Ichiyo Ikebana at Buffalo History Museum Japan Culture Day
On Sunday, November 5th of this year, the Buffalo History Museum had its 16th Annual Japan Culture Day (Bunka no Hi). It started at noon and lasted until later in the afternoon when the museum closed. It included many activities which reflect Japanese culture such as Taiko drumming, singing, dancing and of course some of the more well-recognized Japanese cultural activities such as bonsai, the Japanese tea ceremony, and of course the main subject of this post–ikebana. The ikebana displayed during this event was created by Ichiyo Ikebana of Buffalo study group.
The arrangement to the left is a Basic Nageire Hanging Form arrangement. It shows the beauty of curving lines. Classically, it only containers three branches and three flowers. And they are placed in the vase supported by the sides of the vase and the wooden “X” piece placed just under the rim of the vase. These types of arrangements are a bit more difficult to make due to the fact that the branch and flower stems need to be placed in just the right position to have a balanced composition.
This arrangement to the right, is a Three-View Form arrangement in that is created in such a way as to be attractive from the right and left sides as well as from the front. All the other arrangements in this post are considered front-view arrangements in that they are created to only be viewed from the front and not the sides. It is a more complicated arrangement in that there are five branch stems and five flowers as opposed to the three seen in the above arrangement, but it is easier in that a pin holder (kenzan) was used to hold stems.
This arrangement to the left is a Basic Moribana Flat Form arrangement. It is similar to the Moribana Slanting form in that it has three main green branches and three flowers, but in this arrangement, these items are arranged in such a way as to emphasize openness and a greater view of the water. It is also called a Two Grouping arrangement for the obvious reasons. Additional branches are used to add fullness to the composition.
This next arrangement is known as the Heaven and Earth Form arrangement. This is the most difficult of all the arrangements in this post. There are two forms of this type of arrangement. Form A has two curving branches above the vase and one below forming an “S” appearance. Form B (as seen here) has a group of straight-line material arising out of the vase along with another curving branch arising above the vase and one curving branch below the top of the vase. Again the only supports for these materials is the wall of the vase and the “X” support (kubari) and other supports to prevent the curving branches from turning.
This last arrangement is more of a free-style arrangement, but it has components of different types of arrangements. It has the Basic Moribana Flat Form (Two Grouping) similarity but without one connecting container and without the emphasis on the water between the two arrangements. The larger, elevated arrangement is similar to the Moribana Slanting Form. In arrangments such as this, where the two arrangements are directed away from one another, there are still materials which reach towards the other showing their connection as one arrangement. The smaller one is put closer to the viewer.