Ikebana

I have been learning ikebana at a school located in Tokyo for sometime. For those who don't know, ikebana is a japanese art of floral arrangement. To be more exact, ikebana is more like an art in which nature and humanity are brought together. In ikebana, the emphasis is not only in the flowers. Other parts of the plant like stems, branches and leaves all play important roles. But before you go thinking that ikebana is just a creative expression of floral arrangement and hence no formal training is required, that is where you are totally wrong. To practise ikebana, one has to first learn the basic rules that have to be followed. In fact, there is a lot of science and mathematics involved as there are specific calculations on where to place a particular branch, and how much angle a leaf has to be slanted to the left or right of the main object flower.

So you can imagine how stressful my first ikebana lesson was. I assumed it was a free form of art but when my Sensei (japanese term for teacher) started going on and on about the angles and specific calculations of each and every stalk, leaf and flowers, I was totally lost. And to make things worse, she kept saying that everything that are placed in the pot has to come together and project a certain harmony. I thought learning ikebana was a way I could destress when Aiden is at school but little did I know I ended up being more stressed than I was before the class! Anyway, this is one of the creations I did at the school.



I did this at school. Well, not exactly my work because my Sensei re-created this after she saw my original piece. But I went home with the loose flowers (the pot belongs to the school and we can't bring it home) and created the following by myself. Following all rules of ikebana of course.



Can anyone tell the difference? I actually prefer the one I did at home!