Zach Adamz finds joy and purpose in a craft that originates from 7,500 miles away: the art of bonsai. Adamz, project coordinator for the University of Mississippi Chinese Flagship, has transformed his backyard into a sanctuary for tiny trees and shares his miniature creations with the Lafayette-Oxford community through his business, Komorebi Bonsai.
Bonsai is a Japanese word that translates to “tree in tray.”
Originating in China and popularized in Japan, bonsai is the process of miniaturizing anything with woody tissue such as trees or shrubs. Bonsai is done by manipulating chemicals produced by the plants and performing intentional restructurings of them.
“It’s really about understanding the life cycle of a tree,” Adamz said.
Adamz is from East Tennessee and has enjoyed spending time outdoors since childhood. Twelve years ago, he was searching for a new hobby. One day, at a garden center, he realized that bonsai was a way to bring the outdoors inside.
“That was just the hobby that I picked, and that’s the one that stuck,” Adamz said.
Adamz began his bonsai journey by reading books and watching YouTube videos. Through experimentation and self-study, Adamz taught himself the basics. At the beginning, he found he was skilled at keeping the trees alive. However, the artistic aspect was more difficult for Adamz.
“That’s the part I had to learn,” Adamz said. “I found out I could keep anything alive, but to have art look good was something I really had to delve into.”
Now Adamz derives artistic satisfaction from making his trees look natural and aesthetically pleasing for others to admire. In 2019, during his graduate education, he traveled to Seoul, South Korea. While there, he apprenticed at the Korea Bonsai Museum, where he became a qualified bonsai master.
In addition to his work with Komorebi Bonsai, Adamz is the Chinese Flagship program Coordinator at UM. He holds a doctoral degree in Asian Studies from the University of Texas. Adamz shared that his degree in Asian Studies is unrelated to his interest in bonsai but provides a broader context for his work.
“It wasn’t inevitable that I get interested in bonsai at all,” Adamz said. “I really came to it through a different avenue than my interest in Asia.”
Although bonsai began as a hobby for Adamz, it has since become a way for Adamz to relieve stress, connect with nature and exercise his creative and scientific sides.
“I became more productive with my schoolwork. I was able to focus more at work and when I was at home. … I could relax,” Adamz said.
Bonsai has also presented Adamz with an opportunity to practice mindfulness.
“Understanding how the tree works, how it grows and spending that time with the tree takes you to the next level of contemplation with yourself and with something that can’t communicate with you on a verbal level,” Adamz said.
When Adamz began his relocation to Oxford in 2021, he had approximately 600 trees. He started selling them to whoever would buy them to make room for the move. It was at this point that he realized the business potential of bonsai, and he continued selling his trees to buy more trees.
Adamz launched Komorebi Bonsai in January 2023. He now sells trees, conducts workshops and demonstrations and rents bonsai trees for events and permanent displays.
Adamz enjoys working on bonsai privately, with his children and with members of the community.
The next event that Komorebi Bonsai will host is a demonstration on Oct. 24 from 10 a.m.-noon for the Oxford-Lafayette Newcomers and Friends Club at the SPARC auditorium of the North East Mississippi Electric Power Association offices.
In addition to more community-centric events, Adamz hosts workshops and private sessions that can be booked through his website or by emailing the business at kobo.bonsai@gmail.com.
“It’s a paradox, and I think the human mind is fascinated with paradoxes,” Adamz said. “To see something that is tiny but looks giant just fascinates our minds inherently.”
