Ikebana flower exhibition seeks to evoke spring mood

By Yenni Kwok

JAKARTA (JP): The coming of spring is an important event in Japan. In April, people stroll through the parks to enjoy the sight of blooming flowers.

With the theme Spring Nuances, The Japan Foundation's Five Schools' Ikebana Exhibition tries to create the mood of spring by bringing their traditional flower arrangements to its gallery hall.

This is also the first time that all five ikebana (Japanese art of flower arrangement) schools in Jakarta -- Ikenobo, Ichiyo, Sugetsu, Misho-Ryu and Ohara -- participate in one exhibition.

Each school contributes nine arrangements, crafted by the teachers and senior students. While they still follow ikebana's basic rules, the use of Indonesian materials has added a different touch to this Japanese traditional art.

Because Indonesia has a richer collection of flowers than Japan, the flower arrangements tend to be more creative, said As Aulina of the Ichiyo school.

A similar opinion is also shared by her Japanese counterpart, Shigeyo Ota, of the Misho-Ryu school. An ikebana artist in her home country, Ota observed: "Flowers and materials here are different from the ones in Japan. But, I found the ikebana [displayed] here is more dynamic."

The word ikebana comes from the words ikeru (to enliven) and hana (flower); thus, it literally means "enlivening flowers".

However, this exhibition is not only about flowers. Some ikebana artists also use fruit and vegetables, such as chili peppers and coco fruit, in their arrangements.

Although ikebana is about enlivening the flowers, some materials cannot last long. To sustain a fresh appearance during the four-day exhibition, the ikebana artists may have to replace the dying materials with fresh ones a few times.

Nature

Indeed, sensitivity to nature is a salient characteristic in ikebana. For instance, ikebana tries to incorporate elements of nature, such as sky, human and earth, into its architectural points.

It does not try to go against nature.

Hera Hardjo, who's been learning ikebana at Misho-Ryu for 10 years, said that an ikebana artist will not change the shape of the materials. Thus, the materials may be the same, but the outcome may differ.

The practice of ikebana evolved from a formal offertory flowers on Buddhist altars centuries ago. As Buddhism spread among the common people in the 13th and 14th centuries, tokonoma, or alcove, becomes a popular practice.

In the beginning, Buddhist scrolls were hung and flowers were placed as offerings. In fact, some basic principles of Buddhism are still carried on in this art.

"Arranging an ikebana needs patience and full concentration," said Ota.

In time, however, as the tokonoma became merely a decorative function, the Buddhist scrolls were replaced by scroll paintings or calligraphy. The flowers placed in tokonoma lost their religious meaning, leading to the development of flower arranging as an art. Ikebana then developed with the tokonoma as its stage.

Throughout its long development, there are two basic styles of ikebana: moribana and heika or nageire.

Moribana, which literally means heaped-up flowers, is an arrangement using a flat vase with water on a wide surface. The material is held in place by a needle-point holder, called kenzan.

Heika or nageire is an arrangement using a tall vase and water on a narrow surface. Instead of using kenzan, materials are sustained by small figs.

Rikka and shoka are two other ikebana styles, but they are found exclusively in Ikenobo arrangements, the oldest ikebana school.

Rikka is the oldest form of Japanese flower arrangement, dating from the mid-15th century. The arrangements are usually large and elegant, at times massive in their proportion. An average rikka measures approximately three times to five times the height or width of the container.

Shoka, which means living flowers, was developed from the rikka style early in the 18th century. Although modern shoka commonly uses three kinds of materials, classical shoka seldom uses more than two varieties of branches and flowers.

Schools

There are hundreds of ikebana schools, of various sizes, in Japan but there are only five in Indonesia.

A school is usually lead by a headmaster, who passes on the legacy to his or her family members. And this is reflected by the history of the five ikebana schools.

Ikenobo, the oldest ikebana school, started in the seventh century. Its founder, Ono-no-Imoko, changed his name to Sen-mu. He built a hut called Ikenobo by a pond to teach flower arrangements to his students. Since then, every descendant of Sen-mu uses the name Ikenobo as the family name.

In 1807, Ippo Mishosai established the Misho-Ryu school in Osaka. Misho-Ryu has the distinctive style of using many different materials. One ikebana may use five or six materials.

The Ohara school was started in 1895 by a man called Unshin Ohara. He also introduced the style moribana, which is now widely practiced in many ikebana schools. His successor, Koun Ohara, established basic rules in flower arrangement: shu (main stem), fuku (secondary stem) and kyaku (object).

Two brothers established the Ichiyo school, and they were later succeeded by their brother Meikof Kasuya, whose son is now the current headmaster. Ichiyo's ikebana is considered modern and easy to learn. It has enjoyed a worldwide following in Europe, America, Australia and the rest of Asia because it uses English terms. Ichiyo's six basic styles in flower arrangements include upright, slanting, stem, hanging and four-view.

The Sugetsu school was established in 1927 by the revolutionary Sofu Teshigara, who broke ikebana's strict, traditional rules. His daughter Kasumi succeeded him, famous for her feminine arrangements. His eldest son Hiroshi became the third master.

The Sugetsu school believes that ikebana mainly relies on individual creativity and that it can be done anywhere, with any kind of materials.

Choosing which school to follow is simply subjective but still needs investigating before making a decision. Hera, for example, diligently visited every ikebana exhibition before deciding to join Misho-Ryu.

"Every school has its own significance," Hera said. "I cannot say that Misho-Ryu is better than the others."

So, how did she get interested in ikebana in the first place? The 51-year-old lady said: "It is said that loving flowers will make people stay young. It must have something to do with being with nature, I suppose."