Bonsai as a part of Culture

jo schmoo

hi, it is national (?) foreign language week next week and for my Spanish class we have to make a presentation about something that a certain culture does. me, being the only kid who knows what a bonsai is (except for one kid who's grandpa does it), i decided i would teach the people about bonsai. you know, make a power point presentation and bring in my tropical so people can see one first-hand.

the catch is, it has to pertain to the japanese culture. i don't really know how it pertains to their culture really. i think bonsai has to do with the quest for becoming one with nature through imitating it, but i doubt that assumption is correct. i'm sure it has a lot to do with their culture, though, because almost anything the japanese do has to do with tradition or has a definite purpose.

my question is, can anyone tell me what bonsai has to do with japanese or east asian culture in general?

anything would be helpful,
thanks,
Jo

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History stopped being interesting when people stopped killing each other with swords.
-Me during US History class

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BrianBay9

Don't think I can answer your question, but here's a resource you might be able to use.

http://www.bonsai-bsf.com/ppoint.htm

Brian

Candy_J_Shirey

History & Warmth of Bonsai

Bonsai History

Japanese Culture (Bonsai)

Culture of Japan

Bonsainut

Practically speaking I don't think you will have to do that much convincing of the class that Bonsai is connected to Japanese art and culture. The very word we use is Japanese.

I would concentrate on giving a interesting account of bonsai and display a couple in all their glory.

I did a talk at a junior high. I took apart an old bonsai calender and put up the pictures. talked about the styles, allusion of age, training, etc. Talk about the apprentice system in Japan. Show some photos of Omiya Village, The bonsai museums, the growing fields.Just some ideas, good luck,
You may get a couple of converts!!

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Keep growing,---'Nut



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jo schmoo

well, i had my presentation yesterday and it went great. i found the cultural info i needed and i think the class enjoyed it. they were all very perplexed that any tree can be a bonsai, they thought bonsai were special kinds of trees that were naturally small. they thought it was funny that if you made an apple tree into a "banzai" the apples would be small. that was one of their first questions, "So, if you made an apple tree into a banzai wouldn't the apples be too big?"
Thanks for your help in making my presentation a success,
Jo

__________________
History stopped being interesting when people stopped killing each other with swords.
-Me during US History class

BonsaiGreenhorn

Sounds like fun, im in high school and my friends often ask me questions like that, i would like to do something like this.. Environmental science next year, hmmm.

-Evan

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Penn State

Wait i thought you couldn't reduce flower and fruit sizes? I thought i read that if you have a 5 inch flower on a tree that when bonsai-ed it would still be a 5 inch flower and that all we can do is reduce leaf size. Please correct me if i'm wrong here?

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Adam_MA

From what I can remember you are correct. You cannot reduce flower or fruit size.
Adam

Bonsainut

No correction needed, Penn. The class may need to be updated though.

__________________
Keep growing,---'Nut



Lethal Use of Farce