Bonsai,
or "tree in a pot", was created in China at least one
thousand years before Christ. In the 11th century some
Buddhist monks imported it to Japan and there it spread widely
during the following centuries. Only at the end of 19th century
it was brought to Europe and to the rest of the world.
Result of an ancient eastern tradition, bonsai art was based on
refined growing techniques, handed down generation by generation
from great masters. It has come to us carrying a mystical
world with it, a world animated by Zen philosophy, whose
major aim is getting peace and harmony between Mankind and Nature by
means of spiritual exercises.
Obviously Zen philosophy does not manifest only in bonsai plant
growing, but also through the different arts related to it -
once again expressions of the pursuit of inner equilibrium - as the art
of self-defence, the tea art and the traditional music.
Bonsai cultivation, on the contrary, has rapidly evolved in the
course of centuries, getting rich in essential complements, pots
and furniture, and refined ornaments for the trees, such as Suisekis
and Ikebanas.
Especially long-living plants, if well grown, bonsai trees offer galleries
of real cultivation, giving us the possibility to watch a show with
no equal in nature.
|