The word bonsai comes from the Japanese words “bon” which means “tray” or “pot” and “sai” which means “plant” or “planting”. So bonsai literally means something that is planted in a pot. But more specifically, it refers to trees that have been miniaturized and planted in trays or pots. Because bonsai is a Japanese word and the art and discipline of Bonsai has been cultivated in Japan for centuries, many people think that it originated in Japan. But in fact, it began in China.
Nobody is sure just when somebody got the idea of miniaturizing trees and bringing them indoors. There are ancient Chinese paintings from as early as 600 CE that depict bonsai trees, but some scholars believe that they were being grown in China as far back as 500 or even 1,000 BCE.
Penjing
Penjing In China, the art of miniaturizing nature as living art was known as penjing. The Chinese were fascinated with miniaturizing nature. When miniature trees are displayed alone, following the Chinese practice of penjing, they are often seen in deeper pots, such as the beautiful trident maple pictures below which is on display at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington DC.
This trident maple, Acer buergerianum, has its foliage and stems trimmed in the shape of a dragon. This is in the Chinese Penjing Collection.
(Peggy Greb, USDA / Public domain)
One of the earliest knows depictions of Penjing
However, because of their fascination of miniaturizing landscapes, Chinese penjing artists will not feel limited to planting in trays. They love to work with stones, rocks, sand and even tiny sculptures to recreate the look of an entire mountainside, meadow or seaside landscape to fit on a table top. The image below is a masterful example.
A specimen in the Landscape Penjing (shanshui penjing) style from the Suzhou Museum in Suzhou, China.