Melbourne Ikebana Festival, Spring 2024ikebanafestival.com

Monday 19 February 2018

Events Calendar


4 March 2018: Ikebana Workshop at Kazari. http://www.kazari.com.au/

17 March to 2 April 2018: Lorne Sculpture Biennale. Shoso was selected for the biennale.http://www.lornesculpture.com/index.php


21 to 25 March 2018: Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. Shoan and Akemi from Shoso’s class will exhibit their works at the Shop Window Design Competition. http://melbflowershow.com.au


Friday 23 March 2018: Shoso will talk about environmental art at the Lorne Sculpture 2018. http://www.lornesculpture.com/speakers.php


30 March 2018: Shoso will conduct an Ikebana demo as a featured presenter at the Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities 2018, The International Academic Forum, Kobe, Japan. https://iafor.org


9 May 2018: Ikebana to Contemporary Art starts at RMIT Short Courses.
http://bit.ly/1IFmuyl


12 May 2018: Ikebana Workshop at Made in Japan.
https://www.facebook.com/MadeInJapanAustralia/


21 September to 6 November 2018: Biennale of Australian Art. Shoso was selected for the biennale. http://www.boaa.net.au

http://www.shoso.com.au
https://www.facebook.com/ikebanaaustralia

Friday 16 February 2018

Learning Ikebana with Shoso


Learning Ikebana with Shoso

a. One (or two) hour workshop will be held at Made in Japan in South Melbourne, Kazari in Prahran and other organisations. Details will be announced in our News page or Facebook. Like https://www.facebook.com/ikebanaaustralia/ for the latest news.

b. Short Course. Japanese Aesthetics: From Ikebana to Contemporary Art at RMIT Short Courses has 4 intakes in a year. http://bit.ly/1IFmuyl

c. Certificate Courses. Shoso helps you obtain Ikebana certificates and a teaching diploma that allows you to work as an Ikebana artist. All classes are held in Murrumbeena.  

This is normally the cheapest way to learn Ikebana, but please read terms and conditions carefully. 
http://www.shoso.com.au/p/tuition.html

d. Ikebana in School. Ikebana workshops for secondary students.  http://bit.ly/ikebana-in-school


e. Customised Ikebana workshops. Private or group workshops can be organised according to your needs. http://www.shoso.com.au/p/workshop.html

http://www.shoso.com.au
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Monday 5 February 2018

Ikebana Today 67


How has contemporary Ikebana became what it is now? It might be timely to briefly revisit the history of Ikebana. This time I’ll focus on the social conditions of the Ikebana booms in the history of Japan. Ikebana booms occurred at three times; in the late Edo period, in the Meiji era, and after the war. Why did Ikebana become popular at certain points in history?

The simple style Tatehana first appeared in the Muromachi period (1336 - 1573). Tatehana gradually evolved into the Rikka style, which reached its peak in the early Edo period. Up to around this period, Ikebana was practiced by limited number of people, mainly upper class members of the society. The majority of people could not afford to do Ikebana due to the fact that society was unstable. 

But Japan experienced an exceptionally peaceful time in the Edo period, when there were no major wars for about 260 years (1603 - 1868). No other nations have enjoyed such a long period of peace in human history. Generally Japanese people regard the Edo period as a dark period of feudal society prior to the Meiji Restoration that modernised Japan. However, the Edo period was a really special period when the Japanese economy and culture developed significantly due to this social stability. 

It was probably during the Edo period that Japanese common women first began to enjoy leisure activities. One of their interests was flowers. Unfortunately, however, typical Ikebana that time was Rikka, a sophisticated but extremely complicated style, which normally requires a few days to create. Naturally ordinary women could not afford to spend that much time.

Then, someone bravely simplified Rikka and developed the Seika style. All you need to create Seika is to fix three main branches or flowers, representing earth, heaven and people, and create an asymmetrical triangle. This was a simple but elegant new style of Ikebana. It was a phenomenal success, creating a large number of Ikebana students and new schools. That was the first Ikebana boom in Japan. The lesson is to identify a new need, develop a product to meet it, and your business will succeed. Actually each of the three Ikebana booms has its own special style to sell.

This year I’ll talk about environmental art at the Lorne Sculpture and at the International Academic Forum in Kobe. I have been selected as featured presenter at the Kobe conference. Very challenging!


The image here is my work for reception of a clinic. If your business requires high quality flowers weekly, please contact us. 

http://www.shoso.com.au
https://www.facebook.com/ikebanaaustralia