Exhibits: East meets West - San Francisco May 2008
The Soul of Ikebana
The history of Ikenobo is the history of ikebana. Ikebana began with Ikenobo and although
over 500 years other schools have branched off from Ikenobo, Ikenobo is said to be the
origin of ikebana. Ikenobo's history encompasses both the traditional and the modern, the
two continually interacting to encourage new development in today's ikebana.
People in every era have loved flowers, but our predecessors in ikebana felt that flowers
were not only beautiful but that they could reflect the passing of time and the feelings in their
own hears. When we sense plants' unspoken words and silent movements we intensify our
impressions through form, a form which becomes ikebana.
We arrange plants cut and removed from nature so that they are filled with new beauty when
placed in a new environment. Rather than simply re-create the shape a plant had in nature,
we create with branches, leaves, and flowers a new form which holds our impression of a
plant's beauty as well as the mark of our own spirit. Ikebana should also suggest the forces
of nature with which plants live in harmony -- branches bent by winter winds . . . a leaf
half-eaten by insects.
Ikenobo considers a flower's bud most beautiful, for within the bud is the energy of life's
opening toward the future. Past, present, future . . . in each moment plants, and humans,
respond to an everchanging environment. Together with plants, humans are vital parts of
nature and our arranging ikebana expresses this awareness.
Like a poem or painting made with flowers, Ikenobo's ikebana expresses both the beauty of
flowers and the beauty of longing in our own hearts. Ikenobo's spirit has spread not only in
Japan but throughout the world. It is our deepest hope that the beauty of Ikenobo will
increasingly serve as a way of drawing the world's people together.
The history of Ikenobo is the history of ikebana. Ikebana began with Ikenobo and although
over 500 years other schools have branched off from Ikenobo, Ikenobo is said to be the
origin of ikebana. Ikenobo's history encompasses both the traditional and the modern, the
two continually interacting to encourage new development in today's ikebana.
People in every era have loved flowers, but our predecessors in ikebana felt that flowers
were not only beautiful but that they could reflect the passing of time and the feelings in their
own hears. When we sense plants' unspoken words and silent movements we intensify our
impressions through form, a form which becomes ikebana.
We arrange plants cut and removed from nature so that they are filled with new beauty when
placed in a new environment. Rather than simply re-create the shape a plant had in nature,
we create with branches, leaves, and flowers a new form which holds our impression of a
plant's beauty as well as the mark of our own spirit. Ikebana should also suggest the forces
of nature with which plants live in harmony -- branches bent by winter winds . . . a leaf
half-eaten by insects.
Ikenobo considers a flower's bud most beautiful, for within the bud is the energy of life's
opening toward the future. Past, present, future . . . in each moment plants, and humans,
respond to an everchanging environment. Together with plants, humans are vital parts of
nature and our arranging ikebana expresses this awareness.
Like a poem or painting made with flowers, Ikenobo's ikebana expresses both the beauty of
flowers and the beauty of longing in our own hearts. Ikenobo's spirit has spread not only in
Japan but throughout the world. It is our deepest hope that the beauty of Ikenobo will
increasingly serve as a way of drawing the world's people together.
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