60 Fun Facts About Bonsai

What does the Japanese word 'bonsai' literally mean?

The 'bon' is the shallow tray or pot; the word replaced older terms like hachi-no-ki, 'the bowl's tree'.

The Japanese art of bonsai grew out of which older Chinese practice?

Chinese tree penjing allows wilder shapes and brightly coloured, creatively shaped pots, whereas bonsai favours simpler forms and plain containers.

What is Korea's equivalent art of miniature potted trees called?

Vietnam's version, hòn non bộ, focuses on miniature landscapes of islands and mountains in contact with water.

A tree collected from the wild for training as bonsai is known by what Japanese term?

Collected trees are often the most expensive and prized bonsai because they arrive with decades of natural character.

Which of these is NOT a purpose of bonsai, according to the tradition?

Bonsai are shaped purely to be looked at; a fruiting bonsai is grown for the look of the fruit, not the harvest.

Bonsai is often confused with dwarfing. What is the actual difference?

Pruning, root reduction, potting, defoliation and grafting do the work; a bonsai seed planted in the ground would grow into a full-size tree.

Which 1195 scroll is the earliest known to depict dwarfed potted trees in Japan?

The 1309 Kasuga scroll goes further, showing a slatted workbench holding a shallow wooden tray of dwarf trees.

Around the 14th century, dwarf potted trees in Japan were called 'hachi no ki', which means what?

The term implied a fairly deep pot; 'bonsai' later signalled the shallower container that lets the trunk and surface roots show.

In the Noh play Hachi no Ki, a poor samurai sacrifices his three last dwarf potted trees for what purpose?

The monk is an official in disguise who later rewards him with three estates named for the plum, pine and cherry he burned.

The Sandai Shogun no Matsu, a five-needle pine in the Japanese imperial collection, is thought to be at least how old?

It is one of Japan's National Treasures and was reportedly tended by the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu.

The Sandai Shogun pine in the emperor's collection was cared for by which shogun?

Its name means 'the third shogun', which is exactly who Iemitsu was in the Tokugawa line.

The Japanese emperor whose 1868 move to Tokyo saw 'Giant Bonsai' displayed at his palace was which ruler?

Government officials who did not appreciate bonsai reportedly fell out of favour, which did wonders for the hobby's popularity among civil servants.

Which shaping material appeared in bonsai practice around 1910, replacing string, rope and burlap?

Zinc-galvanised steel came first; expensive copper was reserved for trees with real potential.

Which bonsai tool did Masakuni I design to leave a shallow indentation that heals scarlessly?

His 1920s and 1930s designs were the first steel tools made specifically for bonsai styling.

What is Japan's most prestigious bonsai exhibition, held every February in Tokyo since 1934?

It celebrated its 97th edition in 2023 and is by invitation only, running for just eight days.

The first World Bonsai Convention was held in 1980 in which Japanese city?

The World Bonsai Friendship Federation was formed nine years later in Omiya and now stages conventions every four years.

What was Yuji Yoshimura's 1957 English-language book with Giovanna Halford, a 'bible for westerners', titled?

Written in English with his student Giovanna Halford, it has run to more than thirty printings.

Which Japanese fired volcanic clay, meaning 'red ball', is used worldwide for bonsai?

Kanuma, a yellow pumice, is the counterpart used for azaleas and other lime-hating plants.

In the formal upright style, chokkan, what shape does the trunk take?

Branches step down regularly from thickest at the bottom to finest at the top.

In the full cascade style, kengai, where does the apex of the tree end up?

The style mimics trees growing over water or down mountainsides; a semi-cascade stops at or just beneath the pot lip.

What is the Japanese name of the informal upright style, with visible curves in the trunk?

It is probably the most common style in collections because most trees naturally lend themselves to it.

The 'broom' bonsai style, hokidachi, with a straight trunk and ball crown, is typically used for which trees?

The trunk splits into fine branches about a third of the way up, forming a canopy that looks like an upturned broom.

What is the Japanese name for the windswept style, a tree battered by wind from one side?

Think of a tree on a mountain ridge or exposed shoreline with every branch streaming one way.

The raft style, ikadabuki, mimics what natural event?

Growers create it by laying a trunk flat in the soil so the upward branches root and become a grove.

In the forest or group style, yose ue, how many trees are typically planted?

Odd numbers avoid the symmetry that bonsai aesthetics discourage; famous forests run to eleven trees and more.

What is the difference between the sekijoju and ishitsuki styles?

In root-over-rock the rock is essentially a pedestal; in ishitsuki the rock is the pot.

In deadwood technique, what does 'jin' refer to?

Shari is the counterpart on the trunk, simulating scars from a broken limb or lightning strike.

Which bonsai principle says the scar from a removed branch must be concealed and wire must leave no marks?

The viewer should believe they are looking at nature, not at hours of pruning and wiring.

Bonsai aesthetics discourage which quality in branch and root placement?

Radial or bilateral symmetry looks manufactured; a slightly off-centre composition reads as natural.

Which Japanese aesthetic concept, beauty in imperfection and transience, informs bonsai design?

Many formal rules of bonsai exist to help a tree express wabi-sabi or the gentle sadness of mono no aware.

