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119-513: The gardens of Shikina-en ( 識名園 ) are located on a small hill to the south of Shuri Castle in Naha, Okinawa . The residence and its gardens are also known as Shichina-nu-Udun ( シチナヌウドゥン ) or Southern Gardens ( 南苑 ) , as opposed to the Eastern Gardens ( 東苑 ) or Uchayaudun ( 御茶屋御殿 ) , laid out on a small hill east of Shuri Castle in 1677. In 1992 Hiroshi Shō , the great-grandson of Shō Tai ,

238-719: A Place of Scenic Beauty ; in 2000 they were re-designated a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and included within the inscription of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu . The gardens stretch over an area of 4.2 ha and the UNESCO nomination includes a buffer zone of a further 84.2 ha. 26°12′16″N 127°42′55″E  /  26.20444°N 127.71528°E  / 26.20444; 127.71528 Japanese garden Japanese literature on gardening goes back almost

357-501: A challenge for the gardeners. Due to the absolute importance of the arrangement of natural rocks and trees, finding the right material becomes highly selective. The serenity of a Japanese landscape and the simple but deliberate structures of the Japanese gardens are a unique quality, with the two most important principles of garden design being "scaled reduction and symbolization". Japanese gardens always feature water, either physically with

476-601: A composition whose function is to incite mediation." Several of the famous Zen gardens of Kyoto were the work of one man, Musō Soseki (1275–1351). He was a monk, a ninth-generation descendant of the Emperor Uda and a formidable court politician, writer and organizer, who armed and financed ships to open trade with China, and founded an organization called the Five Mountains, made up of the most powerful Zen monasteries in Kyoto. He

595-476: A garden, though the tsubo-niwa style of tiny gardens in passages and other spaces, as well as bonsai (in Japan always grown outside) and houseplants mitigates this, and domestic garden tourism is very important. The Japanese tradition has long been to keep a well-designed garden as near as possible to its original condition, and many famous gardens appear to have changed little over several centuries, apart from

714-405: A hundred thousand enthusiasts in some fifteen hundred clubs and associations worldwide, as well as over five million unassociated hobbyists. Plant material from every location is being trained into bonsai and displayed at local, regional, national, and international conventions and exhibitions for enthusiasts and the general public. All bonsai start with a specimen of source material, a plant that

833-708: A much more radical approach to the traditions. One example is Awaji Yumebutai , a garden on the island of Awaji , in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan, designed by Tadao Ando . It was built as part of a resort and conference center on a steep slope, where land had been stripped away to make an island for an airport. Japanese gardens are distinctive in their symbolism of nature, with traditional Japanese gardens being very different in style from occidental gardens: "Western gardens are typically optimised for visual appeal while Japanese gardens are modelled with spiritual and philosophical ideas in mind." Japanese gardens are conceived as

952-635: A new garden architecture style appeared, created by the followers of Pure Land Buddhism . These were called "Paradise Gardens", built to represent the legendary Paradise of the West, where the Amida Buddha ruled. These were built by noblemen who wanted to assert their power and independence from the Imperial household, which was growing weaker. The best surviving example of a Paradise Garden is Byōdō-in in Uji , near Kyoto. It

1071-481: A number of techniques either unique to bonsai or, if used in other forms of cultivation, applied in unusual ways that are particularly suitable to the bonsai domain. These techniques include: Bonsai aesthetics are the aesthetic goals characterizing the Japanese tradition of growing an artistically shaped miniature tree in a container. Many Japanese cultural characteristics, in particular the influence of Zen Buddhism and

1190-451: A pond or stream, or symbolically, represented by white sand in a dry rock garden. In Buddhist symbolism, water and stone are thought of as yin and yang , two opposites that complement and complete each other. A traditional garden will usually have an irregular-shaped pond or, in larger gardens, two or more ponds connected by a channel or stream, and a cascade, a miniature version of Japan's famous mountain waterfalls. In traditional gardens,

1309-515: A promenade garden, meant to be seen from the winding garden paths, with elements of the Zen garden, such as artificial mountains, meant to be contemplated from a distance. The most famous garden of this kind, built in 1592, is situated near the Tokushima castle on the island of Shikoku . Its notable features include a bridge 10.5 metres (34 ft) long made of two natural stones. Another notable garden of

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1428-482: A prototype for future Japanese architecture. They opened up onto the garden, so that the garden seemed entirely part of the building; whether the visitor was inside or outside of the building, they would ideally always feel they were in the center of nature. The garden buildings were arranged so that were always seen from a diagonal, rather than straight on. This arrangement had the poetic name ganko , which meant literally "a formation of wild geese in flight". Most of

1547-554: A representation of a natural setting, tying in to Japanese connections between the land and Shinto spiritualism, where spirits are commonly found in nature; as such, Japanese gardens tend to incorporate natural materials, with the aim of creating a space that captures the beauties of nature in a realistic manner. Traditional Japanese gardens can be categorized into three types: tsukiyama (hill gardens), karesansui (dry gardens) and chaniwa gardens (tea gardens). The small space given to create these gardens usually poses

1666-437: A set of commonly understood, named styles. The most common styles include formal upright, informal upright, slanting, semi-cascade, cascade, raft, literati, and group/forest. Less common forms include windswept, weeping, split-trunk, and driftwood styles. These terms are not mutually exclusive, and a single bonsai specimen can exhibit more than one style characteristic. When a bonsai specimen falls into multiple style categories,

1785-525: A shallow container, not a deeper bowl style. The term "bonsai", however, would not become broadly used in describing Japan's dwarf potted trees for nearly a century. The popularity of bonsai began to grow outside the limited scope of scholars and the nobility. On October 13, 1868, the Meiji Emperor moved to his new capital in Tokyo . Bonsai were displayed both inside and outside Meiji Palace, and those placed in

