In this courtyard, they had Japanese bonsai on display; and they were quite beautiful. The characters for “bonsai” are 盆栽. Bonsai are unique in that they are not miniature trees or genetically dwarfed plants; they are intentionally trained to be small through pruning and the pruning of the roots in small containers.

It is a true horticultural art form.

The placards identified what you were looking at, and the display must be some sort of tradition because to the side of each large bonsai was a smaller plant.

Well…in several of the cases, this was true, but not all.

Behind each display was a large white semi-opaque sheet of some material I couldn’t identify, which showed off the bonsai much better than if they’d just been sitting on open tables.

They were very striking.

I didn’t put up all the pictures, this is just a sampling of the incredible plants they had on display. For some, at the time of day when we were there, the lighting was wrong and the sun cast a shadow.

Bonsai growers have a lot of patience to train the plants to become works of art, as the plants grow very slowly.