Maple Bonsai

Bonsai is the art of growing trees in a confined space to simulate certain environmental conditions such as great age or extreme twisted or contorted form. The term bonsai literally means plant in a pot or tray planting. The idea of bonsai is to recreate some of nature’s most stunning and beautiful effects on trees which are reduced in scale.

History of Bonsai

The history of bonsai is long and storied. Bonsai first appeared in China over a thousand years ago on a very basic scale, known as pun-sai. Pun-sai was the practice of growing singles pecimen trees in pots. These early specimens displayed little foliage and rugged, gnarled trunks which often looked like animals, dragons and birds. There are a great number of myths and legends surrounding Chinese bonsai. The grotesque or animal-like trunks and root formations are still highly prized today. Once bonsai was introduced into Japan, the art was refined to an extent not yet approached in China. Over time, the simple trees were not justconfined to the Buddhist monks and their monasteries, but also later were introduced to be representative of the aristocracy – a symbol of prestige and honor. The ideals and philosophy of bonsai were greatly changed over the years. For the Japanese, bonsai represents a fusion of strong ancient beliefs with the Eastern philosophies of the harmony between man, the soul and nature.


In the 17th and 18th century bonsai became common place to the general Japanese public – which greatly increased demand for the small trees collected from the wild and firmly established the art form within the culture and traditions of the country. Bonsai has now evolved to reflect changing tastes and times – with a great variety of countries, cultures and conditions in which it is now practiced. The evolution of bonsai over the past two centuries is truly amazing. Perhaps it is symbolic of how small the world is getting as people from Europe to the United States and even in Greenland are exploring bonsai as a hobby.