1904-445: A stimulant to keep awake during long periods of meditation. The first great tea master, Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591), defined in the most minute detail the appearance and rules of the tea house and tea garden, following the principle of wabi ( 侘び , "sober refinement and calm") . Following Sen no Rikyū's rules, the teahouse was supposed to suggest the cottage of a hermit-monk. It was a small and very plain wooden structure, often with

2023-409: A temporary exhibition format, typically indoors, as would be seen in a bonsai design competition. To allow many trees to be located close together, exhibition displays often use a sequence of small alcoves , each containing a single bonsai. The walls or dividers between the alcoves make it easier to view only one bonsai at a time. The back of the alcove is a neutral color and pattern to avoid distracting

2142-413: A thatched roof, with just enough room inside for two tatami mats. The only decoration allowed inside a scroll with an inscription and a branch of a tree. It did not have a view of the garden. The garden was also small, and constantly watered to be damp and green. It usually had a cherry tree or elm to bring color in the spring, but otherwise did not have bright flowers or exotic plants that would distract

2261-404: A thousand years, and several different styles of garden have developed, some with religious or philosophical implications. A characteristic of Japanese gardens is that they are designed to be seen from specific points. Some of the most significant different traditional styles of Japanese garden are the chisen-shoyū-teien ("lake-spring-boat excursion garden"), which was imported from China during

2380-452: A three-volume commemorative picture book. This event demonstrated a new tendency to see bonsai as an independent art form. In 1903, the Tokyo association Jurakukai held showings of bonsai and ikebana at two Japanese-style restaurants. In 1906, Bonsai Gaho became the first monthly magazine on the subject. It was followed by Toyo Engei and Hana in 1907. The initial issue of Bonsai magazine

2499-415: A traveling monk. The monk is a disguised official who later rewards the samurai for his actions. In later centuries, woodblock prints by several artists depicted this popular drama. There was even a fabric design of the same name. Through these and other popular media, bonsai became known to a broad Japanese population. Bonsai cultivation reached a high level of expertise in this period. Bonsai dating to

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2618-559: A tray ' ) was used in the Tang Dynasty. Penchi is a water tray in which water plants such as lotus and rice are planted. In Japan, the term kazan ( 仮山 , lit.   ' artificial mountain ' , later bonsan ) was used. In Japan's Shōsōin , an incomplete specimen of a kazan , in which modeled beaches and mountains fashioned from wood are decorated with small trees of silver metal, can be found today. A miniature lotus pond made of wood and gilt bronze has also been handed down in

2737-479: A waka poem, were exhibited at poetry contests and competed with each other. Suhama is similar to bonkei , but expresses a uniquely Japanese scene of white sand and green pine trees on a tray with legs that imitate a sandy beach. Later, it came to be called shimadai ( 島台 , lit.   ' island tray ' ), and has been passed down to the present as a wedding ornament. In the medieval period , recognizable bonsai were portrayed in handscroll paintings like

2856-770: Is restricted by the pot environment . Throughout the year, the bonsai is shaped to limit growth, redistribute foliar vigor to areas requiring further development, and meet the artist's detailed design. The practice of bonsai is sometimes confused with dwarfing , but dwarfing generally refers to research, discovery, or creation of plants that are permanent, genetic miniatures of existing species. Plant dwarfing often uses selective breeding or genetic engineering to create dwarf cultivars . Bonsai does not require genetically-dwarfed trees but rather depends on growing small trees from regular stock and seeds. Bonsai uses cultivation techniques like pruning , root reduction, potting , defoliation , and grafting to produce small trees that mimic

2975-842: Is the Japanese art of growing and shaping miniature trees in containers, with a long documented history of influences and native Japanese development over a thousand years, and with unique aesthetics, cultural history, and terminology derived from its evolution in Japan. Similar arts exist in other cultures, including Korea's bunjae , the Chinese art of penjing , and the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese Hòn non bộ . The loanword bonsai has become an umbrella term in English, attached to many forms of diminutive potted plants, and also on occasion to other living and non-living things. According to Stephen Orr in The New York Times , "[i]n

3094-499: Is the bench, sometimes with sections at different heights to suit different sizes of bonsai, along which bonsai are placed in a line. Where space allows, outdoor bonsai specimens are spaced far enough apart that the viewer can concentrate on one at a time. When the trees are too close to each other, aesthetic discord between adjacent trees of different sizes or styles can confuse the viewer, a problem addressed by exhibition displays. Exhibition displays allow many bonsai to be displayed in

3213-563: The Man'yōshū , the "Collection of Countless Leaves", the oldest known collection of Japanese poetry. The Nara period is named after its capital city Nara . The first authentically Japanese gardens were built in this city at the end of the 8th century. Shorelines and stone settings were naturalistic, different from the heavier, earlier continental mode of constructing pond edges. Two such gardens have been found at excavations, both of which were used for poetry-writing festivities. One of these gardens,

3332-639: The daimyō , around which new cities and gardens appeared. The characteristic garden of the period featured one or more ponds or lakes next to the main residence, or shoin , not far from the castle. These gardens were meant to be seen from above, from the castle or residence. The daimyō had developed the skills of cutting and lifting large rocks to build their castles, and they had armies of soldiers to move them. The artificial lakes were surrounded by beaches of small stones and decorated with arrangements of boulders, with natural stone bridges and stepping stones . The gardens of this period combined elements of

3451-458: The Ippen Shōnin Eden ( 一遍上人絵伝 , 1299). The 1195 scroll Saigyo Monogatari Emaki ( 西行物語絵巻 is the earliest known to depict dwarfed potted trees in Japan. Wooden tray and dish-like pots with dwarf landscapes on modern-looking wooden shelves also appear in the 1309 Kasuga Gongen Genki E ( 春日権現験記絵 , Legends of Kasuga Shrine ) scroll. Dwarf trees displayed on short poles are portrayed in

