When I consider the fact that what I am writing in these articles will be read by present and future exchange students in Japan alike, it occurs to me that all aspects of Japanese culture should be considered. People are different, after all, and are therefore interested in different aspects of Japanese culture. Personally, my specialties lie primarily in the field of languages and Linguistics, which is why many of my articles focus on difference between the English and Japanese languages, and aspects of the Japanese language I find interesting. However, I thought that I should step away from Linguistics for a while, and focus on topics that have not as-yet been covered by myself or any other writers. Thus I present Japanese flower-arranging, or Ikebana (生け花), as it is more commonly known.
Ikebana literally means “living flowers”, a meaning that always struck me as somewhat amusing as much of the plant matter used in Ikebana appears to be dead. A translation that gives more indication of the meaning of Ikebana as it is understood by the Japanese, would be “giving life to flowers”, as in arranging them in such a way that the display “comes to life”. Another name for Ikebana is kadou (華道), meaning “the way of flowers”.
Ikebana essentially started when Buddhism first came to Japan in the 6th century. An offering of flowers, either to Buddha or to the spirits of the dead, is a Buddhist ritual from which Ikebana developed. In the 15th century Ikebana started to be taught by Buddhist priests to other priests and Buddhist members as a religious, meditative practice meant to bring its practitioners closer to nature and provide relaxation for the mind, body and soul. The first Ikebana school, Ikenobou (池坊), was founded at this time. The school still exists within the Rokkadu-dou temple in Kyoto.
Ikebana is different to Western styles of flower-arranging in that, rather than focusing on the aesthetically-pleasing grouping of different-coloured flowers, Ikebana also considers other parts of the plant (the leaves and stems). All of the parts of these plants are arranged together to form a creative shape. If we consider the following two pictures—
—we can see that the western-style arrangement on the left, while quite beautiful and spectacular in terms of colour (in my opinion), doesn’t have much in terms of distinct line or shape like the Ikebana arrangement on the right.
Ikebana is an style of art and as such artistic license is essential, but it does have some concrete rules. Ikebana is generally quite minimalist, so only a small number of flowers, stalks and leaves can be used (as is probably evident from the pictures in this article). The structure of most Ikebana is based on a scalene triangle, so there will be three distinct points in most arrangements, representing the sun, moon and earth (according to some Ikebana schools), or heaven, earth and man (in other Ikebana schools). The container in which the Ikebana is held is also of importance, as it adds to the final visual arrangement.
Nowadays Ikebana is considered one of the most distinct arts in Japanese culture, and it is taught in schools, shown on television and admired daily by the Japanese. In my opinion it is something well worth having a look at, or even attempting to do, whilst in Japan. The unusual style of Ikebana takes some time to get used to, particularly for those more used to western-style flower arrangements, but once one learns to appreciate it one can recognise Ikebana for the art form that it is.
Thanks to wikipedia.org for the extra information.
Pictures from ikebanahq.org, txenglish-ch.com, laosflower.com.
