Abdur Rahim
Can you remember The Last Samurai? If you have ever seen the film you remember before sunrise everyone is heading on their own way to attain mastership in own skill. The tranquil and calm atmosphere suggests learning to be ever more perfect. Once I was talking to someone about the craftsmanship and aesthetic views of it. It was a busy working day. I got amazed as he suggested “it is not the right place to discuss about it as it needs quite tranquil condition.” Mind speaks with it. Each word articulates harmony and concord. Every single part of it outlines and shapes astonishing beauty. Wherever you peep you will get the tranquil sublime.
The world rests in a flower vase! All slices of imagination collate and reflect in flower! All parts are taken from the serene nature. Living flower most sophisticatedly mingles with mind.
All I am talking about is Ikebana, the perfect art of flower.
Ikebana is the way of flowers as they signify the beauty, the Japanese art of floral arrangement. You put some flowers in a vase, showcase some delicate and rare pieces of floral items, it allures your eyes but it is art of flower not the art of Ikebana. Nature and humanity mildly waves and resonates to each other in the disciplined art form. Plant, stems and leaves-yes! All are flower in Ikebana. The mindset of the artist behind each arrangement is shown through vivid color union, all parts combine and shine. Form, shape and line; each ingredient of the art, offers creative expression following certain rules governing its form. But most importantly:
1. All the elements used in construction must be organic, be they branches, leaves, grasses or flowers. Natural shapes, graceful lines and implied mindset will be reflected.
2. Ikebana is employment of minimalism. That is, an arrangement may consist of only a minimal number of blooms interspersed among stalks and leaves. The structure of a Japanese flower arrangement is based on a scalene triangle delineated by three main points, usually twigs, considered in some schools to symbolize heaven, earth, and man and in others sun, moon, love and earth. The container is a key element of the composition, and various styles of pottery may be used in their construction.
From the inception of the superb art seven centuries ago, it has developed many different styles of arrangement. Among the most common are the rikka (standing flowers), seika or shoka (living flowers), and nageire (flung flowers) styles when making arrangements in bowl-shaped vases and the moribana (piled-up flowers) style when using dish-like containers.
Traditionally, arranged flowers were decorated in the toko-no-ma–the alcove in rooms where guests were normally received. Today they are also frequently seen in entrance halls and living rooms, as well as in lobbies of large buildings and shop windows.
The choice of what flowers to arrange is guided by the desire to create harmony between flower and container and to find flowers that blend in well with its surroundings. Although layer after layer of flowers are used in Western floral arrangements, in ikebana, the key consideration is to use as few stems and leaves as possible in composing elegant contours that highlight the flowers’ beauty.
Buddhist priest Ikenobo Senkei founded the first Ikebana school “ Ikenobo” in the 15th century. He initiated the rikka style in Ikebana. The art is about standing flowers. It was developed as a Buddhist expression of the beauty of nature, with seven branches representing hills, waterfalls, valleys and so on arranged in a formalized way. Wanna see that- visit the school is in the Rokkakudo temple in Kyoto. This style became more and more formalized until, in the late 17th century; the growing merchant class developed a simpler style, called seika or shoka. Shoka uses only three main branches, known as ten (heaven), chi (earth) and jin (man) and is designed to show the beauty of the plant itself. Another old form of ikebana is nageire, used in the tea ceremony.
Time passed and so many pages of world history turned over. The first Modern school of Ikebana established in 19th century. The Moribana style took the place. The form is piled-up flowers in a shallow, flat container. The school was started at a time when Western culture was heavily influential in Japan and the moribana style made good use of Western plants. But it was still a formal style. Influence from the artistic movements of the early 20th century led to the development of jiyuka (free-style) arrangement. Despite all the changes, ikebana was still only for the upper class.
In the 1930′s and then more so in the postwar period, interest in ikebana became much more widespread. Ikebana schools opened which attracted people of all social classes. During the occupation, many wives of US servicemen took up the art and later helped it spread abroad. Led by Teshigahara Sofu, founder in 1927 of the Sogetsu school, zen-eibana or avant-garde ikebana introduced all kinds of new materials, such as plastic, plaster and steel.
Today, there are about 3,000 ikebana schools in Japan and thousands more around the world. The Ikenobo school alone has some 60,000 teachers worldwide. Ikebana is practised by about 15 million people in Japan, mostly young women.