3570-579: The Asuka period ( c.  6th to 7th century ). Japanese gardens first appeared on the island of Honshu , the large central island of Japan. Their aesthetic was influenced by the distinct characteristics of the Honshu landscape: rugged volcanic peaks, narrow valleys, mountain streams with waterfalls and cascades, lakes, and beaches of small stones. They were also influenced by the rich variety of flowers and different species of trees, particularly evergreen trees, on

3689-573: The Eight Immortals , who lived in perfect harmony with nature. Each Immortal flew from his mountain home on the back of a crane . The islands themselves were located on the back of an enormous sea turtle . In Japan, the five islands of the Chinese legend became one island, called Horai-zen, or Mount Horai . Replicas of this legendary mountain, the symbol of a perfect world, are a common feature of Japanese gardens, as are rocks representing turtles and cranes. The earliest recorded Japanese gardens were

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3808-457: The Heian period (794–1185). These were designed to be seen from small boats on the central lake. No original examples of these survive, but they were replaced by the "paradise garden" associated with Pure Land Buddhism , with a Buddha shrine on an island in the lake. Later large gardens are often in the kaiyū-shiki-teien , or promenade garden style, designed to be seen from a path circulating around

3927-610: The Kyoto Imperial Palace of 794, the Heian-jingū , was built in Kyoto in 1895 to celebrate the 1100th birthday of the city. The south garden is famous for its cherry blossom in spring, and for azaleas in the early summer. The west garden is known for its irises in June, and the large east garden lake recalls the leisurely boating parties of the 8th century. Near the end of the Heian period,

4046-645: The Shōwa period (1926–1989), many traditional gardens were built by businessmen and politicians. After World War II, the principal builders of gardens were no longer private individuals, but banks, hotels, universities and government agencies. The Japanese garden became an extension of the landscape architecture with the building. New gardens were designed by landscape architects , and often used modern building materials such as concrete. Some modern Japanese gardens, such as Tōfuku-ji , designed by Mirei Shigemori , were inspired by classical models. Other modern gardens have taken

4165-559: The pleasure gardens of the emperors and nobles. They are mentioned in several brief passages of the Nihon Shoki , the first chronicle of Japanese history, published in 720 CE. In spring 74 CE, the chronicle recorded: "The Emperor Keikō put a few carp into a pond, and rejoiced to see them morning and evening". The following year, "The Emperor launched a double-hulled boat in the pond of Ijishi at Ihare, and went aboard with his imperial concubine, and they feasted sumptuously together". In 486,

4284-406: The "marsh pond" style, a large still pond with aquatic plants; the "mountain torrent style", with many rocks and cascades; and the "rose letters" style, an austere landscape with small, low plants, gentle relief and many scattered flat rocks. Bonsai Bonsai ( / ˈ b ɒ n s aɪ / ; Japanese : 盆栽 , lit.   'tray planting', pronounced [boɰ̃sai] )

4403-463: The 1351 Boki Ekotoba scroll. Several other scrolls and paintings also include depictions of these kinds of trees. A close relationship between Japan's Zen Buddhism and the potted trees began to shape bonsai reputation and aesthetics, which were introduced to Japan from China. In this period, Chinese Chan (pronounced "Zen" in Japanese) Buddhist monks taught at Japan's monasteries. One of

4522-422: The 14th century, the term for dwarf potted trees was "the bowl's tree" ( 鉢の木 , hachi no ki ) . This indicated use of a fairly deep pot rather than the shallow pot denoted by the eventual term bonsai . Hachi no Ki ( The Potted Trees ) is also the title of a circa 1383 noh play by Zeami Motokiyo , based on a story about an impoverished samurai who burns his last three potted trees as firewood to warm

4641-553: The 17th century have survived to the present. One of the oldest-known living bonsai trees, considered one of the National Treasures of Japan , can be seen in the Tokyo Imperial Palace collection. A five-needle pine ( Pinus pentaphylla var. negishi ) known as Sandai Shogun ( 三代将軍 , the third shogun ) is documented as having been cared for by Tokugawa Iemitsu . The tree is thought to be at least 500 years old and

4760-454: The Americas were started by first and second-generation Japanese immigrants. Though this progress to international markets and enthusiasts was interrupted by the war, by the 1940s bonsai had become an art form of international interest and involvement. Following World War II, several trends made the Japanese tradition of bonsai increasingly accessible to Western and world audiences. One key trend

4879-780: The East Palace garden at Heijō Palace , Nara, has been faithfully reconstructed using the same location and even the original garden features that had been excavated. It appears from the small amount of literary and archaeological evidence available that the Japanese gardens of this time were modest versions of the Imperial gardens of the Tang dynasty, with large lakes scattered with artificial islands and artificial mountains. Pond edges were constructed with heavy rocks as embankment. While these gardens had some Buddhist and Daoist symbolism, they were meant to be pleasure gardens, and places for festivals and celebrations. Recent archaeological excavations in

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4998-549: The Golden Pavilion , built in 1398, and Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion , built in 1482. In some ways they followed Zen principles of spontaneity, extreme simplicity and moderation, but in other ways they were traditional Chinese Song-dynasty temples; the upper floors of the Golden Pavilion were covered with gold leaf, and they were surrounded by traditional water gardens. The most notable garden style invented in this period

5117-436: The Japanese bonsai aesthetic has encoded some important techniques and design guidelines. Like the aesthetic rules that govern, for example, Western common practice period music, bonsai's guidelines help practitioners work within an established tradition with some assurance of success. Simply following the guidelines alone will not guarantee a successful result. Nevertheless, these design rules can rarely be broken without reducing

5236-636: The Japanese court sent fifteen more legations to the court of the Tang dynasty . These legations, with more than five hundred members each, included diplomats, scholars, students, Buddhist monks, and translators. They brought back Chinese writing, art objects, and detailed descriptions of Chinese gardens. In 612 CE, the Empress Suiko had a garden built with an artificial mountain, representing Shumi-Sen, or Mount Sumeru , reputed in Hindu and Buddhist legends to be located at

