How to Teach Ikebana (and Its Essence)

Application opens in November 2023. Book from our Schedule page. 

Visit our Curriculum page to find out why our one-year Ikebana Dojo program would help all ikebana students and teachers.  

We believe that there is a gap between basic styles and freestyles in many ikebana courses. After learning basic styles, students are encouraged to make freestyles such as "vertical arrangement" or "horizontal arrangement".  However, where is the connection between the basic and freestyles? The approach used in such courses can be called a style-based approach to freestyle ikebana. Such courses make many students confused, and will never teach the most important aspect of ikebana: Meditation. 

Unfortunately, many ikebana practitioners, in particular outside Japan, are learning freestyle ikebana using the style-based approach, copying good "designs"(or something visible), and producing ikebana-like works that lack vital energy. The style-based approach is useful in learning basic styles because you can usually follow diagrams to make a good ikebana. 

To make a good freestyle ikebana, however, you need to develop a different competence to see and actualise invisible principles through meditation. Those ikebana principles are not easily visible but recognizable if gazed at by a selfless mind. We call such an approach the principle-based approach, which we use in Ikebana Dojo. We are trying to teach ikebana as art not as design. 

Our courses intend to teach the true essence of ikebana. 

上記の英語をGoogleの翻訳機能で日本語に訳してみました。下記の通り驚くほど性能が向上していますね。

申し込みは 2023 年 11 月に開始されます。スケジュール ページからご予約ください。

私たちの 1 年間のいけばな道場プログラムがすべてのいけばな生徒と教師に役立つ理由を知るには、カリキュラム ページをご覧ください。

多くのいけばなコースでは、基本スタイルとフリースタイルの間にギャップがあると私たちは考えています。基本的なスタイルを学んだ後は、「縦配置」「横配置」など自由なスタイルを作っていきます。しかし、ベーシックとフリースタイルの関係はどこにあるのでしょうか？このような講座で行われるアプローチは、フリースタイルいけばなに対するスタイルベースのアプローチと言えます。このようなコースは多くの生徒を混乱させ、生け花の最も重要な側面を決して教えません。瞑想。

残念なことに、多くの生け花実践者は、特に日本国外で、スタイルベースのアプローチを使用してフリースタイル生け花を学び、優れた「デザイン」（または目に見えるもの）をコピーし、生命エネルギーに欠ける生け花のような作品を制作しています。スタイルベースのアプローチは、通常は図に従うことで優れた生け花を作成できるため、基本的なスタイルを学ぶのに役立ちます。

しかし、優れたフリースタイル生け花を作るには、瞑想を通じて目に見えない原理を理解し、実現するための別の能力を開発する必要があります。これらの生け花の原則は、簡単に目に見えるものではありませんが、無私な心で見つめれば認識できます。このようなアプローチを私たちは原則ベースのアプローチと呼び、いけばな道場ではそれを採用しています。

私たちのコースは生け花の真髄を教えることを目的としています。

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70 Ikebana Essays by Shoso

Shoso Shimbo has published 70 essays on ikebana in both English & Japanese for Dengon Net, a monthly Japanese community newspaper in Melbourne. Shoso has never been late for the deadlines for 7 years. Click "On Ikebana" in Top Hits section in his website to read all of them. 
https://www.shoso.com.au/search/label/On%20Ikebana

If you want to read more of his writings, go to his Publication.
https://www.shoso.com.au/p/publication.html

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Ikebana Today No.70 (The Last Article)

I have been talking about the two Ikebana booms in Japanese history. The first one occurred in the late Edo period and its hit product was Seika, and the second one occurred in the Meiji & Taisho era and its hit product was Moribana. Both of them made Ikebana significantly easy to practice.

The third Ikebana boom occurred after the war. At the centre of the boom was Sofu Teshigahara (1900 – 1979), the founder of Sogetsu school. He criticised many aspects of traditional Ikebana, in particular the way Ikebana was taught. He insisted that Ikebana is art, an individual expression by each person and copying master’s works is not an artistic way of creating Ikebana. His approach was the application of Western modernism to Ikebana. Like many other examples of cultural transformation in Japan, his approach was to modify the new culture and preserve the old culture as you see fit. Although his approach was supported by a great number of people over the years, it has been criticised in many ways and I think an historical evaluation of his work will be made in the near future.

