Top 15 Biggest Bonsai Trees In The World
The biggest bonsai in the world is widely reported to be the red pine at the Akao Herb & Rose Garden, Japan — over 16 feet tall and 30 feet across, yet still container-grown. Below are 15 of the largest and most celebrated bonsai, with species, reported age and where to see each one.
Quick facts
| Question | Answer (figures as reported) |
|---|---|
| Biggest bonsai | Red pine (Pinus densiflora) at Akao Herb & Rose Garden, Japan — about 16 ft (5 m) tall, 30 ft (9 m) wide |
| Oldest bonsai (claimed) | Ficus retusa Linn, Crespi Bonsai Museum, Italy — estimated at around 1,000 years |
| National Treasure of Japan | Sandai Shogun no Matsu, a five-needle pine over 500 years old, Tokyo Imperial Palace collection |
| Most famous survivor | Yamaki Pine, reported in training since 1625, survived the Hiroshima bombing; now at the US National Arboretum |
| Highest reported price | About US$1.3 million for an 800-year-old pine |
| Is there a size limit? | No fixed maximum. The largest traditional classes ("imperial" or eight-handed) run well past 100 cm; a tree counts as bonsai if it is grown and styled in a container |
| Grow a big one in India? | Yes — ficus, banyan, peepal, Chinese elm, bougainvillea and adenium all take well to large container training in Indian conditions |
A bonsai is not a dwarf species. It is an ordinary tree kept small and in proportion by root pruning, branch pruning and wiring, grown in a container. Push that container to the size of a stone trough and the same techniques produce trees taller than the person tending them — trees that have been shaped, fed and repotted for centuries.
Large bonsai like the ones below are usually kept outdoors. If you want something for an indoor shelf instead, indoor bonsai plants such as ficus and Chinese elm are the practical choice. Grow them for their form and for the calm of the daily routine rather than for air purification: the often-quoted NASA Clean Air Study was run in sealed chambers, and later reviews of real rooms found potted plants have little measurable effect on indoor air quality.
15 Stunning Big Bonsai Trees
| Bonsai | Species | Size / age (reported) | Where it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperial Palace pine | Five-needle pine (Pinus parviflora) | Branch-supported; centuries old | Tokyo Imperial Palace, Japan |
| Japanese maple by Walter Pall | Acer palmatum | Almost 1 m tall; over 100 years | Walter Pall collection, Europe |
| Akao red pine | Pinus densiflora | 16 ft (5 m) tall, 30 ft (9 m) wide | Akao Herb & Rose Garden, Japan |
| Sandai Shogun no Matsu | Five-needle pine (Pinus parviflora) | Over 500 years | Tokyo Imperial Palace, Japan |
| Mansei-en juniper | Juniperus sp. | Around 1,000 years | Mansei-en, Omiya Bonsai Village, Japan |
| Ficus retusa Linn | Ficus (retusa/microcarpa group) | Around 1,000 years | Crespi Bonsai Museum, Italy |
| Shunkaen trees | Mixed conifers and broadleaves | Two said to be over 800 years | Shunkaen Bonsai Museum, Tokyo |
| Yamaki Pine | Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora) | In training since 1625 | US National Arboretum, Washington DC |
| Man Lung penjing | Chinese bird plum (Sageretia thea) | Landscape on a marble tray | Man Lung collection, Hong Kong |
| The million dollar bonsai | White pine | About 800 years; ~US$1.3 million | Sold at auction, Japan |
| Hinoki cypress | Chamaecyparis obtusa | Dated to about 1737 | Larz Anderson Collection, Arnold Arboretum, USA |
| Goshin | Eleven Juniperus chinensis 'Foemina' | Begun 1948; donated 1984 | US National Arboretum, Washington DC |
| Rikushu-no-Matsu | Pine, trained as a ship | About 650 years | Kinkaku-ji temple garden, Kyoto |
| Brazilian rain tree | Chloroleucon tortum | 12 years from a cutting | Budi Sulistyo collection, Indonesia |
| Kimura's collection | Mixed, mostly conifers | Many decades of styling | Masahiko Kimura's garden, Japan |
Giant Bonsai at Tokyo's Imperial Palace
The Imperial Palace in Tokyo keeps some of Japan's heaviest bonsai, including pines whose lower branches are propped on wooden or metal supports so they do not tear under their own weight. The foliage is a deep, almost black-green, and the trunks carry the bark plates that only come with age.
Japanese maple, by Walter Pall
One of the most admired bonsai trees in Europe, this maple belongs to the collection of bonsai artist Walter Pall. It stands almost a metre tall and is over a century old — the top of the standard size classes, though there is no official maximum height for a bonsai.
The tree was imported from a large Japanese bonsai nursery around 1980. It had been neglected there; years of patient work after Pall took it on turned it into one of the best-known bonsai trees in Europe.
Red Pine Bonsai at the Akao Herb & Rose Garden, Japan
The Akao Herb and Rose Garden covers roughly 660,000 square metres and holds twelve themed gardens, a rose valley, a herb garden and a bonsai display. Its pine bonsai is the headline attraction.