5355-680: The Mongol invasions. The monks brought with them a new form of Buddhism, called simply Zen , or "meditation". Japan enjoyed a renaissance in religion, in the arts, and particularly in gardens. The term Zen garden appears in English writing in the 1930s for the first time, in Japan zen teien , or zenteki teien comes up even later, from the 1950s. It applies to a Song China -inspired composition technique derived from ink-painting. The composition or construction of such small, scenic gardens have no relation to religious Zen. Many famous temple gardens were built early in this period, including Kinkaku-ji,

5474-576: The Nippon Bonsai Association, to mark the 1964 Tokyo Olympics . A large display of bonsai and suiseki was held as part of Expo '70 , and formal discussion was made of an international association of enthusiasts. In 1975, the first gafu-ten (elegant-style exhibit) of shohin bonsai (13–25 cm or 5–10 in tall) was held. So was the first sakufu-ten (creative bonsai exhibit), the only event in which professional bonsai growers exhibit traditional trees under their own names rather than under

5593-500: The Shōsōin. In this way, there were already bonsan -like works in Japan during the Nara period (710-794), in which natural scenery was represented in a reduced scale. In the Heian period (794-1185), suhama ( 洲浜 , lit.   ' Intricate beach ' ), which expressed a beautiful landscape with plants and trees (often made of artificial materials) and accessories to match the title of

5712-505: The UK, where the climate was similar and Japanese plants grew well. Japanese gardens, typically a section of a larger garden, continue to be popular in the West, and many typical Japanese garden plants, such as cherry trees and the many varieties of Acer palmatum or Japanese maple, are also used in all types of garden, giving a faint hint of the style to very many gardens. The ideas central to Japanese gardens were first introduced to Japan during

5831-581: The West, the word is used to describe virtually all miniature container trees, whether they are authentically trained bonsai or just small rooted cuttings. Technically, though, the term should be reserved for plants that are grown in shallow containers following the precise tenets of bonsai pruning and training, resulting in an artful miniature replica of a full-grown tree in nature." In the most definitive sense, "bonsai" refers to miniaturized, container-grown trees adhering to Japanese bonsai tradition and principles. Purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation for

5950-638: The ancient capital of Nara have brought to light the remains of two 8th-century gardens associated with the Imperial Court, a pond and stream garden – the To-in – located within the precinct of the Imperial Palace and a stream garden – Kyuseki – found within the modern city. They may be modeled after Chinese gardens, but the rock formations found in the To-in would appear to have more in common with prehistoric Japanese stone monuments than with Chinese antecedents, and

6069-405: The arms of an armchair, with the garden between them. The gardens featured one or more lakes connected by bridges and winding streams. The south garden of the imperial residences had a uniquely Japanese feature: a large empty area of white sand or gravel. The emperor was the chief priest of Japan, and the white sand represented purity, and was a place where the gods could be invited to visit. The area

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6188-451: The arrival of  kami , and the Shinto reverence for great rocks, lakes, ancient trees, and other "dignitaries of nature" would exert an enduring influence on Japanese garden design. Japanese gardens were also strongly influenced by the Chinese philosophy of Daoism and Amida Buddhism, imported from China in or around 552 CE. Daoist legends spoke of five mountainous islands inhabited by

6307-401: The attention of the visitor. A path led to the entrance of the teahouse. Along the path was waiting bench for guests and a privy, and a stone water-basin near the teahouse, where the guests rinsed their hands and mouths before entering the tea room through a small, square door called nijiri-guchi , or "crawling-in entrance", which requires bending low to pass through. Sen no Rikyū decreed that

6426-453: The background. These three elements are chosen to complement each other and evoke a particular season, and are composed asymmetrically to mimic nature. When displayed inside a traditional Japanese home, a formal bonsai display will often be placed within the home's tokonoma or formal display alcove. An indoor display is usually very temporary, lasting a day or two, as most bonsai are intolerant of indoor conditions and lose vigor rapidly within

6545-564: The bonsai as a full-size tree seen from a distance, siting the bonsai neither so low that the viewer appears to be hovering in the sky above it nor so high that the viewer appears to be looking up at the tree from beneath the ground. Noted bonsai writer Peter Adams recommends that bonsai be shown as if "in an art gallery: at the right height; in isolation; against a plain background, devoid of all redundancies such as labels and vulgar little accessories." For outdoor displays, there are few aesthetic rules. Many outdoor displays are semi-permanent, with

6664-490: The bonsai enters the soil. A number of styles describe the trunk shape and bark finish. For example, the deadwood bonsai styles identify trees with prominent dead branches or trunk scarring. Although most bonsai trees are planted directly into the soil, there are styles describing trees planted on rock. While the majority of bonsai specimens feature a single tree, there are well-established style categories for specimens with multiple trunks. A few styles do not fit into

6783-461: The bonsai to the eventual size and shape of the formal bonsai container. There are no aesthetic guidelines for these development containers, and they may be of any material, size, and shape that suit the grower. Completed trees are grown in formal bonsai containers. These containers are usually ceramic pots, which come in a variety of shapes and colors and may be glazed or unglazed. Unlike many common plant containers, bonsai pots have drainage holes at

6902-413: The bonsai trees in place for weeks or months at a time. To avoid damaging the trees, therefore, an outdoor display must not impede the amount of sunlight needed for the trees on display, must support watering, and may also have to block excessive wind or precipitation. As a result of these practical constraints, outdoor displays are often rustic in style, with simple wood or stone components. A common design

7021-470: The bottom surface to complement fast-draining bonsai soil, allowing excess water to escape the pot. Growers cover the holes with a screening to prevent soil from falling out and to hinder pests from entering the pots from below. Pots usually have vertical sides, so that the tree's root mass can easily be removed for inspection, pruning, and replanting, although this is a practical consideration and other container shapes are acceptable. There are alternatives to

