The most expensive tree in the world is a Japanese old Pine bonsai tree that was bought at a price of 9.66 crore rupees, at the International Bonsai Convention in Takamatsu, Japan
Bonsai trees are very valuable, especially because they are harder to keep alive the older they are and hence their price goes up the more they age, just like fine wine. To remove any misconceptions that anyone might have regarding these trees, bonsai is not a species of trees but put bluntly is an ancient Asian art of growing or literally sculpting trees in a bowl.
The most expensive of these trees are actually ones that are cared for most for decades, this maturity will be easily visible to anyone on the barks of the trees and also the way it looks after years of continuous pruning, styling etc.
It’s basically miniaturising a fully grown tree and making sure to capture its essence inside a pot. this miniaturisation happens due to the continuous cleaning of roots, pruning of branches, reporting of plants etc. the very large amount of skills that are specifically needed for this process also plays a huge role in the price of the bonsai tree.
The history and the hands it passes through also increase the price of the bonsai tree. For example, there exists a bonsai tree which is 400 years old and was pruned continuously by the Yamaki family of japan, this tree has survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing and still exists to this day if that tree was to be sold it would also surpass the 1 million dollar mark easily because of the history associated with it.
The very essence of the bonsai tree that prices it above 1 million dollars according to the American horticulturist John Naka “The object is not to make the tree look like a bonsai, but to make the bonsai look like a tree”.
This should be enough to actually make people understand the amount of effort that people actually put into a bonsai tree which makes it more expensive.
