NATIONAL BONSAI FOUNDATION
For immediate release Contact: Janice Kaplan, 202-277-5461
Oct. 6, 2016
NATIONAL BONSAI & PENJING MUSEUM CELEBRATES 40TH ANNIVERSARY
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum marks its 40th anniversary Oct. 15 with an autumn festival, “Aki MatsuriAutumn Festival: Bonsai & Beyond” and a traditional Japanese moon viewing. The events will be held rain or shine.
The free festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. will include tram tours of the Arboretum’s Asian Collections, interactive family activities, a kimono fashion show, bonsai book signings, Asian food trucks, and ademonstration by Japanese bonsai master Tohru Suzuki. Mr. Suzuki’s grandfather donated a Japanese black pine to the Museum as part of the original donation from Japan to the U.S. in 1976. At the time, the tree was estimated to be 200 years old, the same age as this country.
Festival partners include the U.S. National Arboretum, National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, the National Bonsai Museum, the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., and Japanese Information and Cultural Center.
The Arboretum will host an eveningmoon viewing (otsukimi) from 6 to 9 p.m. In keeping with Japanese tradition, the evening will include haiku readings, origami, music by Japanese koto players and moon-shaped dumplings. To register for the evening event, which has a fee, and order a obento dinner, visit
Home to storied bonsai including the forest planting Goshin – the most famous bonsai in the world –and a 400-year-old pine tree that survived the bombing at Hiroshima, the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum is the world’s mostcomprehensive collection of Japanese and Northern American bonsai and Chinese penjing. Since opening, the Museum has spurred interest in the miniature trees throughout the West.
“In an increasingly fast-paced world, the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum offers both residents and visitors to the nation’s capital a free place to refresh their spirits and experience the transformative aspect of bonsai,” said Felix Laughlin, President of the National Bonsai Foundation (NBF), which provides financial support to the Museum. “Thanks todonations from individuals and organizations, we are able to preserve and expand the Museum and protect and care for these priceless trees,” said Laughlin. “This is critical in the face of declining federal government funding.”
Japanese Pavilion
In honor of the Museum’s anniversary, NBF is raising funds to renovate the 40-year-old Japanese Pavilion. The award-winning design by world-renowned Japanese garden designer Hoichi Kurisu, in concert with Rhodeside and Harwell Landscape Architects, connects the trees with the surrounding landscape while displaying them in formal, semi-formal and informal settings. The bonsai will be innovatively displayed atop large granite boulders from Washington state and North Carolina. The renovation also includes a new flagstone path and irrigation system in the Japanese Stroll Garden at the entrance to the Japanese Pavilion. The Pavilion will open in 2017. To contribute to the campaign for the new pavilion, visit
New Bonsai Book and Exhibition
Also this fall, Ann McClellan’sBonsai and Penjing:Ambassadors of Peace & Beauty From the Collection of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, will be published. The new book highlights stories ofthe Museum’s trees, detailing their role in international diplomacy and American presidential strategies. It also covers how Chinese penjing and North American bonsai were added to the Museum, making its collections the most comprehensive in the world. Stories of individual trees and forest plantings, andof the skilled and talented creators of these living art forms, are featured.
Later in October, the Museum will open its breathtaking exhibition of bonsai at the height of their spectacular fall colors. Autumn Bonsai: The Colors of Nature(on view Oct. 28-Nov. 13) includes Japanese maples, ginkgo, beech, sweet gum, hornbeam, and crabapple fruit trees in vibrant reds, oranges and golds.
Museum History and Collection
The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum began in 1976 when Japanese bonsai enthusiasts from the Nippon Bonsai Association donated 53 bonsai to the people of the United States to commemorate the U.S. Bicentennial. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, U.S. National Arboretum Director Dr. John Creech, and Japanese bonsai master Yuji Yoshimura were among the dignitaries at the opening of the Museum. Today, more than 150 trees are on display in the Museum’s Pavilions, Tropical Conservatory, Exhibits Gallery and courtyard.Under the leadership of Curator Jack Sustic, the Museum is training the next generation of bonsai experts, who have gone on to manage bonsai collections in major U.S. cities.
Arboretum’s Asian Collections
The Asian Collections are among the Arboretum’s most dramatic.The collections cloak 13 acres of slopes from the top of Hickey Hill to the Anacostia River.Visitors can explore the Japanese Woodland, wind their way through the top of Asian Valley, and end up in China Valley. Something is blooming every month of the year.
About the U.S. National Arboretum
The 446-acre U.S. National Arboretum (3501 New York Ave., NE) is a U.S. Department of Agriculture research and education facility. In addition to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, highlights include the original Capitol Columns; the spring display of azaleas; a two-and-a-half acre National Herb Garden; and the Washington Youth Garden, a unique year-round environmental science and food education program for D.C. youth and their families sponsored by Friends of the National Arboretum.For information, contact or 202-245-2726.
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