Bonsai listen (Japanese: 盆栽, literally "potted plant". Chinese: 盆景; Pinyin: pén jǐng; literally "tray scenery"), is the art of aesthetic miniaturization of trees by growing them in containers. While mostly associated with the Japanese form, "bonsai" originated in China and was originally developed from Chinese penjing. In Western culture, the word "bonsai" is used as an umbrella term for both Japanese bonsai, Chinese penjing (盆景), and Korean bunjae (분재).
History
Chinese were the first to miniaturize container-grown trees in Penjing around CE 200.[1] The art form may have been derived from the practice of transporting medicinal plants in containers by healers. Its early focus was on the display of stylistic trunks in the shape of animals and mystic figures.
From China, the practice spread to Japan around the Heian period. During the Tokugawa period, landscape gardening attained new importance. Cultivation plants such as azalea and maples became a pastime of the wealthy. Growing dwarf plants in containers was also popular, but by modern bonsai standards the container plants of this period were inappropriately large.[1]
The period term for dwarf potted trees was "a tree in a pot" (鉢の木 hachi-no-ki?). The term "bonsai" probably didn't come into use until the late 19th century during the Meiji period.[1]
Cultivation
A bonsai is not a genetically dwarfed plant. It is any tree or shrub species actively growing but kept small through a combination of pot confinement, and crown and root pruning. Any tree or shrub with the right training and care could become a Bonsai with time, but some plants are more sought-after for use as bonsai material because they have several characteristics that make them appropriate for the smaller design arrangements of bonsai. There are many different ways to cultivate and grow Bonsai, the most common are:
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