wrote:

Can anyone tell me how long wire has been used for bonsai training? I was
under the impression it became common in the early 20th Century, when copper wire
started being widely manufactured for electricity. Somebody tried to tell me
it goes back earlier than that. What are the facts?
Iris

Iris:
The manufacturing of wire from various metals dates back to the 1830's I believe,
although I may be wrong on that. It was used for applications other than
electricity. I've been under the impression that wire has been used in bonsai for
about a century (the time frame you suggest) since the time that the art became more
refined with cross pollenization between Japan and the West.

My guess is that copper wire would have been easily available in Japan in the later
19th and early 20th centuries with the rapid modernization of industry going on at
the time.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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