The red pine is reported at more than 16 feet (about 5 m) tall and over 30 feet (about 9 m) wide, which makes it the largest bonsai most people will ever see. One main branch is held up on a support. It still qualifies as a bonsai because it is grown in what is effectively a very large bonsai container, and it is displayed at the centre of the garden.
Sandai Shogun no Matsu
The Sandai Shogun no Matsu, a five-needle pine, is one of Japan's National Treasures and is thought to be over 500 years old. It is named after the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, who is said to have acquired it when it was already close to 200 years old. It has been kept in the shoguns' and later the imperial household's care ever since.
Today it sits in the Tokyo Imperial Palace collection, tended by the palace gardeners.
1,000 year old Bonsai Tree
The Kato family's Mansei-en nursery is home to a juniper bonsai estimated at more than 1,000 years old. It was collected from the wild in the Japanese mountains, where slow growth at altitude produced the twisted deadwood and tight foliage pads that collectors prize.
Mansei-en is one of the notable gardens of the Omiya Bonsai Village and its oldest, run by the Kato family since the 19th century and established at Omiya in 1925 after Tokyo's bonsai growers relocated. A Shimpaku juniper said to be around 700 years old is also kept there.
Ficus Retusa Linn
With an estimated age of about 1,000 years, the Ficus retusa Linn at the Crespi Bonsai Museum in Italy is often called the world's oldest bonsai tree, though the age is an estimate rather than a documented record. Luigi Crespi spent ten years negotiating for it before taking ownership in 1986.
The tree had been shaped for generations by Chinese masters, then restyled by Japanese bonsai artist Shotaro Kawahara during its early years in Italy. Crespi and Alberto Lavazza have looked after it since. When the Crespi Bonsai Museum opened in 1991, the tree was installed in a glass pagoda as the centrepiece.
Bonsai Plants at Shunkaen Bonsai Museum
Kunio Kobayashi owns and runs the Shunkaen Bonsai Museum in Tokyo, home to two trees reported to be over 800 years old, along with dozens of large, heavily styled specimens.
Kobayashi has worked as a bonsai master for more than 30 years. He founded Shunkaen in 2002 to show his own and his students' trees and to introduce visitors to Japanese bonsai culture.
Yamaki Pine
The Yamaki Pine, a Japanese white pine reported to have been in training since 1625, is one of the most moving trees in bonsai. It was donated to the United States by Masaru Yamaki as part of a 53-tree gift for the American bicentennial in 1976 — and it survived the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, standing behind a nursery wall about two miles from the blast.
The National Arboretum did not know this history until 2001, when two of Yamaki's grandsons visited the tree and shared family records and footage filmed at the Yamaki nursery after the blast, with the pine intact in the background. In 2015, the Arboretum marked the 70th anniversary of the bombing with a tribute to the tree.
Penjing landscape by Yee-sun Wu
This Chinese landscape belongs to the Man Lung collection in Hong Kong. The trees are Chinese bird plums (Sageretia thea, often sold as Sageretia theezans), set with rock and small figurines on a shallow rectangular marble tray on an antique stand. Ficus bonsai also feature strongly in the collection.
The dramatic low first branch sweeping to the right is a classic penjing signature. Most of Wu Yee-sun's work was styled in the Lingnan clip-and-grow method, which his family helped popularise: shoots are allowed to extend, then cut hard to a bud, building taper and movement without wire. The shallow tray restricts root growth and keeps the internodes short.
The Million Dollar Bonsai
A starter bonsai may cost the price of a houseplant, but age and provenance change everything. Trees that have outlived the people who trained them become collectors' pieces, and the very old or very rare ones — such as the Crespi ficus or the Hiroshima pine — are effectively priceless and will never be sold.
When an exceptional tree does come to auction, prices climb fast. The highest reported sale is an 800-year-old pine that fetched about US$1.3 million. For more on the market, see our guide to the most expensive bonsai trees in the world.
Hinoki Cypress
Dated to about 1737, this hinoki cypress is among the oldest bonsai in the United States and the crown jewel of the Larz Anderson Collection at Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum. Anderson brought the collection back from Japan in the early twentieth century, and it has been in institutional care since. Old trees like this need a matched, well-drained bonsai pot and careful root work at every repot.
Its survival is the achievement, not its size. Three centuries of watering, feeding, pinching and repotting — handed from one curator to the next — keep a tree like this alive.
Goshin
John Y. Naka created Goshin, "protector of the spirit", a forest planting of eleven Foemina junipers (Juniperus chinensis 'Foemina'). He began training the first tree in 1948 and added others over the years, one for each of his grandchildren. In 1984 he gave the planting to the National Bonsai Foundation, and it has been on display at the US National Arboretum ever since.
Rikushu-no-Matsu Ship Pine
The Rikushu-no-Matsu stands in the gardens of the Kinkaku-ji temple in Kyoto and is one of the city's famous trees. Roughly 650 years old, its branches and trunk have been trained over centuries into the shape of a ship, complete with mast and bow.
