Ikebana – A Conversation With Nature

By Rosa Barker
Photos courtesy of Barbara & Roger Tinius

Ikebana is instantly recognizable as a Japanese style of floral art, no matter where in the world it is created. One thing that sets it apart as a style is that the arrangement is simple and uncluttered. But that simplicity is full of deeper meaning, dating back many centuries, when an Ikenobo priest taught that “With a spray of flowers, a bit of water, one evokes the vastness of rivers and mountains.”

Ikenobo Ikebana
Ikenobo Ikebana is the original school of ikebana in Japan. The school’s headquarters are in Kyoto, close to the art’s origins at the Rokkakudo Temple, which was founded nearly 1,400 years ago. Priests who made floral offerings at the temple’s Buddhist altar lived near a pond (ike) in a small hut (bo). The priests became known as “ikenobo,” and people came to watch and learn from them. The Buddhist name “Senkei Ikenobo” first appeared in historic records as “master of flower arranging” in 1462.

In the mid-16th century, Senno Ikenobo established the philosophy of ikebana, completing a compilation of Ikenobo teachings called “Senno Kuden.” He taught that “Not only beautiful flowers but also buds and withered flowers have life, and each has its own beauty. By arranging flowers with reverence, one refines oneself.” As the Ikenobo Ikebana Japan website explains, the spirit of Ikenobo Ikebana is embodied in the idea that “arranging flowers and finding beauty in them is linked to a heart that values nature and cares for other people.” Flowers are not only beautiful but they can reflect the passing of time and the feelings in the heart of those who arrange them.

Ikenobo Ikebana Styles
Ikenobo Ikebana has three main styles: shoka, rikka and jiyuka (Free Style). The first two have both traditional (shofutai) and more modern (shimputai) variations. The modern variations and the jiyuka style were all introduced during the current Kyoto headmaster’s term. He based these “new” styles on old scrolls showing materials being used in a simpler manner.

SHOKA uses no more than three kinds of floral materials and is the most dignified flower style among the three, created originally during the mid-Edo era (18th century) for placement in the tokonoma (alcove) of a traditional Japanese tatami room. It has only three main components that can represent past, present and future, or heaven, man and earth. This style expresses the longing for nature.

RIKKA is the most classical ikebana style, having been handed down since the 16th century, during the Muromachi Era (approximately 1336 to 1573). Because it represents “a harmony of a wide variety of plants in the natural world,” this style is more elaborate and more challenging to create than shoka. It expresses grace of tradition and magnificent landscape and has nine main components with optional additional parts to fill in or round out the arrangement.

JIYUKA has no specific pattern or set of rules but falls into two basic categories: naturalistic and designed, in which materials are used in a less natural manner. The creator has complete freedom to express their personal inspiration. The finished arrangement might hang on a wall like a picture or be suspended from the ceiling like a lamp. Very few modern homes have an alcove or a tatami room, and this style was introduced in response to that architectural change.

From Kyoto to Hawai‘i Kai
Beryl Ono and Diana Salansky are both long-time members of the Ikenobo Ikebana Society Honolulu Hawaii Chapter, one of 41 chapters worldwide. For both of them, the relationship between the teacher (sensei) and the student is key to what kept them wanting to learn more. Diana’s sensei here in Hawai‘i always told her, “You can do it!”

Her sensei’s method of teaching was to have the student first watch her create an arrangement from the materials she supplied. The student would then be left to study it. “I would draw it and list the main, secondary and filler material,” Diana says. Then the sensei would take it apart and Diana would remake it. It’s a one-on-one process with the sensei explaining what is required for the style being created, and the particular characteristics of the materials she has chosen to use and how the material itself has precedence: “You might want to show the sunny side of a branch but the material might have opposite ideas. It’s about becoming aware of what is the essence. After about six lessons, you can create the arrangement first but sensei gives you instructions to follow.”

Beryl concurs, saying, “When you first get into ikebana, they teach the basics first.” She enjoys classes because, in a world of multitasking and deadlines, “it’s just me and my flowers and my materials for the two hours I’m there. I feel a sense of satisfaction, not so much about my arrangement, but something like others might feel at the end of an exercise class.” Beryl is the contact point for those wanting to find out more and join classes. (Visit ikenobohonolulu.org for class details.) There are eight Ikenobo Ikebana teachers on O‘ahu and classes are held at a number of different venues, twice a month. Barbara Tinius, one of those teachers, explains that students first learn a generic form of Free Style, then graduate to shoka. “In starting with Free Style, you are learning classroom protocol and how to hold your scissors and look at how the material grows without being burdened by too many rules.” Barbara and Diana, both certificated “Senior Professors of Ikebana” by Kyoto headquarters, are available for private lessons and ikebana demonstrations.

