BONSAI TREE NEARLY 400-YEARS-OLD SURVIVED HIROSHIMA BOMBINGS AND IS STILL THRIVING

This bonsai would have a lot to say if trees could speak. Planted in 1625, it's lived a lot of history in its nearly 400 years. Currently placed at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., it was presented to the United States by bonsai master Masaru Yamaki in 1976. Little did the Arboretum know that this small plant contained a remarkable secret.

The Yamaki family had resided approximately two kilometres from where American forces launched the atomic bomb in Hiroshima in 1945. This horrible tragedy killed 140,000 people and had lasting repercussions on the city, yet Yamaki, his family, and the bonsai—all of whom were indoors during the explosion—were left largely uninjured. Yamaki then presented the tree to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum ahead of the American bicentennial, never speaking a word about its unusual history.

Only in 2001, when Yamaki's grandsons unexpectedly saw the collection, was the white pine's connection to Hiroshima made clear. And while the museum doesn't flaunt this portion of the bonsai's history, preferring to emphasise its position as a gift of friendship between two nations, it has lately added information regarding its connection to Hiroshima to its website.

According to Kathleen Emerson-Dell, assistant curator of the museum, "there's some connection with a living being that has survived on this earth through who knows what." It was in the presence of others long ago, and I am in its presence. It's similar to touching the past.