A living legend
Sixty-five years ago, during World War II, a B-29 bomber known as the “Enola Gay” dropped the first atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Among the survivors was a small tree, a Bonsai, which ended up in the United States as part of a national gift from Japan. The Bonsai, now 400 years old, is still alive, and forms part of one of the most striking collections in the U.S. capital.
The white pine that tells a story: Bonsai tree in the U.S. National Arboretum. Pic by M. Kornely, VOA
If this tree could talk, it would have a lot to say. In its nearly 400 years of life, it has seen more than one war.
“It is a survivor. It was actually in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped,” said Jack Sustic, the Curator at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington. He says the tree came to the U.S. in 1976, to celebrate the U.S. bi-centennial, as part of a gift of 53 bonsai from Japan.
“This is a Japanese white pine; it was part of the original donation. It belonged to one family, the Yamaki family, for six generations before they donated it. It was started as a Bonsai in 1625,” Sustic said. Sustic says the Yamaki family had a Bonsai nursery and this was one of their signature trees. Six generations of the family took care of the tree in Japan and so far four curators in the U.S. have cared for it.
“Mr. Yamaki the original donator, came four or five years after they donated it. It’s an interesting story because he was here looking at the tree and he began to cry and the curator at the time got a little uneasy and a little nervous so he asked the translator to make sure everything was O.K., so the translator asked him, is everything O.K.? And he replied, ‘Yes the tree is happy here, that’s why I am crying.”
The bonsai donation was the start of the collection at the U.S. National Arboretum, the largest in North America. The collection now has almost 300 trees, divided among three pavilions for Japanese, Chinese and American bonsai.
“Bonsai literally means tree in a pot. But you can look around in the collection and see that it is much more than just sticking a tree in a pot. It’s an art, a living art,” Sustic said.
The art of the Bonsai demands great care and patience. The trees continue growing, so they have to be trimmed once or twice a year, and are re-potted every couple of years. Some of the trees are particularly sensitive, like the donated Japanese white pine.
From its beginnings in China more than 1,000 years ago, the art of the Bonsai was a pastime of the elite for many centuries. It has grown in popularity in the United States mostly due to the support of the National Bonsai Foundation. Johann Klodsen is the foundation’s director, and like others close to the collection she says there is more to the bonsai than simply what one sees.
“Standing before any great piece of art, it becomes a conversation between the work of art and the individual and that conversation takes on a spiritual dimension,” she said. “If you do Bonsai, it begins to change you as a person I believe. It makes you a better person. It teaches you patience and reverence. It certainly has made me a better person.”
Reflections 2013- Living Images
“Reflections 2013- Living Images” the 20th exhibition organised by the Sri Lanka Bonsai Association, will be held on October 4, 5 and 6 at the National Art Gallery, Nelum Pokuna Mawatha, Colombo 7, from 9.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. Ambassador for Japan Nobuhito Hobo, will open this exhibition on Friday, October 4 at 10.30 a.m. Bonsai Demonstrations will be held in Sinhala and English at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
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