Actually, the Sogetsu school of Ikebana became more interesting for me after Hiroshi Teshigahara took over in 1980’s. However, I cannot talk about Hiroshi’s work here, because this series of essays has to end this month due to editorial circumstances at Dengon Net. I really appreciate the great support I have received from the publisher and editors of Dengon Net. I was so fortunate to be able to talk about anything I liked without worrying about readers’ feedback. Writing essays is really fun and an easy thing for me to do and I could keep writing much longer. But it may be a good idea to take a break here and look for a new direction. Thank you very much, staff and readers of Dengon Net. Thank you also Julie, my partner and Pat, my mother in law for checking my English essays for such a long time, over nearly ten years.

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Ikebana Today No.69

Ikebana booms in Japan were socio-cultural phenomenon. Looking into their history helps understand Japanese society better. I hope some will investigate them in a more academic context. Such research may also reveal the secrets of how to succeed in business. One of them seems to be simply providing innovative and attractive products responding to clients’ needs. 

I’d like to make a few comments on the Ikebana boom in the Meiji (1868 - 1912) to Taisho era (1912 - 1926) . Prior to this boom Ikebana was taught in private. Teachers did not set the tuition fees, and the students payed according to their financial situations. I sometimes think that might be a good system. I set my tuition fees rather low so that I can train as many competent qualified teachers as possible in a shortest period of time. However, I may change my approach shortly. Those who join the class because of rather cheap fees don’t usually complete the long journey of learning Ikebana. Setting fees low does not necessary help achieve my goal. Anyway, it was after this boom that a group lesson in a classroom was introduced with set fees.

Traditionally most Ikebana teachers were male. However, number of female teachers increased significantly during this boom. Reason? A large number of Japanese men died during the Sino-Japanese War (1894 - 95) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904 - 05). Becoming an Ikebana teacher was attractive, but often one of the limited choices for some war widows.   

It is also notable that kenzan played a important role in this boom. It seems that it was invented during Meiji and had been reinvented after that. As I mentioned last month, Moribana was the hit product after Taisho era. Its easiness and popularity depend largely on kenzan.   

This is a work I made for my client at their home party. Rather unusual combination of materials made this work interesting. In April I’ll present a paper at the International Academic Forum in Kobe, and at a university in Romania. That must be a good time to see sakura.      

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Ikebana Today No.68

I’d like to talk about the second Ikebana boom in the Meiji and Taisho era. Any boom occurs as a result of multiple factors. There is no simple explanation about their causes. However, it is clear that this boom occurred among young women. What did they want from Ikebana? We should look into their social conditions. But I have not come across any research about this potentially excellent topic. The following is, therefore, my own hypothesis.

Who were those behind the boom? Considering that the number of housewives (stay-at-home wives) increased only after the Taisho era, it was young unmarried women who took Ikebana as a training to become a housewife.

The Meiji government’s aim was to increase wealth and power of the State. In each household a woman was expected to be a good and wise housewife. Family law in the Meiji era made it difficult for women to choose other options. Marriage was in their best interest and it was natural for them to seek the best possible opportunities.

An important factor to consider is that womens' colleges were established in the Meiji era, and Ikebana and tea ceremony were often thought as unofficial subjects in many of them. As a result, the general perception was that intelligent ladies from women’s college can do Ikebana! People started to think that you are a lady if you can do Ikebana. Ikebana provided a better marriage opportunity for women. In other words, Ikebana was successful in gaining branding and learning it was a good investment.

There were some innovations in Ikebana that contributed to the boom in this period. The most significant was the promotion of Moribana by the Ohara school. Moribana is an arrangement made in a shallow container using Kenzan or Shippo. In essence, it simplified Ikebana. Its simple designs allow almost anyone to make Ikebana. In addition, it was suitable for the Western style housing that start to become popular that time and it allowed the use of new types of flowers that came from the West. It really focused on the enjoyable aspects of Ikebana. No wonder it became so popular! Even today, Moribana is the style that many Ikebana students learn first at Ikebana schools.

