Asian Culture: The Reason You Bonsai?

XianghuaALPHA

I was curious, and if this has been a well beaten over topic and I just coudn't find it via searches, please just lock the thread and point me in the right direction


Anyway - so - Why is it you Bonsai? Could it be a love / influence for the Asian cultures?


Not being the oldest or probably the youngest on this board but feel I was probably born RIGHT in the center of when Anime and several other very Japanese or Chinese infulences really started hitting our 'main stream' growing up, I kinda feel the asian culture has been around me here growing up all along. Mainly from the media and entertainment area's, from watching americanized Anime [which slowly and slowly just became straight anime] and television that was getting into the 'Japanese look' or so forth, and heck perhaps even all those lousy Karate and beat 'em up flicks - it just seems a natural thing to love asian culture, and as a result, want to pursue some aspects of their interests, bonsai's included.


I could of course be off on a rant, I also love [most] anime [Japanese animation], and have my office decorated in a 'asian' theme for pete's sake, but yea, was wondering if this had ever came up, or what had interested other's in Bonsai's or a general asian interest. No, I am a half pakistani half mutt white guy, so it's not a question of being Asian either :lol: So yea - thoughts?



X A

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Bonsainut

Yeah and chinese food.



What's anime?

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pdbbonsai

B-nut,

Anime is Japanese animation... films like Akira, Ghost in the Shell to name a few....Feature length films

Paul

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fern

I got into bonsai through taking a Japanese art history course while finishing my BA. I learned to appreciate the Japanese aesthetic and became interested in things such as ukiyo-e, origami and bonsai.

Walter_Pall

X A,

I hate to disappoint you. In my opinion bonsai has not so much to do with Asian culture anymore. It has become an international art form.
It will be like soccer and tennis which have not much to do with English culture anymore.


best regards
Walter Pall

dbz12fan

My screen name is dbz12fan and I used to watch Dragonball Z which is anime but that has nothing to do with me starting bonsai or wishing to continue it. I have found myself wondering many times why do I bonsai. I can't tell you why but I would feel extremely empty without it.

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Charles Bevan
Vero Beach, Fl

Robert

for what it's worth;
I'm much older than most readers of this thread. I'm in my mid 70s.
I'm originally from Brooklyn, N.Y.....from an immigrant family(German)....originally din't know "nuttin from nuttin"....but went through school, developing a curiosity about lots of things. Lived in Brooklyn tenements....but lived a sort of double-life going to museums, botanical gardens, (yes, the bonsai garden in Brooklyn where aI saw my first bonsai) etc. I even went to school at NYU for a couple of years....then along came Korea, and rather than go into the army, I enlisted in the Navy...for 4 years. ...but I didn't go to the east....I went to sea in the Atlantic visiting Europe and the Caribbean, mostly. When I got out of the Navy I wanted to go back to school, but also didn't want to live in New York city,( I considered it "a cancer on the side of the earth). I didn't like it.
I applied to lots of schools, including UC-Berkeley, was accepted at several, but since Berkeley was about as far away from Brooklyn that I could get, and still be in the continental U.S., decided to go there. That's where I encountered, for the first time, elements of Japanese culture. The Fuji restaurant on Telegraph Avenue, where most people ate with chopsticks. (I immediately bought myself a pair and practiced at home, so I could return to the Fuji and eat with them in public). I saw Japanese paintings, fell in love with Hiroshige, (the wave, etc.) Listened to Shamisan on recordings; saw "Gate of Hell" and "Roshomon" at the "Cinema Guild" on Telegraph Avenue.
I also went to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park and had tea in the Pavilion.....(during the war they changed the name to Chinese Garden, but it was still Japanese garden to all who had eyes.)
.....and there it began....my love of gardening(which I never knew I had in Brooklyn) combined with an appreciation for things Japanese. In Berkeley I lived in a "rear cottage" and converted the little garden into a Japanese Garden, bought a mallsai which I nurtured for many years.....and here I am, many, many years later, having travelled to Japan, having a son who lived in Japan for a couple of years and my wife and I having visited him...and now, being retired from my "secular" profession for many years. I have a good bonsai collection, most of which I developed myself.....being a member of the Sta.Cruz Bonsai Kai, having held most officer positions in the club; now I regularly write the Newsletter; I am a regular docent at the Golden State Bonsai Federation, Collection North in Oakland,and I go to the GSBF Conventions most years, I'm deeply envolved with Bonsai and I love it.
I'm sure each of us has his own unique story, so , here's mine, in a nut shell. Hope it satisfies your curiousity to some measure.

Robert........in Sta.Cruz

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Robert.........in Sta.Cruz

TreeBay

What's "Soccer?"

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Treebeard

You could rephrase that to:
It will be like soccer and tennis which have not much to do with English SUCCESS anymore.

Regards,

TB

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