Minimal But Meaningful
The choice of materials used in an arrangement is key to the art’s appeal. Once the novice has gained enough knowledge to choose materials, the student takes great pleasure in finding material that expresses what they want to say in the arrangement — or they might simply let the material itself speak to them. Beryl explains: “It’s not just grabbing different materials and throwing them together. I would spend an hour at the florist looking at all the materials. You are looking for something that just grabs you. You’re talking to your material. Eventually, you start planting things that you can use. You don’t just put ornamentals in your yard.” Material can also be gathered from nature. It need not be “perfect.” A shriveled bud has a story to tell that’s as meaningful as a branch of perfect blossoms. As Sen’ei Ikenobo, the current 45th Headmaster of Ikenobo, wrote in the Ikenobo Society of Floral Art’s magazine: “What is important is to look at plants as they are with an unconstrained mind, without reflecting our own desire.”

Zen and Wabi-Sabi
When Yasunari Kawabata was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, he used the occasion of his Nobel Prize lecture to bring the attention of a global audience to the finer points of Japanese cultural expression and the practice of Zen. Ikenobo Ikebana was one of the examples he used to illustrate this. “The ancients arranged flowers and pursued enlightenment.” he said. “Here we see awakening to the heart of the Japanese spirit, under the influence of Zen.”

Another manifestation of the Japanese spirit is the concept of wabi-sabi. It is an aesthetic that can be found in many forms of art, honoring the beauty of things that are imperfect, impermanent and incomplete in nature. Asymmetry, humility and simplicity characterize the wabi-sabi aesthetic and those qualities are integral to ikebana arrangements. In modern Japan, wabi-sabi is often understood
as “wisdom in natural simplicity.”

Globalizing an Ancient Tradition
In the second half of the 20th century, ikebana floral arranging began to blossom around the world. The presence of US military personnel based in Japan provided a nurturing soil in which to plant the seeds of global growth as ikebana teachers provided classes for military wives.

Ikebana International, an organization that is present in more than 60 countries and encompasses many different schools of ikebana, was founded in 1956 by Ellen Gordon Allen, wife of a US general stationed in Japan. Her purpose in creating this organization was “to unite people of the world through their mutual love of nature and the enjoyment of ikebana.” The organization’s motto is “Friendship Through Flowers.”

When her husband was posted in Rome (1954 to 1956), Ellen saw an opportunity to promote the art she had learned in Tokyo to a global audience. Her fascinating scrapbooks documenting her ikebana journey are digitally archived on the Ikebana International Washington DC Chapter 1 website (iichapter1.com/archives-2).

Diana’s journey with ikebana began when her husband was stationed in Japan. For 18 months, she studied with a sensei who came to the base, and who asked her to join Ikebana International (ikebana-hawaii.org). Back in Hawai‘i, she was introduced to Sensei Keiko Fukuda of Ikenobo School. Diana was president of Ikebana International Headquarters in Tokyo from 2017 to 2019.

The organization’s active ikebana schools in Honolulu regularly hold demonstrations and workshops. Schools, senior centers and care facilities, Japanese clubs, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures, the Japanese Consulate and the Japanese Culture Center of Hawai‘i (JCCH) have all been venues, sometimes as part of a fundraising campaign for a local charity. Each week, volunteers from the Sogetsu, Ohara and Ikenobo schools provide seasonal arrangements for the lobby of the administrative office at JCCH.

Exhibitions
Ikenobo Ikebana is not competitive. It acknowledges progressive levels of achievement based on a set sequence of classes and workshops by awarding certificates. The number of lessons is not the only determining factor for certificates. Students also need to demonstrate an understanding of the knowledge and principles inherent to that level of achievement.

Students get the opportunity to display their arrangements at exhibitions. “An exhibition is the stage for members to celebrate their work,” according to Sen’ei Ikenobo. “By preparing the exhibition, students can be motivated to face each leaf and flower with sincerity and work on their performance.” The exhibition that will be held in the Garden Lanai Room at the Ala Moana Hotel as part of the Ikenobo Ikebana Society of Honolulu’s 45th Anniversary Celebration is called “Creating Harmony.” The webpage for the event explains: “We chose this theme as that is exactly what we’re doing when we arrange three or more diverse materials into a cohesive artistic display.” (See the “45th Anniversary Celebration” sidebar.)

