Love and worship of nature in the Far Eastern countries and, especially in Japan, promoted an exquisite perception of beauty and appearance in new styles of garden architecture, interiors of Japanese homes, ceramics, the art of tea ceremonies, bouquet composition, the growth of miniature trees, and much more. Since olden days all nature seemed alive and full of spirit. For Japanese people beauty is universal. No matter how insignificant and imperceptible may be the subject, it is still beautiful. To admire the beauty of autumn landscapes and spring blossoms, of morning fog and mountain waterfalls, has deep, profound philosophical meaning. Its sense lies in the continuity of changes occurring in nature and co-existence of human beings, life and nature. The ancient art of bonsai is a vivid example of the subtle perception of Nature.

In Japanese, "bonsai" means "a tree in the tray", "a tree on the pan. " The term became an international word among enthusiasts of cultivating miniature trees, as Japan is an admitted leader in this field and a fashion master. Nikita Botanical Gardens, near Yalta, on the Black Sea, in Crimea, Ukraine exhibits bonsai each year.

Bonsai art emerged in Japan in 4^th century B.C, but the Chinese were the first to appreciate beauty in fantastically crooked trees two thousand years ago and began to transplant those from mountain slopes and stony crevices into decorative vases.

For philosophers, men of letters, and artists who tried to comprehend deep-laid connections of the Universe such trees became the objects for meditation — concentrated contemplation, blending with Nature, Space and God. Simultaneously these were attempts to feel unity with the Creator. With his hands, Man could recreate, out of seeds and cuttings, plant objects according to the laws of the Universe.

A big rock-shaped stone, situated on the ceramic pan and covered with a few plants, a small rippling lake may be located in one’s palm, and it gives the effect of "great in small". For centuries this principle was advocated by masters of miniature landscapes for skillfully reproducing the eternity of Nature. A Japanese word expression "masse boummei" means "culture of a pine needle" or the ability to see the beauty of a small pine needle and simultaneously that of a huge pine tree.

Miniature tree cultivation was closely connected with one of the deepest philosophical Buddhism trends — the Zen school — and at the same time it carried all features of the fine arts, sculpture and painting. Masterpieces had been created for years and were handed down as unfinished and patiently waiting for the new touch of a new master’s hands and soul. In Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, other Far East and Southeast Asian collections there are examples that are hundreds of years old.

Even though Chinese masters were the progenitors of plant miniaturization, one should give the Japanese credit for spreading and improving the bonsai art all over the world. They were the first to work out basic rules for tree shape forming and to develop the technology of bonsai creation. The styles, being worked out by the Japanese masters, are simple, natural, unpretentious and free of any pomposity.

Although the Japanese had canonized the bonsai styles, in any country every bonsai maker introduces his own details when using local flora plants.

In the long run, different "schools" (of bonsai art, specialized in miniature plant cultivation) set up their own styles. Four styles are the basic ones. They are:

• chokkan — a straight-standing tree
• chakan - an inclined, tilted tree as if under a strong gust of wind
• kengai — a falling tree, cascade
• bankan — a highly curved or twisted tree

Besides the above four, there are derivative semi-styles, for example:

• semi-cascade, a tree with the roots set forth out of the ground
• "a tree- octopus", a multi-stems composition
• "a forest shape"
• and much more

More then 400 varieties of plants are used in the bonsai art. The most popular are evergreens: different varieties of pines, junipers, thuja, Chamaecyparis, firs, larches, and Japanese cryptomeria. These trees are tenacious of life and, when used by bonsai masters in collections, they outlive the same varieties in the wild. They are used in almost every bonsai style.

Deciduous trees look lacey in spring, with newly green leafs, and are very graphical in off-season. Maples, limes, birches, oaks, beeches, hornbeams, mountain ashes, zelkovas, and willows are widely used in the bonsai art.

Fruit trees and other blooming trees belong to a special group that is popular and attractive among beginners. These are plum, cherry, quince, pomegranate, apple, cornel, persimmon, and citrus trees with little flowers and fruits as well as magnolia, myrtle, camellia, azalea and gardenia bushes. While blooming they make an unforgettable impression. To indicate the season of the year in bonsai art, grassy plants are used, which simultaneously accent the age of the basic plant. Great emphasis is paid to the decorative container (pan, vase, or bowl) which is selected carefully and is often compared with a frame for a picture, which stresses the benefits of the work of art. However beautiful is the plant it will make an impression and will be a single whole, only with a pan that matches in size, shape and color.

The bonsai art form has been spreading all over the world comparatively lately. At the World's Fair that took place in Paris in 1937, the miniature trees drew the public’s attention. More than 50 live displays from Japan were granted gold medals. The bonsai art embodied the "aroma of the Country of the Rising Sun" and became a revelation for the whole world.

In more recent decades the bonsai art has taken on boom proportions in Japan and in other countries. Numerous clubs have been established and now work actively throughout Western and Eastern Europe, America, Australia and countries of Southeastern Asia. In the former USSR, a Moscow club was established in 1989 on the basis of a collection granted to the Head Botanical Gardens by the Japan Embassy in 1976. There are bonsai amateurs in Ukraine but no known clubs as yet.

In the Nikita Botanical Gardens the bonsai collection was developed between 1976 and 2000 on the basis of local Crimean flora and introduced subtropical plants. The collector is Anatoliy A. Annenkov, the head landscape architect for the Gardens. It is the best collection in Ukraine, comprising about 300 original compositions.