Penjing Development

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Since the 6th century, the Japanese ambassador to China and Japanese monks studied Buddhism in China and returned to Japan with souvenirs of miniature plants. Japan’s oldest painting depicts the stunted trees on trays from the year 1309.

Kasuga scrolls Gongen fifth of Genki-e (Tale Illustrations Avatar Kasuga Miracle?) consists of 20 scrolls describing the upper house in Penjing or Penzai development in JapanJapan that have ladders from wooden trays and shallow ceramic dish drafts from China containing stunted trees, grass, and rocks. At that time the Chan sect of Buddhism flourished in Japan as Zen.

The influence of the zen concept of “beauty in a harsh environment” made the Japanese people make the landscape of dwarf plants in pots that can be interpreted as a single tree and represents the ideal universe.

Since the 16th century, the shops with names like Garden of the Dragon Flowers in Shanghai’s southwest, planted trees in a miniature-sized container. In the meantime, until the late 16th century, Suzhou was still regarded as the best penjing arts center in China. Note that the oldest penjing written in English is about penjing in China / Macau in 1637.
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19th century

In 1806, a dwarf tree from Canton (now Guangzhou) was awarded to Sir Joseph Banks, and then presented to Queen Charlotte, observed by the queen. Trees and other penjing was seen by Westerners in China Southeast likely derived from Ti Fa park near Canton.
According to various sources of books from the West, until the first half of the 19th century, transplantation is a method of multiplication of the main penjing.

Tree height is usually between 30cm to 60cm after being maintained for 20 years. Common tree species used are elm trees, pine trees, junipers, cypress, and bamboo.

The plum tree is a favorite fruit to penjing, as are peach trees and orange trees. Tree branches can be bent and formed by using various forms of support from bamboo, iron or bronze wire. Trees may be cut, burned, and the bark is sometimes torn in several places.

The stones and moss are often added to the composition of penjing. Photos of the oldest which includes a portrait of Chinese penjing circa 1868 was taken by John Thomson. In that year, a collection of stunted trees and plants from China are also on display in Brooklyn, New York.

The social and political situation in the United States at that time gave birth to a law more favorable than China’s Japan, especially after the establishment of the Chinese Exclusion Law 1882. As a result, the forms of stunted trees by the Japanese public became more easily accept in the United States than other forms of the same tree from China.

Toward the end of the 19th century, Lingnan or Mahzab Canton was developed in southeast China in the monastery. Tropical trees and tropical shrubs grew rapidly. Penjing can be made easily by using Lingnan techniques.