FW: Ceremony Marks National Bonsai, Penjing Museum Reopening

**"Lon J. Rombough" l*@hevanet.com**

Of interest.

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From: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Thu, 8 May 2003 16:02:30 -0400
To: ARS News subscriber <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: Ceremony Marks National Bonsai, Penjing Museum Reopening

NEWS RELEASE:
Ceremony Marks National Bonsai, Penjing Museum Reopening

___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Alfredo Flores, (301) 504-1627, aflores@ars.usda.gov
May 8, 2003
___________________________________________

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2003--A new interactive learning exhibit, 10 new
penjing trees and three new pieces of calligraphy are part of the newly
renovated National Bonsai and Penjing Museum that opened today at the U.S.
National Arboretum.

After a year-long closure for renovations, the museum opened its doors to
the public today during a ceremony this afternoon in the museum's
courtyard, followed by a reception celebrating the completion of the
renovation. Since March 2002, the museum had been undergoing a $1.6
million facelift funded by the National Bonsai Foundation and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service.

"The renovations to the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum will make this,
the world's first true bonsai museum, even more attractive to tourists,
horticulturists, gardeners, people in the nursery trade, bonsai
enthusiasts and anyone who wants to learn more about this wonderful art
form," said Agriculture Under Secretary for Research, Education and
Economics Joseph Jen.

Renovations to the museum's upper courtyard area have made it more
accessible to visitors with limited mobility by replacing a large, uneven
gravel courtyard with hard, wheel-friendly surfaces.

The ceremony included an unveiling of 10 new penjing trees donated by the
recently deceased penjing master Stanley Chinn of Wheaton, Md.; three new
pieces of calligraphic artwork made specifically for the museum's
renovation by noted Japanese artist Ken'ichi Oguchi of Okaya, Japan; and a
new interactive bonsai learning exhibit titled "Bonsai: Test Your
Knowledge." Stanley Chinn's widow, Susan, attended the ceremony, as did
Hiromasa Oguchi, son of Ken'ichi Oguchi.

The art of developing an artistically designed miniature tree growing in a
pot originated in China, where it was known as penjing, and subsequently
spread to Japan, where it was modified slightly and known as bonsai, at
about the time Buddhism was introduced in Japan.

The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum is the most comprehensive museum of
its kind in the world. It opened in 1976, when the Nippon (Japan) Bonsai
Association donated 53 bonsai--one of which was given by Ken'ichi
Oguchi--to the people of the United States to commemorate the nation's
bicentennial. Now, more than 200,000 people annually visit the museum's
collection of 150 plants located in three pavilion houses.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's primary scientific research
agency and operates the Arboretum.
___________________________________________

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