Bonsai Pine Trees: Decorating Your Home With Miniaturized Trees

Bonsai pine trees are common household decorations among Chinese and Japanese homes. For many generations, the Chinese and the Japanese see the bonsai pines trees not only as decorations but also an object that brings good luck. According to legends, the pine tree is a symbol of wealth and anybody who keeps a bonsai pine tree inside the home attracts wealth. Whether or not there is truth to the belief that bonsai pine trees bring good luck into the home is true, the fact still remains that bonsai pine trees do help make the home look more attractive and livable.

History Of Bonsai Pine Tree Making

For thousands of years, the Chinese has been making bonsai pine trees for their homes and gardens. However, in the past not all people are really allowed to make bonsai pine trees and keep these miniature trees in their homes. Only those who are favored by the emperors and are considered as "holy" are allowed to keep bonsai plants in their homes.

According to legends, thousands of years ago, an emperor in China believed that the bonsai pine trees were a symbol of wealth and power and that whoever possessed these trees became invincible.

To make himself more powerful and invincible to his enemies, the emperor commissioned his royal gardeners to create a royal bonsai garden for him alone and prohibited anyone else from keeping bonsai trees in their homes. These bonsai gardens of the emperor were considered sacred.

The emperor's guards guarded the royal garden day and night to protect the bonsai pine trees from trespassers. Except for the royal gardeners and the members of the royal family, nobody else was allowed to touch the bonsai trees in the royal garden. Anybody who was caught sneaking into the royal gardens were punished and sometimes put to death for desecrating a sacred place.

For many years, bonsai making has remained a sacred task in China. Ordinary people who were caught making bonsai trees and keeping these trees in their homes were put to death at the order of the emperor.

However, as the years passed, things changed and people were allowed to practice the art of bonsai making in China. Since bonsai trees can live for several years, many people started making bonsai trees as part of their family heirlooms. Families started creating their own family bonsai trees and passed the tree along to the next generation. The art of passing along the family bonsai tree to the next generation as part of the family heirloom is still being practiced by many Chinese and Japanese families even today.