Chronology of Notable Histories of Magical Miniature Landscapes

Oblique references to the Chinese side of dwarf potted tree history in English can be found in articles by John Livingstone (1820 - "Account of the Method of Dwarfing Trees and Shrubs, as practiced by the Chinese, including their Plan of Propagation from Branches," Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, Vol. IV, pg. 225. Read June 20, 1820; letter undated from Macao; published 1822): "Of the origin of the practice no record seems to have been preserved. It was probably very remote, since we see, on the oldest specimens of porcelain, the same figures of dwarf trees that the Chinese admire at the present day..."
and F.A. McClure (1933 - "Methods and Materials of Chinese Table Plant Culture," Lingnan Science Journal (Canton: Lingnan University), Vol 12, Supplement, pg. 119. Issued May 22, 1933): "...art which has long since reached a very high state of development in the Orient, particularly in China where it no doubt originated, and in Japan where it has been in some instances rather highly modernized. In the latter country various schools of the art have appeared since it was introduced from China by Buddhist missionaries in the sixth century..."

The earliest rendering into a European language of the Chinese history in some detail was in Rolf A. Stein's 1943 book-length monograph "Jardins en miniature d'Extreme-Orient." This still remains the most detailed investigation into the religion, cosmology, and magic of the region. It was reprinted in an English translation (The World in Miniature, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990, of a 1987 French revision) with two other articles further examining ties with the domestic and religious architecture of East Asia. (The original edition has not been reviewed yet to determine what early works it cited and which were first cited in the later edition. Some later archaeological and other findings were definitely incorporated in the 1987 revision.)

So far, the earliest known history of some length in English is H.L. Li's Chinese flower arrangement (Philadelphia, PA: Hedera House; 1956), an apparently little-known work which, despite the title, contains much about the culture of table plants/tray gardens (pp. 4-10+).

[The earliest known convention presentation in the West, "The History of Bonsai in China," was made by Richard D. Darrah of Pittsburgh, PA in mid-July 1971 at the American Bonsai Society Symposium in Norfolk, VA. He used a set of 30 slides with an accompanying narration which he had been given by Wu Yee-Sun. (per "Chinese Bonsai" by Richard Donald Darrah, Journal, ABS, Vol. 5, No. 3, Fall 1971, pg. 56)]

In 1987, Hu Yunhua's Chinese Penjing, Miniature Trees and Landscapes revealed many samples of the ancient poetry and literature which mentioned dwarf potted trees, as well as many regional style details (Portland, OR: Timber Press, ISBN 0-88192-083-5, pp. 128-130+).

The earliest known reference in English to the Japanese part of the history of dwarf potted trees was apparently in the 1901 lecture by Toichi Tsumura before the Japan Society of London (pp. 12-13).

Shinobu Nozaki's 1940 work, Bonsai, provided the first detailed listing of plants used during the different periods of the artform's development in Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries. (Tokyo: Sanseido Company, Ltd., pp. 23-27).

Soen Yanagisawa's Tray Landscapes (Bonkei and Bonseki), 1st edition 1955, gave the first detailed history of those related artforms (Tokyo: Japan Travel Bureau, LCC #62-19637, throughout).

The 1970 Nippon Bonsai Taiken (Bonsai Masterpieces) (Tokyo: Seibundo Shinkosha Publishing Co., Ltd.; 1972. Compiled by the Japan Bonsai Society, Inc. First edition in Japanese April 29, 1970) included a 20 page "Brief History of Bonsai" by Asst. Prof. Ryoji Iwasa of Chiba University (pp. 330-349). However, this went untranslated for the 1972 English companion booklet. (Iwasa also wrote the history text Bonsai Bunka-shi (Tokyo: Yasaka Shobo; 1976).)

In 1989, the Nippon Bonsai Association's Classic Bonsai of Japan volume had a chapter which provided a comprehensive look at the history of both the physical and metaphysical approaches to the art by Hideo Marushima (Tokyo and New York: Kodansha, ISBN 0870119338, pp. 140-156). (Marushima in 1982 also published Nihon Bonsai Bonseki Shiko (An Interpretive History of Bonsai and Suiseki [sic]), as well as Chugoku bonkei ga Nihon bonsai ni ataeta rekishiteki eikyo ni kansuru jisshoteki kenkyu (Studies on the Historical Influences of Chinese Penjing on Japanese Bonsai) (Tokyo: Gihodo; 1998), neither of which has yet been translated into English. See also below.)

The first truly cosmopolitan view of the history can be found in Deborah R. Koreshoff's 1984 Bonsai: Its Art, Science, History and Philosophy (Brisbane: Boolarong Publications, ISBN 0-908175-75-2; also, Portland, OR: Timber Press, ISBN 0-88192-389-3, 1997, pp. 1-11+).

Peter Aradi, was adjunct instructor of History and Humanities at several Tulsa, Oklahoma area colleges. He has been researching the cultural history of bonsai. He wrote at least nine articles for American Bonsai Society's Journal since 1997, including a six-part series on "Visiting With the Masters," as well as an article in 2003 for International Bonsai about the 1964 Olympic Commemorative Bonsai Show. He is a retired information systems professional. In the summer of 2006 he moved to San Antonio, TX.