This is an arrangement I made for Hanabishi restaurant in Melbourne. I really enjoy working for this client. In March I will make 2 environmental works for the Lorne Sculpture 2018 and I’ll talk about environmental art at their conference. Lorne Sculpture is the largest outdoor art festival in Victoria and a number of international artists and researchers participate in this event. Please join us.
http://lornesculpture.com

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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. 

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Ikebana Today 66

Under the influence of modernism in Western art, Ikebana changed significantly in the 1930’s and Ikebana is still under that influence. What was the focus of the new Ikebana movement in the1930’s?

The new Ikebana movement did not intend to deny everything about Ikebana which began in the 15th century with the establishment of Tatehana. Among the people involved in the new movement, it is not clear whether there was agreement about what and how much to change the traditional Ikebana. For instance, Sofu Teshiganaha (1900 - 1979), the founder of the Sogetsu school was looking into a rather small, but important aspect of Ikebana. He criticised the traditional Ikebana, particularly in between the Edo and Taisho periods which made too much of copying in creating and in teaching Ikebana. He commented that such an approach was not “artistic”. Here is an important point in finding out about his idea of “art”. I’ll discuss more about this later.

Notably, in the period from Edo to Taisho there were two Ikebana booms in which the number of Ikebana schools increased significantly. I’ll summarise the characteristics of those booms in short soon. They would help not just to understand the overall history of Ikebana but also the crucial points of Sofu’s argument. After the second World War what occurred was the third and the largest Ikebana boom in which Sogetsu and Ohara, the major powers in the new Ikebana movement, as well as Ikenobo, played important roles.

The image here is the work I made for Koko Japanese restaurant at the Crown Hotel during Christmas and New Year last year. I have been asked to create displays for them again this year. I hope you will have a chance to see my works there.

I am going to participate in the Lorne Sculpture and the Biennale of Australian Art this year. I will be exhibiting the second and the third series of my environmental art following my award winning piece, Whale’s Stomach, at the Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition 2017. I hope you will enjoy them.

My course at RMIT Short Courses, Japanese aesthetics: From flower arrangement to contemporary art will start again from 14 February 2018.

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Ikebana Today 65

The New Ikebana Movement in 1930’s changed ikebana significantly. Ikebana came to be influenced by the Western Modernism Art Movement. How can we see ikebana today in the context of the international contemporary art? There are many topics to be considered.

1 What was the nature of Modernism Art Movement? When it came to Japan, why was the idea of Ikebana as spiritual training rejected?

2 How did the Modernism Movement change Ikebana?

3 The focus of contemporary art has moved from Modernism to Post Modernism. Should Ikebana keep focusing on the ideas of Modernism? Shouldn’t it shift its focus to Post Modernism?
4 Can Ikebana be a part of the Post Modernism art movement? Can we create contemporary art with ikebana?

5 Do we need to re-evaluate the traditional aspects of ikebana that were rejected by the New Ikebana Movement? How do ikebana practitioners with non-Japanese cultural backgrounds see the traditional aspects?

My recent sculptural work, Whale’s Stomach was an attempt to answer question 4. It won the Arnold Bloch Leibler Prize 2017 at 17th Annual Yarra Valley Arts / Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition. It was a mixture of ikebana elements and non-ikebana elements. I was particularly conscious of the process of creation. Ikebana has taught me that there is a moment when a flower arrangement becomes a work of art. When I reach that point, my work starts to tell its own story.

In making this work, I first made an object with various plastic bags. But the colours of the bags were so diverse that I had to cover the whole object with some large blue plastic wrapping sheets I found on a building site. The colour of the blue is so symbolic and effective. Only when you look closely do you notice the many plastic bags inside.

The next step was to wrap the structure with chicken wire. But I was still not happy. When I took the surface of the chicken wire and created the wrinkles, I realised I'd reached the point where my work started to tell a story. I spent about 3 hours just before installation to create organic patterns on the surface.

