Ikebana`

I'm trying out a new hobby. I think I will have tried nearly everything Japanese by the time I actually come home. What I'm up to now is called Ikebana or what is translated loosely to flower arranging. The purpose of this tradition is to arrange different flowers in an aesthetically pleasing fashion. There are several "schools" of ikebana. All that means is that there are different headmasters to each school who determine what rules are acceptable for arranging your flowers. The type of ikebana I study falls under the ohara school. It is said that ikebana developed around the 6th century as an offering in Buddhist temples. However, my school, ohara is relatively recent being founded in the late 19th century.

I have been attending the school as an invite by one of the women, Yumiko, that works at the Board of Education. I attend with Ruth and Jane as well. We go with Yumiko to her teachers' house to learn. Traditionally, one uses flowers and is expected to arrange them in ways to represent sky, earth and mankind in a well-balanced manner. The founder of my school, ohara wanted to create a type of ikebana that balanced natural beauty, such as mountains and fields. It was also created to allow for the adoption of Western flowers that were being introduced to Japan during the late 19th century.

I have predominantly been studying how to do the Rising Form which allows for one flower or vine or plant piece to serve as the main subject. Then, another form must be cut to 1/3 of the size of the subject and that becomes the object. The rest of the flowers or pieces are to be arranged as to not take away from the object or subject but to serve as fillers to make these two pieces become even more beautiful.(this is the rising form that I made this past week, I chose these flowers for the first time, too!)

There are several rules you need to keep in mind while arranging your flowers. For example, sometimes the stems cannot cross; some flowers should not be facing directly forward, there are certain measurements that must be followed. The object must always be 1/3 of the length as the subject. The filler flowers, stems and leaves cannot go outside a particular measurement in comparison to how tall the subject is. I'm still a beginner and learning in Japanese so I learn from my mistakes. It would be impossible to be taught all the rules at once in Japanese, so each week that I make a new mistake, I am taught about that mistake and write it down as to not do the same mistake again the next time.

Ikebana is incredibly relaxing. We are just studying how to do the next form, called the Iclining form. In this form, the subject cannot stand straight up but must be curved off to the side. Perhaps, if I get confident enough and understand it enough, I will have an exhibition someday!

(above: this is the inclining form, notice how the longest flower is off to the side and doesn't stand straight up like in the example above)

(above: Yumiko, who is way more advanced than us. Her flower is a two -tiered - the top tier is the rising form and her bottom tier is the inclining form, she's so good!)

(above: I went to see my Japanese teacher's exhibition, who also does ikebana. The above example was one of the arrangements. I was shocked at how big it was. It was about 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide. )

(above: this is also the rising form. This is my Japanese teacher's exhibited ikebana!)

(above: furthest left is Ruth, the middle one is mine and the furthest right is Jane's. This past week we all got to choose our own flowers! They are all in the rising form)