7140-512: The centre of the world. During the reign of the same empress, one of her ministers, Soga no Umako, had a garden built at his palace featuring a lake with several small islands, representing the islands of the Eight Immortals famous in Chinese legends and Daoist philosophy. This palace became the property of the Japanese emperors, was named "The Palace of the Isles", and was mentioned several times in

7259-434: The ceramic bonsai pot is the most common container. For bonsai being shown formally in their completed state, pot shape, color, and size are chosen to complement the tree as a picture frame is chosen to complement a painting. In general, containers with straight sides and sharp corners are used for formally-shaped plants, while oval or round containers are used for plants with informal designs. Many aesthetic guidelines affect

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7378-465: The chronicle recorded that "The Emperor Kenzō went into the garden and feasted at the edge of a winding stream". Chinese gardens had a very strong influence on early Japanese gardens. In or around 552 CE, Buddhism was officially installed from China, via Korea, into Japan. Between 600 and 612 CE, the Japanese emperor sent four legations to the court of the Chinese Sui dynasty . Between 630 and 838 CE,

7497-408: The common practice is to describe it by the dominant or most striking characteristic. A frequently used set of styles describes the orientation of the bonsai tree's main trunk. Different terms are used for a tree with its apex directly over the center of the trunk's entry into the soil, slightly to the side of that center, deeply inclined to one side, and inclined below the point at which the trunk of

7616-457: The compact visual scope of bonsai. The source specimen is shaped to be relatively small and to meet the aesthetic standards of bonsai, which emphasizes not the entirety of a landscape but the unique form of a specimen bonsai tree or trees. When the candidate bonsai nears its planned final size, it is planted in a display pot, usually one designed for bonsai display in one of a few accepted shapes and proportions . From that point forward, its growth

7735-675: The conventional ceramic pot. Multi-tree bonsai may be created atop a fairly flat slab of rock, with the soil mounded above the rock surface and the trees planted within the raised soil. In recent times, bonsai creators have also begun to fabricate rock-like slabs from raw materials including concrete and glass-reinforced plastic . Such constructed surfaces can be made much lighter than solid rock, can include depressions or pockets for additional soil, and can be designed for drainage of water, all characteristics difficult to achieve with solid rock slabs. Other unconventional containers can also be used, but in formal bonsai display and competitions in Japan,

7854-422: The east, to enter the garden, pass under the house, and then leave from the southeast. In this way, the water of the blue dragon will carry away all the bad spirits from the house toward the white tiger. The Imperial gardens of the Heian period were water gardens , where visitors promenaded in elegant lacquered boats, listening to music, viewing the distant mountains, singing, reading poetry, painting, and admiring

7973-638: The emperors and the rivalry of feudal warlords resulted in two civil wars (1156 and 1159), which destroyed most of Kyoto and its gardens. The capital moved to Kamakura , and then in 1336 back to the Muromachi quarter of Kyoto. The emperors ruled in name only; real power was held by a military governor, the shōgun . During this period, the government reopened relations with China, which had been broken off almost three hundred years earlier. Japanese monks went again to study in China, and Chinese monks came to Japan, fleeing

8092-522: The end of the 16th century referring to isolated tea houses. It originally applied to the simple country houses of samurai warriors and Buddhist monks, but in the Edo period it was used in every kind of building, from houses to palaces. The sukiya style was used in the most famous garden of the period, the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto. The buildings were built in a very simple, undecorated style,

8211-728: The esoteric practice of a few specialists to becoming a widely popular art form and hobby. In Itami, Hyōgo , Japanese scholars of Chinese arts gathered in the early 19th century to discuss recent styles in the art of miniature trees. Many terms and concepts adopted by this group were derived from the Jieziyuan Huazhuan ( Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden in English; Kai-shi-en Gaden in Japanese). The Japanese version of potted trees, which had been previously called hachiue or other terms, were renamed bonsai . This word connoted

8330-435: The expression of wabi-sabi , inform the bonsai tradition in Japan. Established art forms that share some aesthetic principles with bonsai include penjing and saikei . A number of other cultures around the globe have adopted the Japanese aesthetic approach to bonsai, and, while some variations have begun to appear, most hew closely to the rules and design philosophies of the Japanese tradition. Over centuries of practice,

8449-455: The form of unusual rocks or trees marked with cords of rice fiber ( shimenawa ) and surrounded with white stones or pebbles, a symbol of purity. The white gravel courtyard became a distinctive feature of Shinto shrines, Imperial Palaces, Buddhist temples, and Zen gardens . Although its original meaning is somewhat obscure, one of the Japanese words for garden— niwa —came to mean a place that had been cleansed and purified in anticipation of

8568-554: The garden should be left unswept for several hours before the ceremony, so that leaves would be scattered in a natural way on the path. Notable gardens of the period include: During the Edo period , power was won and consolidated by the Tokugawa clan , who became the shōgun , and moved the capital to Edo , which became Tokyo . The emperor remained in Kyoto as a figurehead leader, with authority only over cultural and religious affairs. While

8687-399: The garden, with fixed stopping points for viewing. Specialized styles, often small sections in a larger garden, include the moss garden , the dry garden with gravel and rocks, associated with Zen Buddhism , the roji or teahouse garden, designed to be seen only from a short pathway, and the tsubo-niwa , a very small urban garden. Most modern Japanese homes have little space for

8806-461: The garden. Edo promenade gardens were often composed of a series of meisho , or "famous views", similar to postcards. These could be imitations of famous natural landscapes, like Mount Fuji , or scenes from Taoist or Buddhist legends, or landscapes illustrating verses of poetry. Unlike Zen gardens, they were designed to portray nature as it appeared, not the internal rules of nature. Well-known Edo-period gardens include: The Meiji period saw

