Ikebana Show

november 13, 2005

mrs. wasa is one of the masters of the ikebana school of flower arranging. we had a short workshop with her where we created a floral arrangement (my thing was supposed to be like a night scene, but it didn't totally pan out that way). anyways she invited us to a festival where there was a ikebana show and our instructor yoshio asked that we say something about the show. so we sat down and started commenting on the flower arrangements. people started giving their analysis of the show saying how amazing the show was and how the abstraction of the arrangements brought about images of nature. a few comments also centered around the flowers and arrangements giving a sense of peace and serenity. during these comments she started tearing and it was really touching. she saw that we all understood that although the arrangements were beautiful on their own merit, they represented a higher form of beauty that wasn't seen.

so she invited us to this other show that was happening in downtown kyoto at ikenobo, the school of ikebana. there were so many great arrangements. ranging from "showka", simple arrangements comprising of three elements and arranged in a straight line, "rikka," arrangements that used flowers to represent landscapes and "freestyle" which is basically freestyle, do what you want.