Kane no naru ki - [ YokaiBonsai | Takaramono]

Money Trees - “金のなる木” - “Kane no naru ki” - [Yokai Bonsai | Takaramono | Charm] - “吉祥盆栽”

• About this Bonsai: Exceptionally rare trees of wealth, bearing thousands upon thousands of broad Golden Ryo coins for leaves. The Shichifukujin (Seven gods of prosperity) are often depicted growing them as shaped bonsai (or working to harvesting similar money plants as a bumper crops!)  These ‘money trees’ (or at least the coins they produce) are sometimes brought aboard the Takarabune (Treasure boat) for new years… they may also be found growing wildly in remote valleys or at sea!

• History & Early Appearances: 金のなる木 "Kane no naru ki" are a genre of lucky illustrations most popularly drawn in the late Edo Period through to the Early Meji Era. usually consisting of a tree with thousands of golden ryo (両) koban coins for leaves (each worth a small fortune on their own today.) The trees trunks and branches are usually drawn in the shape of characters or sentences that spell out auspicious phrases; such as blessings for wealth or longevity (usually puns, ending with in the syllable “ki 木” meaning “tree”.) - Similar to images of the Takarabune and Baku; come new years time, these prints would have been displayed at the bedside or kept near the pillow to ward off bad dreams & hail in good fortune. - More generally; In modern day Japanese: “金のなる木” also refers to plants with coin shaped leaves, (Though not exclusively, usually Jade plants!) - The phrase can also be used to describe a "highly profitable business venture.”  - Of course in English the saying “Money don’t grow on trees” usually has a bit of a negative connotations, (often used to describe someone being wasteful) But of course, in this case, the money literally does grow on trees. - I suppose that doesn't really apply here! 💸 - [A huge gallery of money tree related artwork, featuring the lucky gods can be viewed on the Bank of Japan, Currency museums website here! Below are a few of my favourites.]

[Prime example, with the words literally written as the branches. Print by  Utagawa Yoshikazu - image source Chicago University]

Inception, a print of Fukusuke and Otafuku looking at the previous print [ image source bank of Japan currecy museum]

[lucky goddess Benzaiten plants an auspicious bonsai in a print by kuniyoshi image source fujiarts:]

[fukurokuju opens a scroll, behind him are several bonsai that spell auspitious things image source] - In the above print (which inspired my sticker art.) The markers say “kotobuki” and "long life” with "tree "at the end - (More puns, its like saying "longevi-tree" and "kotobu-tree.")– as for what the trunk of the money tree itself says? My Best guess is that its either a stylized cursive kanji of “寿" (‘longevity', which fukurokuju represents.) or perhaps its an /extremely/ stylized “おかね“ for ‘money’ (its a bit hard to tell which it is for certain) - [shout out to the discord patrons for helping me figure that out.]

Incidentally the symbols I chose to decorate the pot with are Fundo (weights), Choji (Perfume cloves) & Shippo which are also commonly seen & listed as lucky symbols along the “takaramono.” I also decided to illustrate a broken pot which has been repaired using the method of "Kintsugi" (金継ぎ) or “Gold Mending" - (Just felt fitting.)

[The Shichifukujin collect a crop of coins that grow on trees and in the fields - image source]

[The Shichifukujin wait for their ride (the takarabune) at the docks. money tree visible in the background image source]

In pop-culture:  its not hard to say that this might have had some influence on japanese pop culture today as well, gold falling from trees is quite a common sight in video games, the most obvious example is probably animal crossing, where if you plant some money on a "golden spot”; & if you’re lucky, in a few days, you'll be able to double or even quadruple your investment! – I'm sure other examples but they are perhaps too innumerable to count!

[Sticker Art & Write up by Samkalensky, Part of my yokai bonsai series of stickers follow and support for many more!]