Japanese Ikebana Flower Arrangement

Popular in Japan, Ikebana is the traditional art of Japanese flower arranging.  With its origins in the spiritual, its a minimalist style that focuses on shape and line, leaf and stem as much as the blooms themselves.  In balance and harmony, Ikebana can be satisfying on several levels, whether you want to dive deeper into the richness of it as a practice, or simply create aesthetically pleasing arrangements, there are different styles to explore.  Ikebana developed through time from minimalistic arrangements to more contemporary and decorative designs. The first style dates back to the beginning of Ikebana and is called Kuge; it consisted of a tall upright placed stem, accompanied by two smaller stems. Other styles include:

• Rikka, standing flowers as a Buddhist expression of beauty and the arranged ways of nature.
• Chabana, rustic simplicity and minimalism, often used for tea ceremonies.
• Seika / Shoka, consisting of three branches representing heaven (ten), earth (chi) and man (jin).
• Jiyuka, creative design, not confined to flowers.