8925-408: The gardens of nobles in the capital, the gardens of villas at the edge of the city, and the gardens of temples. The architecture of the palaces, residences and gardens in the Heian period followed Chinese practice. Houses and gardens were aligned on a north-south axis, with the residence to the north and the ceremonial buildings and main garden to the south, there were two long wings to the south, like

9044-443: The gardens of the Edo period were either promenade gardens or dry rock Zen gardens, and they were usually much larger than earlier gardens. The promenade gardens of the period made extensive use of borrowed scenery ( shakkei ). Vistas of distant mountains are integrated in the design of the garden; or, even better, building the garden on the side of a mountain and using the different elevations to attain views over landscapes outside

9163-494: The globe provide material to hobbyists and specialists in many countries. Bonsai has now reached a worldwide audience. There are over fourteen hundred books on bonsai and the related arts in at least twenty-eight languages available in over one-hundred-and-ten countries and territories. A few dozen magazines in over thirteen languages are in print. Several score of club newsletters are available online, and there are at least that many discussion forums and blogs. There are at least

9282-528: The globe: 1993, Orlando, Florida ; 1997, Seoul, Korea ; 2001, Munich, Germany ; 2005, Washington, D.C. ; 2009, San Juan, Puerto Rico ; 2013, Jitan, Jiangsu, China ; 2017, Saitama, Saitama , Japan; and 2022's virtual convention in Perth, Australia , which replaced the one originally scheduled a year earlier but was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic . Currently, Japan continues to host regular exhibitions with

9401-482: The grand setting of the Imperial Palace had to be "Giant Bonsai", large enough to fill the grand space. The Meiji Emperor encouraged interest in bonsai, which broadened its importance and appeal to his government's professional staff. New books, magazines, and public exhibitions made bonsai more accessible to the Japanese populace. An Artistic Bonsai Concours was held in Tokyo in 1892, followed by publication of

9520-437: The grower wishes to train into bonsai form. Bonsai practice is an unusual form of plant cultivation in that growth from seeds is rarely used to obtain source material. To display the characteristic aged appearance of a bonsai within a reasonable time, the source plant is often mature or at least partially grown when the bonsai creator begins work. Sources of bonsai material include: The practice of bonsai development incorporates

9639-415: The house. A variety of informal containers may house the bonsai during its development, and even trees that have been formally planted in a bonsai pot may be returned to growing boxes from time to time. A large growing box can house several bonsai and provide a great volume of soil per tree to encourage root growth. A training box will have a single specimen, and a smaller volume of soil that helps condition

9758-413: The impact of the bonsai specimen. Some key principles in bonsai aesthetics include: A bonsai display presents one or more bonsai specimens in a way that allows a viewer to see all the important features of the bonsai from the most advantageous position. That position emphasizes the bonsai's defined "front", which is designed into all bonsai. It places the bonsai at a height that allows the viewer to imagine

9877-445: The inevitable turnover of plants, in a way that is extremely rare in the West. Awareness of the Japanese style of gardening reached the West near the end of the 19th century, and was enthusiastically received as part of the fashion for Japonisme , and as Western gardening taste had by then turned away from rigid geometry to a more naturalistic style, of which the Japanese style was an attractive variant. There were immediately popular in

9996-425: The islands, and by the four distinct seasons in Japan, including hot, wet summers and snowy winters. Japanese gardens have their roots in the national religion of Shinto , with its story of the creation of eight perfect islands, and of the shinchi , the lakes of the gods. Prehistoric Shinto shrines to the kami , the gods and spirits, are found on beaches and in forests all over the island. They often took

10115-691: The last king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom , donated the royal mausoleum of Tamaudun and Shikina-en to the City of Naha . The stroll garden features a pond with two small islands; a Chinese-style hexagonal pavilion; other pavilions with red tiles, the use of which was reserved for the upper classes; Chinese-style arched bridges; and seasonal plantings of plum , wisteria , and bellflower . This blend of Japanese and Chinese design and features has been acclaimed as "uniquely Ryukyuan" by UNESCO and advisory body ICOMOS . The gardens were laid out in 1799 to embellish one of

10234-460: The main pavilion, or from the "Hall of the Pure View", located on a higher elevation in the garden. In the east of the garden, on a peninsula, is an arrangement of stones designed to represent the mythical Mount Horai. A wooden bridge leads to an island representing a crane, and a stone bridge connects this island to another representing a tortoise, which is connected by an earth-covered bridge back to

10353-421: The modernization of Japan, and the re-opening of Japan to the West. Many of the old private gardens had been abandoned and left to ruin. In 1871, a new law transformed many gardens from the earlier Edo period into public parks, preserving them. Garden designers, confronted with ideas from the West experimented with western styles, leading to such gardens as Kyu-Furukawa Gardens , or Shinjuku Gyoen . Others, more in

10472-444: The monks' activities was to introduce political leaders to various arts of miniature landscapes as admirable accomplishments for men of taste and learning. Potted landscape arrangements up to this period included miniature figurines after the Chinese fashion. Japanese artists eventually adopted a simpler style for bonsai, increasing focus on the tree by removing miniatures and other decorations, and using smaller, plainer pots. Around

10591-583: The name of the owner. The first World Bonsai Convention was held in Osaka during the World Bonsai and Suiseki Exhibition in 1980. Nine years later, a series of World Bonsai Conventions was launched by the newly-formed World Bonsai Friendship Federation (WBFF) in Omiya. These conventions attracted several hundreds of participants from dozens of countries and have since been held every four years at different locations around

10710-564: The natural, serpentine course of the Kyuseki stream garden may be far less formal than what existed in Tang China. Whatever their origins, both the To-in and Kyuseki clearly anticipate certain developments in later Japanese gardens. In 794 CE, at the beginning of the Heian period (794–1185 CE), the Japanese court moved its capital to Heian-kyō (present-day Kyoto ). During this period, there were three different kinds of gardens: palace gardens and

