How did bonsai start?

 This question seems also as"Where did the art of bonsai originate", which is a much superior way to present this question. It acknowledges that this is primarily an art form that uses container plantings of plants and trees to produce a work of art. The literal meaning of bonsai is planting in a container that does place a little more emphasis on the cultivation of the plant (form and character) instead of just owning a plant in a container.

The origins of many things are often obscured by a mist of uncertainty and bonsai also has its mists that disguise the fact of its origin as a Japanese art form. Regrettably, Chinese - Japanese relationships weren't favorable in earlier years and centuries therefore a lot is left to conjecture. However, there's a fairly reliable narrative that older Chinese potted trees were gifted to some Japanese Emperor" as calmness that" perhaps a 1000 decades back. Much impressed with these presents, the Japanese were encouraged to begin their own chapter of this art form, and also the art of bonsai started. It is suggested in some sources a few of these original gifts are still alive in Japan.

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What I am more sure about is that the Japanese minds engaged in this art form, in their inimitable way, shortly structured the art form into the various forms and size definitions that we know today. Second, the Chinese versions (called penjing and Penza) might well have been larger than modern bonsai, also more complicated and complex unnatural forms were prised for its skill taken to produce them. The philosophy of Zen drives many Japanese art forms that strip things away into the character and elaborate and unnatural forms aren't favored in any way. Even Chinese bonsai/Penza containers tend to be more decorative. Even now, the difference between Japanese and Chinese art forms is regarding the gap in cultural tastes, one elaborate and another (Zen) stripped down.

Hence the art forms are related and also the Chinese version came first but the Western version tended to be adopted by the Western world before the Chinese version. This is for a number of reasons. While Japan (particularly post the Meiji restoration) was willing to explore the west, China hid from the West that had not been very kind to it and stole many of their thoughts. Only in more recent decades after the demise of the Chinese Emperor lineup, has China disperse its art forms globally, possibly for industrial reasons.