Attendance at exhibitions is best undertaken with an open mind and an open heart. To fully appreciate an ikebana arrangement, Beryl advises that the viewer should realize they are looking at something that has come from the arranger’s heart. “There’s a three-way conversation going on between the materials, the arranger and the viewer. It’s all about feelings and the place a person happens to be in life at that time.”

21st Century Ikenobo Ikebana
While never forgetting its centuries-old roots as a religious ceremony, Ikenobo Ikebana warmly embraces new technologies and societal changes. Besides introducing modern forms of the two traditional styles and adding Free Style, Sen’ei Ikenobo, the current 45th Headmaster of Ikenobo, has encouraged the development of outreach efforts to Japan’s young people. Enter the Ikenoboys! About seven years ago, a group of junior professors at the Kyoto school formed the equivalent of a boy band. Either individually or as a group, they give demonstrations at schools and public events, and make TV appearances. On the “Ikebana’s Evangelist Ikenoboys” website at ikenoboys.com, you can find links to their videos and their Instagram account.

The school also collaborates with other arts. The Kyoto Ballet Company has added ikebana to its curriculum and in January 2023 included an ikebana performance in unison with dancers as part of a welcoming event for Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. “Each dancer held a flower in their hand and passed the flowers to us at the center of the stage while dancing. Receiving the flowers from the dancers, we observed each flower to find the best direction and angle to maximize its appeal, and improvised an arrangement, which conveyed the passing of the seasons,” wrote Miyuki Koike, who teaches ikebana at the Kyoto Ballet Academy, in the Ikebana Floral Arts Society newsletter.

Of all the changes that the current headmaster has made, the most far-reaching has been naming his daughter, Senko Ikenobo, as 46th Headmaster-Designate of Ikenobo Ikebana. It is the first time in the school’s history that a headmaster has named a woman as his successor. She was appointed headmaster-designate in 2015. On her Ikenobo Ikebana webpage, she writes: “To the best of my ability, I hope to promote ikebana, one of the representative aspects of Japanese traditional culture, to the next generation.”

Senko is also active as a Japanese cultural ambassador around the globe and for international events held in Japan. She was a member of the organizing committee for the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics (which were postponed until 2021 because of the pandemic), performed a floral offering ceremony at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and created ikebana arrangements for the 42nd G7 Summit in Japan. In 2024, Senko took part in a traditional maritime ceremony launching the Mitsui Ocean Fuji cruise ship in Tokyo Bay. By christening the new vessel, she has added “godmother” to her many roles. When she is here for the 45th anniversary celebration in June, Senko will be demonstrating the creation of Ikenobo Ikebana pieces at the Ala Moana Hotel.

The event will be a wonderful opportunity for ikebana enthusiasts and those curious about this Japanese cultural practice to engage with the values at the heart of Ikenobo teachings: “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.”

45th Anniversary Celebration
Ikenobo Ikebana Society of Honolulu, Hawai‘i Chapter
“Creating Harmony” Ikebana Exhibition
Free to the Public
June 14–15, 2025, 10am–3pm
(Opening Ceremony at 10am, June 14)
Ala Moana Hotel, 2nd Floor, Garden Lanai Room
— Special Luncheon & Demo —
For Registrants & Guests:
The closing date to register and pay for the luncheon and the workshops is May 15.
Registration & Information:
ikenobohonolulu.org/45th-anniversary-1

• Saturday, June 14
• 11am: Hibiscus Ballroom opens for seating
• 11:30am: Buffet luncheon followed by a demonstration by the Headmaster-Designate, Senko Ikenobo and a Reishiki-ike ceremony
  — Special Workshops —
  Taught by Prof. Manabu Noba
  Susannah Wesley Community Center
  1117 Kaili St., #3432, Honolulu
  (For Members and Students only)
  
• Sunday, June 15
• 9am–3pm: Shoka & Jiyuka Workshops
• 9–11:45am: Shoka Workshop
• 12:15–3pm: Jiyuka Workshop
  Monday, June 16
• 9am–3pm: Rikka Shofutai Workshop

IKENOBO IKEBANA SOCIETY of HONOLULU (nonprofit)
ikenobohonolulu@gmail.com
ikenobohonolulu.org
facebook.com/IkenoboHonolulu
IKENOBO JAPAN
ikenobo.jp | ikenobo.jp/english/
IKEBANA INTERNATIONAL HONOLULU
ikebana-hawaii.org