I’ll mention this work again sometime in a different context. In particular, this is a good example of the difference between ikebana and contemporary sculpture.

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Ikebana Today 64

Mirei Shigemori’s view on art had a significant influence on Ikebana. It was around the 1930’s that Shigemori advocated a new Ikebana movement with Sofu Teshigahara, the founder of Sogetsu school and Houn Ohara, the headmaster of Ohara school. Shigemori stated that Ikebana is art. What he meant by art is the Modernism movement of the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Some of the artists Shigemori admired include Jean-François Millet and Wassily Kandinsky.

It is necessary to clarify the characteristics of Modernism, and to look into how they influenced Ikebana. Among the three largest Ikebana schools, both Sogetsu and Ohara were influenced by the new Ikebana movement and gained great popularity after the war, becoming the major forces in the largest Ikebana boom in Japanese history. They moved away from many aspects of traditional Ikebana, including the notion of Ikebana as a spiritual training and the traditional attitude of respecting flowers as spiritual entities.

What I am talking about here is probably the most important cultural transformation in the history of Ikebana. Nevertheless, very few people have ever discussed this issue in public, probably because this is a rather inconvenient and concerning topic for some people. It is a good time, however, to reevaluate the new Ikebana movement and reconsider the role of Ikebana in contemporary society. Facing such a huge topic, it might be better to start with a list of questions in the next issue.

This image is a detail of my wedding installation at the Mural hall, Myer in Melbourne. With help from my fantastic team, I transformed the hall into a dream world using about 2000 roses. As I do both installations and wedding bouquets, I am often requested to do this kind of challenging project.

I conducted a Ikebana workshop at Kazari in October as part of Salvo Community Fundraising Events and the next one will be at Made in Japan in South Melbourne on the 25th of November. If your organisation is interested in hosting our workshops, please contact us.

Also please visit Yering Station in Yarra Valley by 5 December to see my award wining work as part of their annual sculpture exhibition.

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Ikebana Today 63

Mirei Shigemori’s assertion that flowers are nothing more than materials for self expression influenced such major Ikebana schools as Sogetsu and Ohara that gained great popularity after the war. To recognise how innovative this statement was, as well as how radically it was different to how flowers were seen before, we need to look into the origin of Ikebana.

Yutaka Tuchihashi (1990) states that Ikebana developed from the ancient custom of Hanami (flower viewing) by way of establishment of the Rikka style Ikebana. The aim of Hanami seems to be gaining vital force by viewing flowers, in particular Spring blossoms. 

In Japanese the word, hana (flower) also means with a different intonation nose, which is the contact point to the outside. Flower can be taken to mean, therefore, the contact point of this world to the outside, the sacred world.    

In the ancient Japan, people also took a branch of blossom from the fields and put it in the rice paddocks. They intended to transplant the nature’s life force, that sacred energy, to the paddock wishing for abundant crops. Their attitudes to flower suggest fetishism and manaism. 

We can assume that flower was regarded as something full of life force. Its energy was also seen as something mysterious, sacred and contagious. Importantly it also revitalised our souls. Such was the notion of flowers underlying in the development of Ikebana. 

Therefore, Shigemori’s teachings denied not just Ikebana as a spiritual training but also Japanese traditional attitudes to flower. We need to further reconsider his attitude, which was influenced by the Western Modernism, from a historical point of view. Do we still need to follow his teachings in the era of Post Modernism?     

The image is one of a small works I made for the exhibition of Tomokazu Matsuyama at Lesley Kehoe Galleries, 101 Collins St, Melbourne. I used subdued colours to work with colourful works by Mr Matsuyama.

October is a busy month for me. On 7th and 8th we will hold Wa: Ikebana exhibition at the Abbotsford convent. This is the third annual exhibition by Ikenobo, Ichiyo and my students of Sogetsu school. 

From 22nd, my sculptural work will be exhibited at Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition. I’m pleased that my environmental sculpture was selected for this show. Both sites are great to visit. 

