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bonsai
horticulture
- Japanese:
- “tray-planted”
- Related Topics:
- tree
bonsai, living dwarf tree or trees or the art of training and growing them in containers. Bonsai specimens are ordinary trees and shrubs (not hereditary dwarfs) that are dwarfed by a system of pruning roots and branches and training branches by tying with wire. The art originated in China, where, perhaps over 1,000 years ago, trees were cultivated in trays, wooden containers, and earthenware pots and trained in naturalistic shapes. Bonsai, however, has been pursued and developed primarily by the Japanese. The first Japanese record of dwarfed potted trees is in the Kasuga-gongen-genki (1309), a picture scroll by Takashina Takakane. ...(100 of 693 words)