinese parent, centred on a single tree that suggests age, weather and time.
| Japanese |
盆栽, bonsai; earlier hachi-ue, potted plant |
| Origin |
Chinese penjing, introduced by monks and envoys |
| Earliest Japanese image |
Potted dwarf trees in the Kasuga Gongen Genki-e scrolls of 1309 |
| Great centre |
Omiya Bonsai Village, Saitama, from 1925 |
| National exhibition |
The Kokufu-ten, held in Tokyo since 1934 |
Arrival from China
Buddhist monks and envoys travelling between Japan and China brought back paintings, ceramics and, with them, the taste for trees and stones in containers. By the Kamakura period potted dwarf trees appear in Japanese picture scrolls, set on verandas and in gardens, as treasured possessions of the cultivated.
The medieval tree
A famous Noh play, Hachi no Ki, The Potted Trees, tells of an impoverished samurai who burns his three beloved potted trees, a plum, a cherry and a pine, to warm a travelling monk on a snowy night. The story shows how deeply such trees were valued, and it remains a touchstone of the art.
Edo connoisseurs
In the Edo period the cultivation of plants became a passion across society, from the shogun's household to townspeople. Nurseries flourished in the cities, varieties were catalogued and traded, and dwarfed trees were displayed at festivals and fairs.
Meiji and the modern art
After 1868, statesmen and industrialists took up bonsai as a mark of refinement, and the word itself came into general use. Growers in Tokyo developed the principles of the modern art, and in 1934 the first Kokufu exhibition was held, still the most prestigious bonsai exhibition in Japan. After the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923, a group of Tokyo growers moved north to found the Omiya Bonsai Village in what is now Saitama City.
A world art
From the 1960s bonsai travelled the world, carried by enthusiasts, exhibitions and the gift of trees at international events. The first World Bonsai Convention was held in Omiya in 1989, and the eighth returned to Saitama in 2017. Today the finest trees, pots and stones still circulate through Japanese gardens and collections.
Collecting notes
- Old Japanese and Chinese pots, display stands and viewing stones carry the history of the art and travel abroad far more easily than living trees. See Sending Bonsai Abroad.
- Exhibition records, old photographs and named boxes add greatly to the interest of a pot or stone.
In the collection
Browse bonsai and suiseki and ikebana vessels. Our curator desk can search Japan for a particular pot, stone or stand; replies follow within 1–3 business days.
See also
