Where: Murrumbeena, Melbourne
Saturday, 9 January 2021
Valentine's Day Floral Workshops
Sunday, 20 December 2020
Ikebana Calendar
26 December 2020: Zoom Ikebana Dojo, Pattern Level 2.
25 - 31 December 2020: Second entry period for the Ikebana Gallery Award 2021.
13 & 16 January 2021: A special term starts for Shoso’s students.
Because this is a special time for many reasons, we added an extra term in January 2021. Fees are either $35 per session or $75 per term (Up to 3 sessions, to be paid on the first session). New students welcome.
Please note that the COVID related regulations that we are all so familiar with would apply.
Please book as we need to manage the number of students.
You can mix Sat & Wed classes as usual. Attend 3 sessions out of 6 sessions in January. Thank you.
Wednesday Class (1:00 - 2:30 pm)
January 13, 20, 27
Saturday Class (10:00 - 11:30 am)
January 16, 23, 30
How to book & pay: three options.
- Book online & pay by credit card: https://cal.smoothbook.co/5fbf1b8f2bb1eb37f3bde318. You can cancel your booking by 12 January. Cancellation fee (institution fees) will apply.
- Email to book & pay by bank transfer by 13 January: Bank Details - Account: Shoso Shimbo, BSB: 033-070, No. 286877
- Email to book & pay cash on the first day: Please note late fee will apply if you don’t pay on the first day.
16 January 2021: Ikebana Dojo Special Program
17 January 2021: ISIR online conference. Free admission.
26 January 2021: An internationally renowned ikebana master, Mr Ken Katayama will join Ikebana Dojo again as a guest facilitator. His sessions with us in August were video recorded and available on YouTube. Enjoy the sessions by one of Japan’s most popular Ikebana masters. Follow Ikebana Dojo website for updates. www.ikebanadojo.org
3 & 6 February 2021: Term 1 starts. Details will be announced shortly. Please read our new terms and conditions.
11&12 September 2021: Wa Melbourne Ikebana Festival. https://bit.ly/MelbourneIkebana
Wednesday, 2 December 2020
Ikebana Calendar
30 November 2020: Deadline for ikebana essay. International Society of Ikebana Research (ISIR), www.ikebana.link.
5 & 12 December 2020: Zoom Ikebana Dojo, Contrast Level 2.
19 & 26 December 2020: Zoom Ikebana Dojo, Pattern Level 2.
25 - 31 December 2020: Second entry period for the Ikebana Gallery Award 2021.
13 & 16 January 2021: A special term starts for Shoso’s students.
16 January 2021: Ikebana Dojo Special Program
17 January 2021: International Society of Ikebana Studies, ISIR online conference. Free admission.
26 January 2021 (to be confirmed): An internationally renowned ikebana master, Mr Ken Katayama will join Ikebana Dojo again as a guest facilitator. His sessions with us in August were video recorded and available on YouTube. Enjoy the sessions by one of Japan’s most popular Ikebana masters. Follow Ikebana Dojo website for updates. www.ikebanadojo.org
30 January 2021: Ikebana Dojo Special Program
3 & 6 February 2021: Term 1 starts. Details will be announced shortly. Please read our new terms and conditions.
11&12 September 2021: Wa Melbourne Ikebana Festival. https://bit.ly/MelbourneIkebana
Monday, 16 November 2020
Celebrating Reopening After Corona Lockdown
Wednesday, 4 November 2020
Spring in Melbourne, 2020
Victoria's coronavirus lockdown might finally be over?
It's a time to enjoy spring flowers. Eclair, Hampton & Hanabishi, Melbourne City.
Sunday, 25 October 2020
Ikebana Dojo - Four Ikebana Principles 2
Join an online learning community using Zoom. Ikebana Dojo is not an online ikebana workshop, in which you can create your ikebana work by simply following instructions. Ikebana Dojo asks you to be more proactive. It is a great aid for independent ikebana training (Jishu Tore - in Japanese).
A series of sessions, Four Ikebana Principles starting from 7 November 2020.
When:
Balance: 4:00pm - 4:30pm, Saturday 7 November 2020 Fully Booked
Balance: 4:45pm - 5:15pm, Saturday 7 November 2020
Balance: 4:00pm - 4:30pm, Saturday 14 November 2020
Movement: 4:00pm - 4:30pm, Saturday 21 November 2020
Contrast: 4:00pm - 4:30pm, Saturday 5 December 2020
Pattern: 4:00pm - 4:30pm, Saturday 19 December 2020
How much: $10 for one session
Details: http://www.ikebanadojo.org/2020/08/four-ikebana-elements.html
Please follow the site by subscribing at “Follow by Email”
Note: Now you can watch a video tutorial for free. Subscribe our Youtube Channel. http://www.ikebanadojo.org/2020/07/ikebana-dojo-contrast-1.html
About Four Ikebana Principles Level 2: In “Four Ikebana Principles 2”, we will review classic basic styles in ikebana. You will learn that each basic style contains in itself all of the four ikebana principles, Balance, Movement, Contrast and Pattern. Rather than learning all at once, we focus on each principle one by one in this series. If you feel your foundation is a bit weak, this series may help you to boost your artistic development.
