 may occur in any direction.
An arrangement may be upright or may slant. Slanted arrangements are named from the perspective of the Buddha statue; thus, if the shin and soe are positioned to the right of the centerline with the hikae to the left, the result is called a left-handed arrangement. If the shin and soe are to the left of the centerline with the hikae to the right, the result is a right-handed arrangement. In either case, the angles remain in the same relative positions around a slanting centerline.
The container for an ikebana arrangement sets the overall style and designates the season as well. Pottery is common, but in summer baskets are often used. Metal containers are used only in winter to remind the viewer of ice and the reflection of light on snow.
That said, the container must not detract from the arrangement. The container also dictates whether the flowers will be held in the arrangement by the traditional split twigs, the flat, disk-shaped, spike-covered holder known as a kensan, or the thoroughly untraditional (but very convenient) floral foam. The kensan has a significant advantage over floral foam. Stems can be impaled on its spikes, removed, and re-impaled numerous times, allowing for fine adjustments in positioning. Once a depression or hole is made in floral foam, it’s there to stay. This limits your ability to move a branch of rosemary just the tiniest hair to the left, for example.
The most accessible styles of ikebana to Westerners are probably the modern, naturalistic moribana (“heaped-up flowers”) and the casual nageire (“thrown or tossed into”).
Moribana is much like lush Occidental flower arrangements. Containers range from a shallow bowl, compote, or widemouthed trough vase to those made of natural materials such as rock or driftwood. The plant material, held by a lead kensan, may be anything you choose. The fall arrangement in the image gallery is in the moribana style.
The vase for an arrangement in the nageire style should be tall with a narrow opening. The three lines of this arrangement are spare and strive for a natural look. The winter arrangement in the image gallery is nageire.
The kensan sika style was developed in the fifteenth century from the rigid, formal rikka arrangements. The kensan is centered in a bowl, and the plant material rises from it out of the water as though from a single stem. The stem clears the rim of the bowl by several inches before branching outward. This style shows off the lush summer herbs in the image gallery to good effect.
Chabana (“tea flowers”) arrangements enhance the formal, ritualized Japanese tea ceremony. Although this style has few rules, the arrangement must be austere and simple, and bending or cutting the material is considered improper. Because tall containers are used, it is considered an offshoot of the nageire style. A spring chabana arrangement is shown at the top of this article.
Sheron Buchele has been growing herbs for more than thirty years and has created more than ninety herb-based products for Fox Ryde Gardens. She and her partner, Curtis Rowland, sell their wares at farmers’ markets and craft fairs in Northern Colorado, and online at www.foxryde.com
Ikebana International Headquarters
CPO Box 1262
Tokyo, 100-91 Japan
San Francisco Bay Chapter
of Ikebana International
Hall of Flowers Golden Gate Park
9th Ave. and Lincoln Way
San Francisco, CA 91422
580 N. 6th St.
San Jose, CA 95112