Robert J. Baran, researcher for the Magical Miniature Landscape project (this web site since 1999). He wrote four articles for the ABS Journal between 1991 and 1996 (reproduced on this website), the book Designing Dwarfs in the Desert (1997), and part of the chapter "The origins of bonsai" in Craig Coussins' The Bonsai School (2002), based on material from this web site. He also created and authored the text for The Bonsai Coloring Book.

Peter Del Tredici, Curator of the Larz Anderson Collection of Japanese Dwarfed Trees at Harvard's Arnold Arboretum since 1984. He had started there as apprentice to the curator in 1979. He is also a Senior Research Scientist at the Arboretum and a Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His 1989 article "The Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection of the Arnold Arboretum" in the Arnoldia 49(3):2-37 was reissued that year as the book Early American Bonsai, The Larz Anderson Collection of the Arnold Arboretum. Following his presentation of that story at the 2002 International Scholarly Symposium on Bonsai and Viewing Stones in Washington, D.C. and some additional research, a revised version was published in 2006 as "From Temple to Terrace, The Remarkable Journey of the Oldest Bonsai in America" in the Arnoldia 64(2-3):1-64. In 1993, his article "Ginkgo Chichi: In nature, legend and cultivation" was published in International Bonsai 93(4):20.

Peter del Tredici.
(Photo from http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/faculty/deltredici/index.html)

Dr. Thomas S. Elias, Director of the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. since 1993. He plays a key role in the development and oversight of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. During his tenure as Director, the Museum has undergone considerable expansion of its physical plant and extensive expansion of its living collections, library, and museum artifacts. He has been instrumental in obtaining hundreds of rare and out-of-print books and serial publications, particularly from Japan, for the Museum's collections. He has served since 2000 as the historian for Bonsai Clubs International's Bonsai Magazine, contributing nearly a dozen articles including the two part series "Mansei-en and The Kato Family" (2001). He serves as International Consultant to the World Bonsai Friendship Federation. He has studied the plants of Asia and North America for many years and is the author of at least seven books and numerous papers on wild plants, trees, and threatened species in America. A detailed history of bonsai which Dr. Tom presented at the 2002 International Symposium and then expanded for the 2005 WWBF Convention can be found here.

Dr. Thomas S. Elias.
(Photo from http://www.bonsai-wbff.org/octoberbonsai/admin.html)

Hideo Marushima was Japan’s leading authority on the history of both bonsai and suiseki. He wrote the chapter "The History of Bonsai" in the Nippon Bonsai Association's Classic Bonsai of Japan (1989), and was the author of many books on this subject including History of Japanese Stones (1992), Studies on the Historical Influences of Chinese Penjing on Japanese Bonsai (1998), and the three volume The World of Chinese Penjing (2000) co-authored with Hu Yunhua. Mr. Marushima was an attorney in Tokyo. He died on April 14, 2006.

William N. Valavanis, studied in the garden of Kyuzo Murata in Omiya, Japan, graduated from The State University of New York Agricultural and Technical College at Farmingdale, Long Island, NY with a degree in Ornamental Horticulture, returned to Japan to study bonsai with Kakutaro Komuro and Toshio Kawamoto, bonsai chrysanthemums with Tameji Nakajima, and earn a master's teaching certificate in ikebana from the Shofu School. A degree in Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture from Cornell University followed in 1976 on the heels of several months study at Yuji Yoshimura's School of Bonsai in Briarcliff Manor, NY. He began publishing the International Bonsai magazine in 1979 and would continue to teach classical bonsai art. Through the years he has given several talks on the subject at various locations, and his latest project is the on-going development of a Powerpoint program on the "History and Influence of Japanese Classical Bonsai."

Alan Walker photo: William N. Valavanis, 2003

William N. Valavanis, 04/11/2003 workshop.
(Photo courtesy of Alan Walker, 05/11/07)

HONORABLE MENTION:

Chris Cochrane, although little published in the bonsai specialty magazines, this Virginia resident has studied and collected in Japan and elsewhere. His two primary fields are viewing stones and display. He is the moderator of the Internet Bonsai Club's "Viewing Stones and Suiseki" gallery, where he often shares insights as to the wonderfilled and subtle details of his areas of interest. He is known to be working on a "Viewing Stones Timeline."

Alan Walker photo: Chris Cochrane, 11/02

Chris Cochrane, 11/2002.
(Photo courtesy of Alan Walker, 05/11/07)

Dr. Gunter Lind was a professor of physics education at the University of Kiel in Germany. His main fields of research were the history of physics teaching in Germany and empirical research on expertise (comparing physics “experts” and “novices” according to cognitive aspects of learning and problem solving). He turned to bonsai seriously only after retiring and has started a website on history and philosophy of bonsai within the German www.bonsai-fachforum.de. His main interest is in the stylistic aspects of bonsai.

Dr. Gunter Lind.
(Photo from http://www.bonsaiakkiel.de/bonsai/htmls/gunter_nachruf.htm)

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The term "bonsai" in print in an English work dates from at least the year 1900 (Robert Blight (ed.) "Among the Plants: Garden, Field and Forest," Current Literature, Vol. 28, No. 3, June 1900, pg. 258).

The term "P'oon Tsui" (an English transcription of the Cantonese pronunciation of "pen zai" ["pen tseye"] dates from at least 1933 (McClure, pg. 119).