BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN RECORD 
VOL. XX NOVEMBER, 1931 NO. 6 
JAPANESE (ROUTED Rib ES CELA CEUIN © kal) 
By Bunxio MatTsuKI 
The vogue for cultivating potted trees in Japan may be traced 
back to the early Fujiwara period (about 1000 A.D.). In English 
books these plants are usually referred to as “ dwarf trees,” but 
this term is never used in Japan as they are always given the name 
of “ potted tree ”—the older word used 1s Hachinoki, and the more 
modern one Bonsai. 
The first mention of Hachinoki appears in the Ashikaga drama- 
tized literature; an incident in the Kamakura era in the village of 
Sano, in North Japan, is depicted in a well-known “ No play.” 
On one stormy, snowy night Hojo Tokiyori, the Regent of the 
Shogun, in disguise as a Buddhist monk, asked for shelter in the 
house of a poor farmer. The owner at first refused because of his 
poverty, but the traveling monk insisted on shelter for the one 
night. Alas, there was no wood to burn in order to combat the 
cold except three potted dwarf trees—pine, plum, and cherry. 
The poor farmer sacrificed these for the comfort of his honored 
guest. The host turned out to be Genzaemon Sano, a famous 
Samurai, who was ruined and sunken in the world on account of 
being dispossessed of his property during his absence on war serv- 
ice by a selfish relative. The traveling monk departed the next 
morning without disclosing his identity. However, as soon as he 
reached Kamakura he summoned Sano and restored to him all his 
former estates and, in addition, three districts bearing the names of 
pine, plum, and cherry. This lyric drama is still played far and 
wide in Japan, and many Japanese feel a romantic glamor in keep- 
ing Hachinoki in their possession 
The Japanese people delight in landscape gardens, and many 
large ones have been developed in various parts of Japan. Potted 
fas) 
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