Although bonsai is thought of being of a Japanese origin it is infact from a different region originally. The art of bonsai that we know today however was refined in Japan.
It is hard to tell exactly who created this first although a lot of history books seem to point to China. These early creations of bonsai were called penjing which is basically a miniature landscape of small trees and rocks. These started appearing in the Tang dynasty (618- 907).
I read one article that was saying that even before this the roots of what we know today were being formed. The earliest known date of literally growing a tree in a container is at the hanging gardens of babylon. Wikipedia gives a description of the Hanging Gardens as, “The Greek geographer Strabo, who described the gardens in the first century BC, wrote, “It consists of vaulted terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted.”
That put aside I still believe it was the chinese who should be credited with inventing the art. They designed penjing and the Japanese refined it at a later date (probably at around 1200) to bonsai that we know today.
Thank you for posting this because it is one of the most common misconceptions in the bonsai world … well besides the other one that only Japanese trees can be bonsai
. But bonsai did originate in China long, long before the Japanese borrowed and publicized the art (remember China has always kept all knowledge and culture within their own borders until the last 50 years or so). Bonsai comes from the Chinese words Pen-tsai.
There is a fantastic book ‘The Living Art of Bonsai’ by Amy Liang that goes in depth about the history of bonsai. This book describes the many schools of bonsai that existed in China long before Japan emulated the art.
This is not to take away from the wonder that Japan has created in the bonsai world, or the thanks for sharing this knowledge with America and other countries. But to say the invented bonsai is grossly incorrect.
Another great post!
Thanks a lot! A good point that China have hidden their knowledge and culture before now. I bet they are kicking themselves for not revealing their secrets and letting the Japanese take all the glory.