Following diagrams is a great way to learn ikebana, especially for beginners. It will provide you with solid foundation to develop as an artist in ikebana or any other fields. If you follow diagrams, your work reveals ikebana principles almost automatically, without paying much attention to them. That is a great aspect of learning basic styles.
But it has a shortfall.
Following diagrams or classic formulas is not the end of learning ikebana. At a certain stage you have to move to be free. A better way is to follow materials rather than formulas. Rather than manipulating materials to fit into the set formula, find the energy of life in natural materials, and follow it.
This process is often the transition from creating basic styles to free style arrangements. Many ikebana practitioners have found it difficult to make that transition. While their basic styles had ikebana principles, their free style arrangements may contain hardly any ikebana principles. Your work is not ikebana without ikebana principles. Unfortunately, many ikebana courses have not addressed the difficulty in this transition properly.
The problem is that you are expected to have acquired ikebana principles intrinsically without any explicit explanation after practising basic styles. It is assumed that you will be able to start making free style arrangements based on having acquired a good understanding of ikebana principles just from following the diagrams. However, can we expect all ikebana practitioners to be really aware of the ikebana principles at the end of study of basic styles?
To move to making free style arrangements smoothly, you need to BE AWARE what you have learned in basic styles, in particular four ikebana principles. Ikebana Dojo Curriculum was designed to help you be aware of them. We hope many people will have a better understanding of free style ikebana.
Thursday, 17 September 2020
Zoom Ikebana Dojo: Update
Monday, 31 August 2020
eBook , Shoso 2020
Tuesday, 25 August 2020
Ikebana Calendar, August 2020
July 2020: Finalists for the Ikebana Gallery Award 202 announced. https://ikebanaaustralia.blogspot.com
August 2020: Winners of the Ikebana Gallery Award 2020 announced. https://ikebanaaustralia.blogspot.com
20 August 2020: “Shoso 2020”, a collection of Shoso’s work from 2016 to 2020 is available with eBook (Aus$4.99) or hardcover version. http://bit.ly/Shoso2020
25 August 2020: An internationally renowned ikebana master, Mr Ken Katayama joins Ikebana Dojo as a guest facilitator. His sessions have been fully booked. The session will be recorded and will be available on YouTube.
29 August 2020: Shoso will give a talk on Tea Flower using Zoom. Closed event.
24 - 30 September 2020: First entry period for the Ikebana Gallery Award 2021.
11&12 September 2021: Wa Melbourne Ikebana Festival.
Thursday, 20 August 2020
eBook "Shoso Shimbo 2020"
Introduction
This is the second collection of Shoso Shimbo’s work , following the first collection, Shoso 2016. It focuses on his works from 2016 to 2020. This is a significant period for Shoso’s career as an artist, expanding the possibilities of Ikebana into the areas of contemporary art, and environmental art in particular.
Shoso has been exploring environmental art from an Ikebana perspective. It is in a sense investigating Western art in the light of Eastern traditions of art.
Some traditional aspects of Eastern art can offer a different perspective on our attitudes to the environment. Art may not be able to instantly solve the difficult problems we currently face, but it can raise questions about the role of capitalism in environmental degradation.
Shoso 2020 reveals his direction toward new type of minimalism, where Japanese aesthetics are re-examined in the age of environmental crisis. Shoso is exploring the possibilities of a union between environmental aesthetics and environmental ethics.
この作品集「Shoso 2020」は「Shoso 2016」以降の作品、2016年から2020年までの新保逍滄の作品を紹介するものです。この間の活動の焦点のひとつは環境芸術における生花の可能性の追求であったと言えそうです。環境破壊の元凶が資本主義でありながら、資本主義のシステム内でしか環境芸術は存在できないのでしょうか。純粋な環境芸術のひとつの形は「贈与」にも似た概念芸術ということになるのかもしれません。相手を決めず、報酬を求めず、できれば匿名で贈る行為。それは自然界の隅々にまで浸透する資本主義に対峙しうる最後の砦。あるいはそれを本物の精神文化と呼んでもいいのではないでしょうか。すると「贈与」は日々の生花の修練が深いところで意味するものとも似通ってくるようにも思えます。孤軍奮闘の折にふと浮かんだ想念です。
https://www.shoso.com.au
https://www.facebook.com/ikebanaaustralia
Sunday, 16 August 2020
Zoom Ikebana Dojo: Online Ikebana Workshops
Tuesday, 11 August 2020
Sculpture for Le Pine, East Kew, Melbourne
Magnolia Flower
Designed by Shoso Shimbo & Shoan LoStainless Steel, 450 x 1200 x 450
The form of this sculpture was inspired by the magnolia flower. Flowers have held spiritual significance since ancient times. In some cultures, the magnolia flower signifies an enduring true love that lasts throughout time and space.