Strictly speaking it is a trained garden tree rather than a potted bonsai, but the shaping techniques — long-term guy wires, frames and annual candle pruning — are the same ones used on pine bonsai.
Brazilian rain tree, by Budi Sulistyo
Grown from a small cutting, this Brazilian rain tree (Chloroleucon tortum) was photographed after 12 years — proof that a large, convincing bonsai does not have to be centuries old. The species is native to Brazil and is one of the most popular tropical subjects in bonsai, with fern-like leaves that fold at night and a fluted, muscular trunk.
The proportions look unforced, as though the tree simply grew that way. Tropical species like this one also suit warm, humid parts of India, where they grow almost year round.
Masahiko Kimura's Bonsai
Masahiko Kimura's collection is known worldwide for its bold deadwood carving and dramatic rock plantings. He started as an apprentice to master Hamano in Omiya Bonsai Village at the age of 15, and his willingness to use power tools on ancient junipers reshaped modern bonsai styling.
Growing a large bonsai in India
You will not match a 500-year-old pine, but a big, heavy-trunked bonsai is very achievable in Indian conditions with the right species and a large container.
- Choose a species that thrives here. Ficus (banyan, peepal, Ficus microcarpa), Chinese elm, bougainvillea, tamarind, adenium and jade all thicken quickly in Indian heat. Japanese maples and most pines struggle outside hill stations.
- Grow big before you go small. Let the tree run in a large training pot or grow bag for two to three years to build trunk girth, then cut back hard and move it into a shallow bonsai pot.
- Summer (March-June): check the soil twice a day in north and west India; move pots to morning sun with afternoon shade, and never let a shallow pot bake on hot tiles.
- Monsoon (July-September): the main growth season. Ensure the pot drains freely, tilt it if water sits, feed lightly and watch for fungal leaf spot and root rot.
- Winter (November-February): growth slows, so water less. In Delhi, Punjab and the hills, shift tender tropicals such as adenium and bougainvillea to a sheltered wall or verandah on cold nights.
- Indoors and AC rooms: only tropicals such as ficus and Chinese elm tolerate indoor life, and they need a bright window. Air conditioning dries foliage fast, so keep pots away from the vent and give the tree a few hours of outdoor light each week.
Conclusion
What links these fifteen trees is not size alone but continuity: decades or centuries of watering, pruning and repotting passed from one pair of hands to the next. A big bonsai is a record of that care. Start with a hardy species, a generous pot and a routine you can keep, and the trunk will take care of itself.
Related Articles
- 15 most expensive bonsai trees in the world
- 10 oldest bonsai trees in the world
- How to grow and care for a pine bonsai tree
- How to care for a Ficus retusa bonsai tree
- Ficus bonsai: everything you need to know
- Shop bonsai at Abana Homes
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the biggest bonsai tree in the world?
The red pine at the Akao Herb & Rose Garden in Japan is generally named the biggest. It is reported at over 16 feet (about 5 m) tall and more than 30 feet (about 9 m) wide, with one main branch held up on a support.
How big can a bonsai tree get?
There is no official upper limit. Traditional size classes run from tiny mame bonsai of a few centimetres to "imperial" or eight-handed trees over a metre tall, and famous specimens exceed that. What defines a bonsai is container cultivation and deliberate styling, not height.
What is the oldest bonsai tree in the world?
The Ficus retusa Linn at the Crespi Bonsai Museum in Italy is usually given that title, with an estimated age of around 1,000 years. The figure is an estimate, not a documented record. The Sandai Shogun no Matsu in Tokyo has a better-documented history of over 500 years.
What is the most expensive bonsai ever sold?
The highest reported price is about US$1.3 million for an 800-year-old pine. Most legendary trees, including the Crespi ficus and the Hiroshima-surviving Yamaki Pine, are museum pieces and will never come to market at any price.
Can I grow a large bonsai tree in India?
Yes. Ficus, banyan, peepal, Chinese elm, bougainvillea and tamarind all build thick trunks quickly in Indian heat. Grow the tree in a large training pot for a few years, cut back hard, then move it to a shallow bonsai container.
Are big bonsai trees harder to look after than small ones?
In some ways they are easier. A larger soil volume dries out more slowly, so watering is less critical than with tiny pots. The trade-off is weight and reach: repotting, wiring and branch support on a large tree usually need two people.
Do bonsai trees purify indoor air?
Not to any meaningful degree. The NASA Clean Air Study was conducted in small sealed chambers, and a 2019 review of that research found potted plants have little measurable effect on air quality in real rooms. Grow bonsai for their beauty and the routine of caring for them.
How long do bonsai trees live?
As long as the species would in the ground, and sometimes longer, because pests, drought and competition are managed for them. Several trees on this list are over 500 years old and are still repotted and pruned on schedule every year.
Sources
- NASA Clean Air Study (Wolverton, Johnson & Bounds, 1989): https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19930073077
- Cummings & Waring (2019), "Potted plants do not improve indoor air quality", Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-019-0175-9
- Royal Horticultural Society plant advice: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice
- Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plantfinder/plantfindersearch.aspx