Bonsai and Penjing. Ann McClellan
FOREWORD
The U.S. National Arboretum, where science meets beauty, is proud to be the home of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, the world’s first public museum dedicated to the horticultural arts of bonsai and penjing. Founded in 1976 with a gift from Japan to the United States in honor of its Bicentennial, the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum is a focal collection within the U.S. National Arboretum.
Established in 1927, the National Arboretum is itself a living museum and research center. More than half a million visitors visit the grounds annually, where they enjoy the beauty of our 16,000 varieties of plants, the balance of our cultivated gardens and natural landscapes, and the quiet of our 446 acres only a few miles from the U.S Capitol Building.
What they may not know is that they are visiting one of the world’s leading horticultural science institutions with collections that include a large and invaluable inventory of germplasm and her-barium specimens to support research by scientists worldwide. In the United States, the National Arboretum is credited with introducing more than 650 cultivars of woody and herbaceous plants into the country. As an entity within the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Arboretum continues to develop new cultivars and new approaches to detecting and treating plant diseases, ultimately benefitting people in the U.S. and around the globe.
The National Arboretum salutes our National Bonsai & Penjing Museum on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. We applaud the commitment and skill of all those who have made possible the museum’s masterpieces of horticultural artistry.
Dr. Richard T. Olsen
Director, U.S. National Arboretum
The 22 National Capitol Columns, installed at the U.S. National Arboretum in the 1980s, date from 1828 when they graced the U.S. Capitol’s East Portico.
The National Arboretum’s Asian Collections, begun in 1949, include a dazzling array of plants where something is blooming every month of the year.
A Japanese White Pine (Pinus parviflora), the same variety of tree used for many bonsai and penjing, is also popular in Japanese gardens. This tree greets visitors at the museum’s entrance.
PREFACE
In honor of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum’s 40th anniversary, the National Bonsai Foundation is pleased to present the story of how the museum came to be, highlighting some of its treasured trees and viewing stones along with some of the people involved. We hope this book—like the museum itself—will refresh your spirit now and inspire future generations.
The National Bonsai Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1982 to sustain the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum and support the museum’s mission “to be an international center where superior bonsai and related arts are displayed and studied for the education and delight of visitors.” The National Bonsai Foundation cooperates with the U.S. National Arboretum, providing financial assistance and advice, in a private/public collaboration that makes the museum’s displays and educational programs possible, fostering intercultural friendship and understanding.
The story of how the Japanese trees, accompanied by several notable viewing stones, came to Washington is a fascinating example of the power of beauty, vision and perseverance. It is well told by the late Dr. John L. Creech, former director of the U.S. National Arboretum and the key proponent behind the gift. Major excerpts of his work, The Bonsai Saga, How the Bicentennial Collection Came to America, are included in this book as a tribute to him and to all those whose efforts made possible that extraordinary gift and the museum we enjoy today.
For me, bonsai, penjing and viewing stones are reflections of our souls, bringing nature close to each of us in a unique way. I hope Bonsai and Penjing, Ambassadors of Peace & Beauty will serve to enhance your enjoyment of these living and evolving art forms.
Felix B. Laughlin, President
National Bonsai Foundation
chapter one
A National Collection of Living Arts
When the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. first opened its doors in July 1976, it was the first public museum in the world devoted to the display of bonsai and penjing. With collections representative of the Chinese art of penjing and the Japanese art of bonsai, as well as an evolving North American collection, it is the most comprehensive museum in the world for the display of the natural beauty in trees writ small. The collections are wide-ranging, including some trees that have been handed down from one generation to another, spanning centuries. Even trees that are not old in years are fashioned to look as though they have been aged by time. It is this combination of small and old-appearing that fascinates the imagination, attracting visitors from all over the globe to come and stand in awe before a little landscape in a pot.
Each tree in the collections is a work of art and has a story to tell. It is these stories that add a deeper dimension to a viewer’s experience of each tree. Each was created by one artist, some of whom are legendary. These artists share the skill and eye to work with the small trees, creating works of art that capture the essence of nature’s beauty and offering viewers a different way to perceive the mystery of life itself.
In addition to highlighting several of the collections’ masterpieces, this book explores the global trends, especially the West’s fascination with all things Asian, which culminated in the creation of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. It also explores the roles bonsai and penjing have played in the highest levels of international diplomacy as ambassadors of beauty and peace.
The small trees’ role as ambassadors began centuries ago when the Chinese art form called penjing was embraced and enhanced by the Japanese, along with other Chinese arts like calligraphy. In Japan, the art form was called bonsai (pronounced bone-sigh), which means “tray planting.” Bonsai now has come to refer to all diminutive trees and plantings in containers no matter what their origins are. Historically and today, the goal of both art forms is to distill and evoke nature’s magnificence and grandeur into distinctive miniature living trees or compositions.
To become a bonsai or penjing, a tree or plant with a woody stem is chosen for its natural characteristics and for its potential form. Its roots are trimmed to reduce its size and its branches are cut and wired to grow into the desired shape. Most bonsai and penjing artists have an ultimate view of the tree in mind, which they enhance with specially chosen trays or pots, the same way other artists choose frames to set off their work. The process of the tree growing into the artist’s intended shape can take years or decades or even centuries.
A Japanese White Pine (Pinus parviflora ‘Miyajima’) from Japan, a Garden Juniper (Juniperus procumbens ‘Nana’) from America, and a Cork-bark Pine (Pinus thunbergii Corticosa Group) from China represent the museum’s major collections.
Koinobori or carp kites celebrate Children’s Day on May 5th in Japan, but at the museum they delight visitors all summer long.
CHINA
Ancient China was a highly cultured, complex civilization with a myriad of different aesthetic expressions, ranging from scroll painting to architecture, and it included penjing. In the late seventeenth and into the eighteenth centuries, foreign interest in Chinese arts and goods reached a peak. It led to a fashion trend called chinoiserie, fueled by European and North American colonists’ demand for Chinese tea, silks and decorated porcelain. The fervor for all things