Based on Ikebana aesthetics, this sculpture shows the different stages of an opening flower. As the viewers walk around, the flower may slowly open before their eyes.
Floating Petals
Designed by Shoso Shimbo & Shoan LoThe work represents flower petals floating on running water. This combination is one of the most highly admired poetic images in Japanese culture. It signifies both the transience of our existence and the eternal cycle of nature, our spirituality. The metal flowers come from Hiromitsu blacksmith in Izumo, Japan.
Web: Le Pine Funerals
葬儀会館への制作依頼には木蓮の花からイメージを膨らませた。古代より花は精神的な意味を持つものとされてきた。類人猿もまた死者に花を手向けたという。木蓮の花は時空を超えた永遠の愛を象徴するとする文化圏もある。非対称性を用いたことで、周りを歩くと彫刻の花が徐々に開いていく様子が感じられる。
流れの花びらは、花の刹那性と流れの永遠性(大自然あるいは精神性)の対比として日本文化史上、最も親しまれてきたイメージのひとつであろう。壁作品はこのモチーフを元にしている。桜の花弁は出雲の鍛冶職人に特別に制作していただいた。
Saturday, 8 August 2020
Ikebana Dojo in August 2020

15 August 2020
25 August 2020
5 September 2020
https://www.shoso.com.au
Saturday, 11 July 2020
Ikebana Beyond Aesthetics
Thursday, 18 June 2020
New Publication
Thursday, 11 June 2020
Ikebana Dojo - Balance 1
https://www.facebook.com/ikebanaaustralia
Wednesday, 10 June 2020
Ikebana Calendar, June 2020
24 - 27 May 2020: Shoso presented a paper, “Nature in Ikebana: Ikebana before and after the war” online at the Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities. https://acah.iafor.org/acah2020/
June 2020: Sculpture Installation. Shoan Lo & Shoso Shimbo have been commissioned to design art works (stainless steel sculpture and wall piece ) for the newly built Le Pine Hall in Kew. Both works reflect ikebana aesthetics and philosophy.
13 June 2020: Deadline to apply for Ikebana Dojo Session on 20 June 2020. https://bit.ly/IkebanaDojo20June20, www.ikebanadojo.org
19 June 2020: Shoso will conduct an Ikebana workshop using Zoom for the students of Shelford Girls Grammar School.
4pm, 20 June 2020: Ikebana Dojo. Zoom online Ikebana lesson based on the new curriculum.
https://bit.ly/dojoikebana, www.ikebanadojo.org
24 - 30 June 2020: Post your work to win the Ikebana Gallery Award 2020. https://bit.ly/IkebanaAward20
27 June 2020: Shoso will give a lecture using Zoom for the students of Kyoto University of the Arts.
27 June 2020: Deadline to apply for Ikebana Dojo Session on 4 July 2020.
4pm, 4 July 2020: Ikebana Dojo with Associate Professor Dr Inoue (Kyoto University of the Arts).
14 July 2020: Term 2 starts. Classes will be held at 60 Martin St, Brighton. All students including old and new students, please apply using a form so that we can have digital records of all the students. https://form.jotform.com/200651984101852
12 September 2020: Shoan & Shoso will present Ikebana Dinner Show, Quaff Restaurant, Toorak. https://waikebana.blogspot.com/p/program.html
19 & 20 September 2020: Wa Melbourne Ikebana Festival. https://waikebana.blogspot.com/
20 September 2020: Ikebana Performance with Paul Grabowsky at Melbourne Recital Centre. https://www.shoso.com.au/2019/10/ikebana-performance-with-paul-grabowsky.html
Tuesday, 26 May 2020
Zoom Ikebana Dojo - Student's Work
https://www.facebook.com/ikebanaaustralia
Monday, 25 May 2020
Zoom Ikebana Dojo Update
Join an ikebana learning community. Meet ikebana friends from all over the world.
Next sessions:
Saturday 6 June 2020, 4:00pm - 4:40pm, Application Deadline: 30 May 2020
Saturday 20 June 2020, 4:00pm - 4:40pm, Application Deadline: 13 June 2020