The Facts and Legends of Bonsai Art
The history of bonsai art was once unclear but it is now widely accepted that it was the Chinese who first started creating the miniature landscapes and trees that we now know as bonsai art. Despite the fact that bonsai is a Japanese term referring to “tree in a pot”, the art of bonsai started in China. In China, cultivating miniature trees is known as “penjing”, which literally means “landscape in a pot”. Their bonsai art is different from the Japanese. They create a miniature landscape scene instead of a perfect tree in a bonsai pot. Called penjing by the Chinese, bonsai was thought to begin in the Han Dynasty. Now, let’s talk about some of the myths and facts of the beginning of bonsai.
Landscape Bonsai: Model for the Emperor
One of the most ancient Chinese legends suggests that it was in the Han Dynasty that an emperor created a landscape in his courtyard complete with lakes, hills, rivers and trees that represented his whole empire. The Chinese emperor put the beautiful landscape bonsai on top of a bonsai table. So that he could look at his whole country from his palace. This landscape form of art was also his alone to possess. Anyone else found own even a miniature landscape was seen as a threat to his country and would be put to death.
The First Bonsai
Another Chinese legend relating to the beginning of bonsai points to a 4th century A.D. Chinese poet named Guenming. It’s believed that after his retirement he started cultivating chrysanthemums in pots. Some historians think that this was a step towards the start of bonsai in the Tang dynasty some 200 years afterward.
The Earliest Documented Proof of Bonsai
Chinese scroll painting and bonsai are closely related in many different ways. The earliest documented proof of the art of bonsai was found in 1972 in the tomb of Prince Zhang Huai, of the Tang Dynasty who died in 706 A.D. Two Chinese paintings discovered in the tomb show servants carrying plants resembling penjing. In one of the paintings a servant is seen holding a miniature landscape bonsai and in the other wall painting a servant is shown holding a pot containing a tree.