By contrast with other plant cultivation practices, bonsai is not intended for production of food or for medicine. Purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation for the viewer, and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity for the grower. According to Stephen Orr in The New York Times, 'the term should be reserved for plants that are grown in shallow containers following the precise tenets of bonsai pruning and training, resulting in an artful miniature replica of a full-grown tree in nature.' In the most restrictive sense, 'bonsai' refers to miniaturized, container-grown trees adhering to Japanese tradition and principles. The loanword 'bonsai' (a Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese term penzai) has become an umbrella term in English, attached to many forms of diminutive potted plants, and also on occasion to other living and non-living things.

It was during the Tang dynasty, when penjing was at its height, that the art was first introduced in Japan.

Similar versions of the art exist in other cultures, including the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese Hòn non bộ. Penjing and bonsai differ in that, the former, attempts to display “wilder,” more naturalistic scenes, often representing landscapes, including elements such as water, rocks or figurines on the other hand, bonsai typically focuses on a single tree or a group of trees of the same species, with a higher level of aesthetic refinement.

Bonsai at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the United States National Arboretumīonsai ( Japanese: 盆栽, lit.'tray planting', pronounced ( listen)) is the Japanese and East Asian art of growing and training miniature trees in containers, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of penjing.

Create a first line indent in word 2010