From 25th, my course, Japanese Aesthetics: From Ikebana to contemporary art will start at the RMIT Short Courses.

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Ikebana Today 62

I have been talking about Ikebana as spiritual training. However, a very influential Ikebana researcher, Mirei Shigemori stated that Ikebana has nothing to do with either religion or moral teaching and denied Ikebana as a spiritual training. Instead, in 1930, he declared that Ikebana is nothing but art. Shigemori’s declaration has changed the teaching of Ikebana significantly in many schools, in particular, Sogetsu, Ohara and other schools that gained great popularity after the war.

Shigemori encouraged Ikebana artists to use, cut and bend plant materials as they wish, and denied the notions of respecting their natural way of being or having sympathetic attitudes to them. In other words, he regarded the plant materials as mere materials for self expression. Natural materials are just objects to use. This view is noteworthy, because it is so opposed to the Japanese traditional view of nature.

Actually Ikebana has many spiritual aspects to investigate, styles, views of the universe, views of natural materials, and the philosophy of learning called Shugyo. Dr Osamu Inoue discussed many of those aspects in his remarkable book, The Thoughts of Ikebana (2016). However, he did not mention much about Japanese perception of natural materials. He did mention that Yorishiro, a sacred object in Shinto belief, often made of natural materials, might be an origin of Ikebana. Nevertheless, he like many other Ikebana researchers, did not discuss further the connection between Ikebana and Shinto.

Considering that flowers were sacred objects for the Japanese in the Shinto tradition, Shigemori’s attitudes to natural materials, influenced by Western culture, is extremely contradictive.

We also need to assume that there is a huge gap between the traditional Ikebana schools and the new Ikebana schools such as the Sogetsu school. In order to recognise such a difference precisely, we need to reconsider the traditional Japanese view of flower again in the next issues.

The Ikebana work in this photo is a commercial work for a reception. I enjoy experimenting with various designs.

In August, the Ikebana Gallery Awards were announced and the students’ works were viewed by more than 16 thousands people around the world. We are pleased to be able to provide such a rare opportunity to many students for free. On 7 & 8 October, Wa: Ikebana Exhibition will be held at Abbotsford convent. Please don’t miss it.
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Ikebana Today 61

Is Ikebana spiritual training? In the 16th century, Senno Ikenobo stated that practicing Ikebana might lead you to enlightenment. Many Ikebana practitioners see the truth in his words and Japanese in general seem to regard Ikebana as a kind of spiritual training.

However, it was Mirei Shigemori who declared in 1933 that Ikebana has nothing to do with spiritual training nor any moral teachings. Then, what is Ikebana? Shigemori regarded it as art. His movement is called the Shinko-Ikebana-sengen and it changed Ikebana significantly.


Actually Ikebana was transformed significantly in the Showa period (1926 - 1989). In the 1920s free style Ikebana was seen for the first time. This was a really big change in Ikebana history. Shinko-Ikebana Sengen began in the 1930’s. During the WWⅡ　(1939 - 1945), Ikebana had almost disappeared from Japan. After the war, Ikebana suddenly became popular. In the next decades, an Ikebana boom occurred in Japan in which the largest number of people engaged in Ikebana in history.


These changes are all related. The perception of Ikebana as art rather than as spiritual training brought the Ikebana boom in the Showa period. This is most likely due to the influence of Shigemori. I’ll look into more what he was thinking of at that time.

Looking back, I feel that my view on Ikebana was also influenced by Shigemori. If I was convinced that Ikebana was a kind of spiritual training, I would have started it much earlier. I remember talking to one of my old friends about my doubt about Ikebana. Is it really worth doing? Will it take me where I would like to be? Wouldn’t I regret having invested so much time in Ikebana in the future? “As it is the way of flower, it will be good for you” “I suppose” Both of us were not so sure. I could not make my mind for a long time, maybe because of Shigemori.

On 18 August Dr Kobayashi will talk about Ikebana at the University of Melbourne. She is the president of International Society of Ikebana Studies.

