A brief history of U.S. mallsai?

Jonny

In my opinion, a small ficus sold in a plastic pot at a big box store is not called a mallsai. A small juniper, or other tropical, crammed into a small bonsai pot with glued on rocks sold in a department store is called a mallsai.

Jonny

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randyclark

I would like to point out that although John Dixon has spent a lot of money at my establishment over the years, he has... in my opinion... not spent nearly enough.

I was just reflecting the other night that those of us enjoying the art of bonsai today, are quick to take advantage of the technological advancements of our age... chain saws and tachy glue for instance. What most of us overlook is the simple fact that it was always not that easy. When bonsai was first being developed in the tenth century in China... there was NO tachy glue and more importantly no high speed motorways and swift transport trucks to rush mallsai to the fledgling Chinese market place.

Historical records from that period indicate that mallsai were probably delivered to the local wall marts and home depots throughout China by ox carts traveling over unpaved and often times trecherous mountain roads. The distance between wall marts in China during that period was considerably more than it is today and so the probability of stone loss was considerably increased. If the ancient texts are to be believed, penjing artisans of that period kept the stones on their mallsai by devising a home made glue consisting of equal parts Yak butter and goat urine. The exact recipe has been lost to time, (which is probably fortunate for us today,) but it does give one pause to reflect upon how lucky we are to live in the modern age that we do. Yak! Yak! Yak!

Will_Heath

Yeah John, come on, kick it up a bit would ya?


Will