Kasuga gongen genki e, Bonsai

The oldest Japanese painting that depicts bonsai is the thirteenth-century Saigyō monogatari emaki (Illustrated Scroll of the Story of the Priest Saigyō). As in another scroll entitled Kasuga gongen genki e (Illustrations of the Miracles of the Kasuga Deity), it is rendered in the style of what is now known as “bonsai with rocks.”