10829-442: The north of Japan kept to Edo period blueprint design. A third wave was the naturalistic style of gardens, invented by captains of industry and powerful politicians like Aritomo Yamagata . Many gardeners soon were designing and constructing gardens catering to this taste. One of the gardens well-known for his technical perfection in this style was Ogawa Jihei VII , also known as Ueji. Notable gardens of this period include: During

10948-482: The peninsula. The garden also includes a waterfall at the foot of a wooded hill. One characteristic of the Momoyama period garden visible at Sanbō-in is the close proximity of the buildings to the water. The Momoyama period also saw the development of chanoyu (tea ceremony), the chashitsu (teahouse), and the roji (tea garden). Tea had been introduced to Japan from China by Buddhist monks, who used it as

11067-400: The period still existing is Sanbō-in , rebuilt by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598 to celebrate the festival of the cherry blossom and to recreate the splendor of an ancient garden. Three hundred garden-builders worked on the project, digging the lakes and installing seven hundred boulders in a space of 540 square metres (5,800 sq ft). The garden was designed to be seen from the veranda of

11186-418: The political center of Japan was now Tokyo, Kyoto remained the cultural capital, the center for religion and art. The shōgun provided the emperors with little power, but with generous subsidies for building gardens. The Edo period saw the widespread use of a new kind of Japanese architecture, called sukiya-zukuri , which means literally "building according to chosen taste". The term first appeared at

11305-520: The ponds and streams are carefully placed according to Buddhist geomancy , the art of putting things in the place most likely to attract good fortune. The rules for the placement of water were laid out in the first manual of Japanese gardens, the Sakuteiki ("Records of Garden Making") , in the 11th century. According to the Sakuteiki , water should enter the garden from the east or southeast and flow toward

11424-407: The porch of the residence the abbot of the monastery. There have been many debates about what the rocks are supposed to represent, but, as garden historian Gunter Nitschke wrote, "The garden at Ryōan-ji does not symbolize. It does not have the value of representing any natural beauty that can be found in the world, real or mythical. I consider it as an abstract composition of "natural" objects in space,

11543-423: The prestigious Kokufu-ten annual exhibitions were held in Tokyo's Ueno Park . The first major book on the subject in English was published in the Japanese capital: Dwarf Trees (Bonsai) by Shinobu Nozaki. By 1940, about 300 bonsai dealers worked in Tokyo. Some 150 species of trees were being cultivated, and thousands of specimens were shipped annually to Europe and America. The first bonsai nurseries and clubs in

11662-524: The residences of the Shō family , rulers of the Ryūkyū Kingdom ; they were used for the reception of an envoy from China the following year. First designated for protection in 1941 in accordance with the 1919 Law , they were completely destroyed during the Battle of Okinawa . Restoration began in 1975 and took around twenty years, at a cost of some eight hundred million yen. In 1976 the gardens were once again designated

11781-565: The scenery. The social life in the gardens was memorably described in the classic Japanese novel The Tale of Genji , written in about 1005 by Murasaki Shikibu , a lady-in-waiting to the empress. The traces of one such artificial lake, Osawa no ike, near the Daikaku-ji temple in Kyoto, still can be seen. It was built by the Emperor Saga , who ruled from 809 to 823, and was said to be inspired by Dongting Lake in China. A scaled-down replica of

11900-630: The selection of pot finish and color. For example, evergreen bonsai are often placed in unglazed pots, while deciduous trees usually appear in glazed pots. Pots are also distinguished by their size. The overall design of the bonsai tree, the thickness of its trunk, and its height are considered when determining the size of a suitable pot. Some pots are highly collectible, like ancient Chinese or Japanese pots made in regions with experienced pot makers such as Tokoname, Japan , or Yixing , China . Today, many potters worldwide produce pots for bonsai. The Japanese tradition describes bonsai tree designs using

12019-542: The shape and style of mature, full-size trees. The Japanese art of bonsai is believed to have originated from bonkei ( 盆景 , penjing in Chinese) introduced from China. In the Tang Dynasty , there was the art of representing natural scenery with plants and stones in a tray At that time, the term bonkei ( penjing ) was not yet used in China or Japan. Instead, the term penchi ( 盆池 , lit.   ' pond in

12138-404: The south, which represents fire, which are opposites ( yin and yang ) and therefore will bring good luck. The Sakuteiki recommends several possible miniature landscapes using lakes and streams: the "ocean style", which features rocks that appear to have been eroded by waves, a sandy beach, and pine trees; the "broad river style", recreating the course of a large river, winding like a serpent;

12257-490: The usual pruning scar. Prior to World War II , international interest in bonsai was fueled by increased trade in trees and the appearance of books in popular foreign languages. By 1914, the first national annual bonsai show was held (an event repeated annually through 1933) in Tokyo's Hibiya Park . Another great annual public exhibition of trees began in 1927 at the Asahi Newspaper Hall in Tokyo. Beginning in 1934,

12376-866: The various Japanese nurseries, occasionally even apprenticing under the masters. These visitors brought back to their local clubs the latest techniques and styles, which were then further disseminated. Japanese teachers also traveled widely, bringing hands-on bonsai expertise to all six continents. The final trend supporting world involvement in bonsai is the widening availability of specialized bonsai plant stock, soil components, tools, pots, and other accessory items. Bonsai nurseries in Japan advertise and ship specimen bonsai worldwide. Most countries have local nurseries providing plant stock as well. Japanese bonsai soil components, such as Akadama clay, are available worldwide, and suppliers also provide similar local materials in many locations. Specialized bonsai tools are widely available from Japanese and Chinese sources. Potters around

