Wow great thread! I am usually a lurker, bnutter of past, but a lot of well thought out intellectual comments. I think about this topic, as well as the future of bonsai in the US often because I am "newer generation" bonsai professional. I started in 2014, and joined this forum in 2015. When I got into bonsai it was pure obsession. I don't know how many thousands of hours I spent reading, asking, and researching all available information on the internet and in person. In 2018 I went to Japan to do an apprenticeship at Fujikawa Kouka-en, and returned at the start of covid, 2020. At that point I was doing bonsai semi-professionally, but also informally studying with Peter Tea and John Wang. In July of 2022, after significant deliberation, I decided to quit my full time job and pursue bonsai full time. Short of disclosing my personal finances, I have been able to sustain myself independently and financially and feel that I have slowly been growing my standing as a professional. It is comforting to know that I can at least clear the first step of survival, but of course I worry about the future as well as my growth as a professional.
Looking back I have only been doing bonsai for 9 years, approaching on 10 next year! Which in hindsight it has been a crazy journey from knowing nothing to where I feel confident in my skills and ability to teach. Of course I am still learning and improving my skill continuously, which is the best part of the journey!
There are some great points brought up in this thread. First I thought I would talk about accessibility and quality of information. Another point is the practice of bonsai within the hobbyist circles, in contrast to its broader recognition and practice within the general public. Lastly regarding bonsai as a practice, and how it meshes with our modern society.
On point 1, with the advent and progression of the internet there is a huge wealth of information available. Of course not all of it is quality information, and ability to discern relevant and good advice comes with experience. But even with some BS mixed in, compared to "old school" and pre-internet age hobbyists the relevant effort required to put in to learn techniques is much less. Additionally, since the Boon era, there has been a consistent influx and return of apprentices from Japan. If we consider the pursuit of an apprenticeship as the highest deliberate notion of aiming for bonsai professionally, it represents the growth of the domestic community and recognition of bonsai as a serious and high level "art." With skilled instruction and knowledge, not only the physical practice of bonsai elevates but the perceived celling is raised as well. I would say bonsai is actually becoming easier, but our trees in comparison have become worse. As we all know, bonsai is a long term endeavor and translating new knowledge and skills to practice is then carried out over years.
On point 2, I would argue that the majority of "serious" bonsai hobbyists live in a bubble. Engaged within their respective community but not the broader public. This may just be human nature, where more often than not, people seek out like minded individuals to engage and socialize with. A good example of this is the socal bonsai scene where I am currently based. I believe bonsai in the US actually first started out in Southern California with early generation Japanese immigrants. This pre-dates when I was alive, but from what I was told many of those original groups were very exclusive and Japanese only. Looking at old CBS (California Bonsai Society) magazines, there were actually some very good trees for that time era in existence. Unfortunately the majority of which died along with their owners since there was a disconnect from the outside bonsai scene and lack of family interest in bonsai which is often the case for most practitioners. It is important to engage outside of your community for the growth of the art, and the simple reality of the human condition--we all die!
Bonsai is time intensive, require careful attention to care and horticulture, and some semblance of stability (not a great hobby for frequent travelers, students, young working professionals, etc). From both life circumstance, finances, and local accessibility not everyone is able to pursue bonsai at a "serious" level and interest levels will vary. This is fine! Having an elitist approach to bonsai is a good way to alienate future would be serious practitioners. Unfortunately I see a lot of gatekeeping, and reverse gatekeeping lol where old school hobbyists/practitioners reject the new professionals who are frankly just more skilled. What we should do is engage with this latter group, and present bonsai to them not as some unattainable art but provide information and an approach of bonsai as a process so they enjoy growing and developing their trees! Not every tree is going to become a top level amazing masterpiece, but even mediocre material and accrue some quality of age and character in bonsai. Those who get the chance to experience and recognize this are very likely to shift into the first group.
I have had frequent discussions with Bob Hilvers, the curator for the Clark Collection at the Shinzen Gardens. I work there a few days a month teaching all the volunteers, working on trees, and raising the level of the collection. For those who are unaware, we have 3 public bonsai collections in California co-sponsored by the Golden State Bonsai Federation. The reality for most public collections, if they are not supported by their host garden/org, they must generate internal revenue or rely on donations. This is not so easy to do, and donations or support from a co-partnered or host garden/org will directly relate to the public perception and face value of bonsai. If there is more mainstream recognition and appreciation of bonsai as an art/practice, people are more inclined to invest money into it as it adds value to a public space and becomes somewhat of a cultural treasure.
On the last point, these are more of just my personal feelings (speaking for America, may or may not be true for other countries). Especially with the internet, we live in a instant gratification mass consumption society. It makes sense, because ease of accessibility to resources, knowledge, and the subsequent packaging of said commodity is great for generating money as well as general growth. For social media, content is no longer presented in a chronological fashion from the user perspective of their subscriptions but controlled by an algorithm discerning where to direct content to the audience most apt to receive it. Creators, companies, and artists are thus competing for the time of their customers/audience and as creature of convenience you can be damn sure we're gonna pick the easiest option. Again, this is not always a bad thing as competition equates to growth but from a consumer perspective I feel that people become complacent and lazy. It becomes easy to seek instant gratification and lose sight of things with real value.
I like the simple quote of, "there is no free lunch" and that everything of worth and value takes time to create. Bonsai to me is this illogical antithesis of modern society where we need to wait to get our serotonin boost like some loser doomer unlike the chad who like a reasonable human being just goes out and enjoys life in the present moment. But in seriousness bonsai forces us to contemplate time, experience time, and assign beauty to age. It teaches us patience and involves us with nature and the seasons. There is a key lesson again that good things take time to make. I believe these are good virtues for any society. We can evaluate the health of a society by quantifiable and physical attributes--economics, politics, population, maybe culture. I believe there is another attribute, and that is the spiritual health of our society. I am not not implying or equating that with religion, although it can mutually overlap. Spiritual health is caring about our family, friends, our respective communities, environment, and perhaps the life that continues after we all die. I believe bonsai holds a great philosophy and there is unrecognized potential in it on how we can present it to the general public and in how they adopt it. As I tell almost all my students, just enjoy the process (don't overly obsess with the end goal) and you can have a lifetime of fulfillment. Maybe even a legacy or something for the future as well.