I recently started a new project, The Salvos community fundraising through Ikebana workshops. By hosting our workshop, you can earn $200 and donate $50 to a charity. This is ideal for cafes, educational institutions, churches etc. Please check our website.

Please download free Ikebana calendars with this image from my website.


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Ikebana Today 60

I have been talking about what Ikebana is from various view points. A well supported definition of Ikebana is that it is a spiritual training. However, what it means is rather complicated. Zen philosophy may be helpful to understand Ikebana as a spiritual training, but as I mentioned in the previous issues, I have many questions about such an approach. Zen philosophy alone cannot explain all aspects of Ikebana nor Japans culture.  

As my previous essays suggest, thinking about Ikebana is closely related to thinking about Japanese culture. Also, studying history of Ikebana is actually studying about Japanese history. The rise of samurai class as political power affected Ikebana style and economical power of merchant class in Edo period also affected Ikebana. Ikebana as a part of the Japanese culture changes in accordance with it society.     

Let’s now consider Ikebana as spiritual training further. First of all, are we practicing Ikebana as a spiritual training today? If so, spiritual aspects should be included in Ikebana teaching, and we should expect Ikebana teachers to be highly virtuous. In my view, that is not the case, although, off course, there are so many variables. The point is that there is a reason for this. Actually the traditional notion of Ikebana as a spiritual training was strongly denied in the early 20th century.     

It was Mirei Shigemori who provoked a notion that Ikebana has nothing to do with a spiritual training. He influenced many Ikebana artists including head masters of Sogetsu school and Ohara school, the two of the three major Ikebana schools. As I mentioned before, Shigemori is one the greatest Japanese garden designers in 20th century. In fact, his garden designs inspired me so much that I decided to study about Japanese gardens and got a qualification as a garden designer. I’ll write a bit more about Shigemori in the next issue and then I’ll write about my thoughts on Ikebana as a spiritual training. 

In June I talked about Ikebana at NGV, and Dr Kobayashi, president of International Society of Ikebana Studies will also talk about Ikebana at the University of Melbourne on 18 August, 2017. Details will be on my website.  

This is a work I made for Hanabishi restaurant in city. Working to create regular displays has been a good training for me for many years.       

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Ikebana Today 59

I’ve been writing about my questions about a popular notion that Japanese culture is Zen culture. I also have a little question about Sado, the Japanese tea ceremony.

A renowned philosopher from the Kyoto school of philosophy, Shinichi Hisamatsu said, “ Wabi-cha (tea ceremony) was a religious revolution in Zen.” What he meant was probably that Zen was transformed to the tea ceremony when it was introduced from Buddhist temples to the common people. But I don’t agree with him.

Let’s think about the Japan Festival in Melbourne as a case study. This is a good sample of cultural transformation. A: Japanese festival + B: Australian ways of cultural events = C: Melbourne Japan Festival as a new culture. A new culture is almost always a combination of an original culture and other cultures.

Hisamatsu’s comment can be simplified as; A: Zen + B:? = C: tea ceremony. I don’t think Zen can be transformed to other forms without any other influential factors. Seemingly, a tea party, a new culture from China at that time was supposed to be B, another cultural factor. However, we need to be aware that tea parties were almost gambling activities for the Japanese at that time.

I wonder whether someone would try to transform a gambling occasion to a sophisticated interpersonal performance like a tea ceremony. Would anyone try to transform for instance mah-jongg to a spiritual ritual today?

This is only my hypothesis but a model of the tea ceremony may be one of the Shinto rituals related to eating and serving; A: Zen + B: Shinto rituals = C: tea ceremony. However, I cannot provide any evidence that Juko Murata (1423 - 1502), a founder of the tea ceremony was associated with Shinto. Although he was believed to be a Zen monk, very little is known about him.

My hypothesis may be weak in this case, but it is fascinating to review various aspects of Japanese culture from a Shinto perspective. I think Shinto deserves much more attention in Japanese studies.

This is a work I made for a clinic reception. It was a bit hard to add water to the containers, but they said, “don’t worry, we will ask one of our surgeons and he will water them using his syringe"

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Ikebana Today 58

I’m going to add more to the list of questions about the notion that Japanese culture is Zen culture.

