This is a photo of a Bonzai tree, taken at the Como Park Conservatory in the Ordway collection. Bonsai are plantings in a tray, from bon, a tray or low-sided pot and sai, a planting or plantings. It is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers which dates back over a thousand years, and has its own aesthetics and terminology. The purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation (for the viewer) and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity (for the grower).
From about the year 970 comes the first lengthy work of fiction in Japanese,(The Tale of the Hollow Tree), which includes this passage: "A tree that is left growing in its natural state is a crude thing. It is only when it is kept close to human beings who fashion it with loving care that its shape and style acquire the ability to move one." The idea, therefore, was already established by this time that natural beauty becomes true beauty only when modified in accordance with a human ideal." Bonsai dating to the 17th century have survived to the present. One of the oldest-known living bonsai trees, considered one of the National Treasures of Japan, is in the Tokyo Imperial Palace collection. A five-needle pine thought to be at least 500 years old and was first trained as a bonsai by, at latest, the year 1610. Source: Wikipedia.

This Poem is a Whitney.
Whitney Created by Betty Ann Whitney, this seven-line verse based on Japanese patterns with a fixed syllable format that contains 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4, 7 syllables respectively. No rhyme scheme is required, but may be incorporated if desired.

This photograph was taken by the author

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