12495-421: The viewer's eye. The bonsai pot is almost always placed on a formal stand, of a size and design selected to complement the bonsai and its pot. Indoors, a formal bonsai display is arranged to represent a landscape, and traditionally consists of the featured bonsai tree in an appropriate pot atop a wooden stand, along with a shitakusa (companion plant) representing the foreground, and a hanging scroll representing

12614-779: The viewer, and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity for the grower. In contrast to other plant cultivation practices, bonsai are not grown for the production of food or for medicine. A bonsai is created beginning with a specimen of source material . This may be a cutting , seedling , a tree from the wild (known as yamadori ) or small tree of a species suitable for bonsai development. Bonsai can be created from nearly any perennial woody-stemmed tree or shrub species that produces true branches and can be cultivated to remain small through pot confinement with crown and root pruning . Some species are popular as bonsai material because they have characteristics, such as small leaves or needles or aged-looking bark, that make them appropriate for

12733-604: The war, and his 1937 book Japanese Tray Landscapes had been published in English in Beijing . Yoshimura's 1957 book The Art of Bonsai , written in English with his student Giovanna M. Halford, went on to be called the "classic Japanese bonsai bible for westerners" with over thirty printings. The related art of saikei was introduced to English-speaking audiences in 1963 in Kawamoto and Kurihara's book Bonsai-Saikei . This book describes tray landscapes made with younger plant material than

12852-619: The west, because the east is the home of the Green Dragon ( seiryu ), an ancient Chinese divinity adopted in Japan, and the west is the home of the White Tiger, the divinity of the east. Water flowing from east to west will carry away evil, and the owner of the garden will be healthy and have a long life. According to the Sakuteiki , another favorable arrangement is for the water to flow from north, which represents water in Buddhist cosmology, to

12971-612: The west. In the lake in front of the temple is a small island of white stones, representing Mount Horai, the home of the Eight Immortals of the Daoists, connected to the temple by a bridge, which symbolized the way to paradise. It was designed for mediation and contemplation, not as a pleasure garden. It was a lesson in Daoist and Buddhist philosophy created with landscape and architecture, and a prototype for future Japanese gardens. Notable existing or recreated Heian gardens include: The weakness of

13090-464: The world's largest numbers of bonsai specimens and the highest recognized specimen quality. Another key trend was the increase in books on bonsai and related arts, being published for the first time in English and other languages for audiences outside of Japan. In 1952, Yuji Yoshimura , the son of a Japanese bonsai community leader, collaborated with German diplomat and author Alfred Koehn to give bonsai demonstrations. Koehn had been an enthusiast before

13209-533: Was initially used. Expensive copper wire was used only for selected trees that had real potential. In the 1920s and 1930s, toolsmith Masakuni I (1880–1950) helped design and produce the first steel tools specifically made for the developing requirements of bonsai styling. This included the concave cutter, a branch cutter designed to leave a shallow indentation on the trunk when a branch was removed. Properly treated, this indentation would fill over with live tree tissue and bark over time, greatly reducing or eliminating

13328-559: Was originally the villa of Fujiwara Michinaga (966–1028), who married his daughters to the sons of the Emperor. After his death, his son transformed the villa into a temple, and in 1053 built the Hall of Phoenix, which still stands. The Hall is built in the traditional style of a Chinese Song dynasty temple, on an island in the lake. It houses a gilded statue of the Amitābha Buddha, looking to

13447-511: Was published in 1921, and this influential periodical ran for 518 consecutive issues. Bonsai shaping aesthetics, techniques, and tools became increasingly sophisticated as bonsai popularity grew in Japan. In 1910, shaping with wire rather than the older string, rope, and burlap techniques, appeared in the Sanyu-en Bonsai-Dan (History of Bonsai in the Sanyu nursery). Zinc-galvanized steel wire

13566-518: Was responsible for the building of the zen gardens of Nanzen-ji , Saihō-ji (the Moss Garden), and Tenryū-ji . Notable gardens of the Kamakura and Muromachi periods include: The Momoyama period was short, just 32 years, and was largely occupied with the wars between the daimyō , the leaders of the feudal Japanese clans. The new centers of power and culture in Japan were the fortified castles of

13685-406: Was the Zen garden, dry garden , or Japanese rock garden . One of the finest examples, and one of the best-known of all Japanese gardens is Ryōan-ji in Kyoto. This garden is just 9 metres (30 ft) wide and 24 metres (79 ft) long, composed of white sand carefully raked to suggest water, and fifteen rocks carefully arranged, like small islands. It is meant to be seen from a seated position on

13804-564: Was the increase in the number, scope, and prominence of bonsai exhibitions. For example, the Kokufu-ten bonsai displays reappeared in 1947 after a four-year cancellation and became annual affairs. These displays continue to this day and are by invitation only for eight days in February. In October 1964, a great exhibition was held in Hibya Park by the private Kokufu Bonsai Association, reorganized into

13923-529: Was traditionally used in bonsai, providing an alternative to the use of large, older plants, few of which had escaped war damage. A third trend was the increasing availability of expert bonsai training, at first only in Japan, and then more widely. In 1967, the first group of Westerners studied at an Ōmiya nursery. Returning to the U.S., they established the American Bonsai Society. Other groups and individuals from outside Asia then visited and studied at

14042-579: Was trained as a bonsai by 1610. By the end of the 18th century, bonsai cultivation in Japan was becoming widespread and began to interest the general public. In the Tenmei era (1781–88), an exhibit of traditional dwarf potted pines began to be held every year in Kyoto . Connoisseurs from five provinces and neighboring areas would bring one or two plants each to the show in order to submit them to visitors for ranking. In Japan after 1800, bonsai began to move from being

14161-407: Was used for religious ceremonies and dances for the welcoming of the gods. The layout of the garden itself was strictly determined according to the principles of traditional Chinese geomancy , or Feng Shui . The first known book on the art of the Japanese garden, the Sakuteiki ( Records of Garden Keeping ), written in the 11th century, said: It is a good omen to make the stream arrive from

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