Bonsai is for most people essentially a practical hobby and the general consensus of opinion is that it originated in China several centuries ago. However, this practice of growing plants and trees (mostly flowering cherries, pines and chrysanthemums) in pots can hardly be referred to as bonsai in the way that we know it today. These potted trees were probably used for social or religious ceremonies as well as for decorating the home and were occasionally depicted on ancient Chinese scrolls. They are considered in the context of bonsai probably because the illustrations suggest that they have been intelligently pruned and positioned within their pots.

Bonsai is about trees; trees grown in miniature. It is also about time and space and about life and attitudes.

At a transcendental level bonsai can be the intermingling of spirits, of concepts and attitudes, affecting both the trees and the bonsai enthusiast. Equally, bonsai can be just another horticultural pastime requiring no more than a measure of common garden sense, some artistic ability and plenty of patience.

Whatever significance bonsai may have for the individual is open to interpretation. If rules are to be laid down then it is my conjecture that these rules should serve as no more than guidelines or a lot of stereotype trees are likely to result. I sincerely hope that anything I write is seen purely as a suggestion or stimulus, hopefully triggering off ideas and associated theories or techniques that the reader may have experienced or, would like to experience.

Art is something that is often expressed intensely, and though it may respect many traditional attitudes and philosophies and be the result of well-established techniques, it nevertheless always offers the artist the opportunity for further experimentation and personal expansion.

Break the rules to make the rules! But first, what are the rules? Dare I commit myself in saying there aren’t any, or at least none that are absolute. The Bonsai Book is crammed full of ideas, techniques and disciplines (rule is too strict a term) that I have experienced over many years and which I now offer to you for consideration and possible use. Bonsai and its artistic expression is about mental images responding to aesthetics, which is defined as that branch of philosophy dealing with the nature and perception of the beautiful. The practical (horticultural) side allows these images to be applied in respect of any given tree and all that can be associated with it: its typical form, the environmental influences that might modify this shape or the abstract ideas that might have a bearing on it.

Of course a tree is a tree is a tree is a tree, whether it be a larch, oak, pine or crab apple. Whatever the species, the environment in which it is growing may have a significant influence on it. It may be formally upright in structure with absolutely straight branches if growing in well protected open parkland. It may have a gently curved trunk making it more informal when growing on undulating banks where the wind direction changes regularly. Stronger prevailing winds or landslides may cause trunks to slant slightly or appear windswept. Trees growing under rocky outcrops and cliffs may well reach out for light and ventilation in a semi-cascading manner, whilst trees growing high up in ravines may duck their heads and cascade downwards to escape the rigours of extreme cold, wind and sandstorms, in search of better climes. These five basic configurations establish the structural order of bonsai styles.

The main point is that bonsai is an illusionary reflection of nature in its infinite variety, produced under controlled conditions with truth, order and beauty being the primary factors for consideration when styling a tree.

Before moving on to the origins of bonsai, let us consider the poem at the top of this page. Today, yesterday or tomorrow are all relative in their occurrence in the eons of time may or may not be of significance. How often one hears a bonsai enthusiast say, ‘ wait till you see this tree next year, it’ll be great!’ Remember the poem - next year will have been last year if this year were the year after next. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of allowing bonsai to become an exercise in wishing one’s life away. Bonsai is a way of life, and the joy derived from it should always be for today, and for anyone at any age, whether already involved with it or whether considering the prospect. Planting the seed of a tree in a pot or contemplating the majesty of a mature bonsai is immaterial; both evoke a sense of joy at any given moment in time. That moment, when it is experienced, will be in the present, and that is today!

Bonsai by literal translation simply means ‘tree in a tray’, or in contemporary terms: potted plant. But we couldn’t be further from the true spirit of bonsai if we restricted our interpretation in this way. It is indeed a tree in a pot, but a tree that has been subjected to a number of horticultural and aesthetic disciplines through which visual harmony and botanical well-being is achieved. The essence of classical bonsai is to produce a healthy miniature representation of a tree. This is achieved by observing nature and noting the salient characteristics that typify any given species and by introducing these characteristics through bonsai training techniques so as to arrive at a balanced and convincing result. The final statement may be derived from any or several of nature’s phenomena. For instance, the overriding influence may be based on trunk status - formal upright, informal upright, slanting, semi-cascade, cascade or perhaps some other facet such as multi-trunk, root-over-rock, split-trunk, etc. These qualifying factors determine a bonsai’s style and serve as a useful way to describe a tree. Always remember that although a bonsai is a tree in a pot, not all potted trees are bonsai.

Finding the ‘soul’ of a tree and helping it to manifest itself is a very rewarding experience. Some people talk to their trees and plants; I prefer to listen to mine and after a time (often years), I occasionally hear the message, and that is the moment the bonsai is conceived and I understand how best to present it. It is at this moment that the tree and man are in total communion, and it does not happen very often. This is bonsai practised at its highest level: when one transcends the ultimate in practical skills and is then able to reach beyond and enter the spiritual world. A profoundly moving and creative experience.

It is the Japanese who developed the practice into the sophisticated bonsai that we see, appreciate and perpetuate today. In this form, bonsai is relatively young, approximately one hundred to one hundred and fifty years old with a substantial upsurge in interest since the turn of the (last) century both in Japan and the Western world. Unfortunately, many examples of the earlier styles in bonsai were lost as a result of the Second World War, so it is fairly safe to say that although bonsai has a long-established history, the aesthetics of contemporary bonsai is to all intents and purposes less than one hundred years old.

Recent statistics have suggested that bonsai is amongst the most rapidly developing of leisure pastimes in the UK and attracts extensive interest in North and South America, Canada, Australia, Hawaii, South Africa, India and many European countries, so its popularity appears to be growing worldwide.

Although bonsai is very much a Japanese art-form, its migration to other parts of the world has resulted in many new ideas, philosophies and techniques being adapted to extend its creative scope. These interpretive modifications have been further supported by the addition of new tree species indigenous to the host countries, hitherto unavailable to the Japanese. For example, eucalyptus, ficus, Scots and many other pines; oaks, baobabs, taxodiums, numerous junipers, sequoias and others. Each of these species has its own typical form and current bonsai trends are in favour of respecting these forms rather than subjecting them to too much distortion. Although, running parallel to this, there does exist another popular facet of bonsai. This promotes very abstract forms that bear little resemblance to trees as we appreciate them in their natural environments but which nevertheless emerge as satisfying living sculptures and as such are entirely valid. This is most evident in some of the variations of the driftwood style.

So, bonsai is a continually changing art-form greatly dependent on the aesthetic, creative and technical abilities of the bonsai enthusiast. It also takes into account the horticultural requirements necessary to maintain each tree within its designed state and the changes that may effect that state for the whole of its life.

Text taken from ‘The Bonsai Book’ first published by Ebury Press in 1989