Message from skroop

[Anonymous]

The last time that I went to the Huntington Gardens was over 10 years ago. My favorite part was the Japanese Garden. This last weekend I had the chance to visit again. I had no idea how much of the gardens and surrounding buildings had been refurbished in just recent years. In the Japanese Gardens there is a Ceremonial Tea House, Japanese 5 room home, the Moon Bridge, Zen Court, and a Bonsai collection.

My favorite part of the Japanese Garden was the Bonsai trees. The shapes and sizes are so interesting in comparison to what most people maybe are used to seeing. This time around visiting I wanted to know a little bit more about the cultural history of the bonsai tree and looked up a few things online after my visit. From my understanding the history actual dates back to Imperial China and Japanese Buddhist students would bring back souvenirs from mainland China. The cutting of bonsai trees is seen not only as an art form, but also almost for contemplation of the artist or viewer. I also did not know that there are so many different styles such as: formal and informal upright, slant, cascade, root over rock, shari (parts struggling to live), multi-trunk, raft-style, and forest (which is my favorite). There are far more styles in existence than mentioned above coming in small, medium, and large sizes, all the way up to 80 inches in height.
edited by slemburg on 5/4/2015