A traditional indoor bonsai display has the tree, a hanging scroll, and what third element?

The shitakusa companion plant stands for the foreground, the scroll for the background, and all three are chosen to evoke a season.

In a traditional Japanese home, where is a formal bonsai display usually placed?

Such indoor displays last only a day or two, because most bonsai lose vigour quickly inside a house.

As a rule of thumb, evergreen bonsai are shown in what kind of pot, while deciduous trees get the other?

Straight-sided pots with sharp corners suit formal trees; ovals and rounds suit informal designs.

Which Japanese town, together with Yixing in China, is famous for producing collectible bonsai pots?

Old Chinese pots exported to Japan between 1465 and about 1800 are known as kowatari, 'old crossing'.

Why do the smallest bonsai, mame, get their own techniques and styles?

Mame are ideally under 10 cm tall and can be held in the palm; shohin are around 25 cm.

What is the largest bonsai size class, named after the huge potted trees of Japan's palace, called?

Big trees are also described as 'two-handed' or 'four-handed' after the number of men needed to move them.

Which of these is true of indoor bonsai in Japan?

Temperate trees kept indoors weaken and die; only tropical species like ficus and jade plant tolerate life inside.

Which tree genus, with the jade plant, is named as one that survives indoors as bonsai?

Ficus microcarpa in particular is sold by the million as a starter 'indoor bonsai'.

When are deciduous bonsai generally repotted and root-pruned?

Repotting keeps trees from becoming pot-bound and encourages new feeder roots.

The Yamaki Pine at the US National Arboretum is famous for surviving what?

Established in 1625, it was sheltered by a garden wall; its history was only revealed to the museum decades after it was donated.

Japan's 1976 gift of 53 bonsai to the United States marked which occasion?

The trees were chosen by the Nippon Bonsai Association and became the seed of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington, D.C.

John Naka's masterpiece Goshin is a forest of eleven junipers, each representing what?

It began as a two-tree planting in 1948, and Naka added trees as his family grew, reaching eleven by 1973.

What does the name of John Naka's forest bonsai 'Goshin' mean?

The name refers to a shrine forest of Cryptomeria in Japan that inspired the composition.

Bonsai master John Naka famously refused to teach in Japan, comparing it to what?

Born in Colorado, he championed native Californian species over traditional Japanese ones.

Omiya Bonsai Village was settled in 1925 by nurserymen fleeing what disaster in Tokyo?

Today its precinct is officially named Bonsai-chō and it houses the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, opened in 2010.

Saikei differs from bonsai in that it creates what?

It was introduced to English readers in 1963 and used younger plants, offering an alternative after so many old trees were lost in the war.

Suiseki, often displayed alongside bonsai, are what?

The name combines the characters for water and stone, and prized examples suggest mountains, waterfalls or islands.

The earliest-known picture of Chinese miniature tree landscapes, from the year 706, was found where?

Excavated in 1972 at the Qianling Mausoleum, the fresco shows two maidservants carrying miniature rockeries and fruit trees.

What did the Meiji-era term change from 'hachiue' to 'bonsai' signal about the container?

The new word was adopted by scholars of Chinese art meeting in Itami in the early 19th century, but took nearly a century to catch on.

The first monthly magazine devoted to the art, launched in 1906, was called what?

The later 'Bonsai' magazine, first issued in 1921, ran for 518 consecutive issues.

Roughly how many bonsai dealers were working in Tokyo by 1940?

Some 150 species were in cultivation and thousands of specimens were being shipped to Europe and America each year.

Which source of bonsai material is rarely used, because a suitably aged look would take too long?

Growers usually start with a mature or partly grown plant so the characteristic aged appearance arrives within a reasonable time.

The largest bonsai are called 'two-handed', 'four-handed' and so on according to what?

Such trees can have dozens of branches, and the very biggest class, 'imperial', is named for the giant potted trees of Japan's Imperial Palace.

The Omiya Bonsai Museum is located in which Japanese prefecture?

Tokyo's Shunka-en Bonsai Garden is another dedicated museum; there is broad agreement that the best specimens are in Japan.

Roughly how many tree species were being cultivated as bonsai in Japan by 1940?

Thousands of specimens were shipped to Europe and America each year before the war interrupted trade.

What is the top prize at the Nippon Bonsai Sakufu-ten, Japan's leading contest for professionals?

Held every December, the contest is the only one where professionals show trees under their own names; Hiroaki Suzuki won in 2022 with a Shimpaku juniper.

In which year did the first Westerners study at an Ōmiya nursery, later founding the American Bonsai Society?

Later visitors even apprenticed under the masters and carried the newest techniques back to their local clubs.

The influential periodical Bonsai, first published in 1921, ran for how many consecutive issues?

It followed Bonsai Gaho of 1906, the first monthly magazine on the subject, and Toyo Engei and Hana in 1907.

Many bonsai terms adopted by early-19th-century Japanese scholars came from which Chinese painting text?

Known in Japanese as Kai-shi-en Gaden, the manual shaped how the scholars discussed miniature trees.

In which Hyōgo town did scholars gather in the early 19th century to discuss miniature trees?

It was this circle that renamed the potted trees 'bonsai', a word implying a shallow container rather than a deep bowl.