4. It is commonly accepted that the foundation of Japanese religious consciousness is ancestor worship. It is generally taken care of by Buddhism and various rites of passage, including weddings, are taken care of by Shinto. However, such a division was introduced only in the Edo period (1603 -1867). When Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the 6th century, it was probably perceived as a sophisticated and trendy religion. Nevertheless, it was probably Shinto that took care of ancestor worship, the foundation of the spiritual life of the Japanese. Such a foundation has been maintained throughout the Japanese history until today, but it is easily concealed by other religious veils such as Buddhism.

5. The original Zen, introduced to China from India, was very different from the Zen practiced in Japan today. Zen in Japan is very similar to Shinto in many aspects including its goals, attitude to nature and, in particular, aesthetics. 

Although I have not explained anything properly, I sometimes imagine that the Japanese may have been practising Shinto under the veil of Zen. I further imagine that the perception of Japanese culture as Zen culture may be wrong. Such a notion might have been propaganda prompted by Daisetz Suzuki, Kyoto School of Philosophy and the Japanese government. Probably they wanted to ignore Shinto as the foundation of Japanese culture. 

First, it is hard to investigate Shinto anyway. There are not sufficient reliable introductory documents about Shinto. In addition Shinto was highly political before the war. It must have been inconvenient to present Japan as a nation of Shinto in the international community after the war. However, Shinto thoughts related to politics before the war or right wing extremism were abnormal parts of it.

In considering Ikebana in relation to the Japanese spirituality, Shinto perspectives are necessary rather than those of Zen. My proposal is that Japanese culture is fundamentally Shinto culture. While it seems to be common sense historically, surprisingly few people publicly advocate such a notion.

This is a commercial Ikebana work using a branch found on the roadside. Natural wastes are often our resources.

I’ll take a part in Arts Learning Festival in Melbourne with some international artists such as Michelangelo Pistoletto in May.

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Ikebana Today 57

It is popular to explain that the essence of Japanese culture is Zen. There are many great books to support such a notion. Their arguments are relatively easy to follow. However, in my view, there are many points about Japanese culture that contradict such a notion.


1 Zen buddhism is not necessarily the largest Buddhist sect in Japan. Probably the Pure Land sect is the largest and Nichiren related sects are also very popular. Then, how can Zen represent Japanese Buddhism or Japanese culture?

2 Ikebana is often discussed in terms of Zen Buddhism. Zen influenced many forms of traditional Japanese art such as the tea ceremony, Ikebana and Noh plays in the Muromachi period. However, the largest Ikebana school in Japan is Ikenobo and Ikenobo is affiliated with Tendai Buddhism, not Zen. Of course, Tendai does include Zen in their teaching. However, the position of Zen in their teaching is different from that in such typical Zen sects as Rinzai and Soto.


3 This is just my personal impression, but I did not find any Zen aesthetics in a Chinese Zen temple in Melbourne. What I mean by Zen aesthetics is purity, simplicity, or wabi that often represent Japanese aesthetics. Zen aesthetics may not be the same as Japanese aesthetics, which I always find in Shinto shrines. Japanese aesthetics may be more related to Shinto than Zen.
These are all observation made by a novice. 

In the next issue, I’ll continue adding my questions about the statement that Japanese culture is Zen culture, and I’ll present my own hypothesis about Japanese culture.

This is the work I made for Chotto, popular Japanese cafe on 30 Smith St, Fitzroy. I heard that they received very good feedback from their clients. Simple designs always work for commercial displays.  

I’ll talk about environmental art and Ikebana at the International Academic Forum in Kobe and at a Japanese university in April. On 29th I’ll conduct an Ikebana demonstration at Made in Japan, South Melbourne. On 3rd May, my course, “From Ikebana to contemporary art” at RMIT Short Courses will start again. On 27th May, I will conduct an Ikebana workshop for beginners at Chotto, Fitzroy. Hope many of you can come and join us.

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Ikebana Today 56

It is actually convenient to explain that Ikebana is a spiritual training. However, how can we convince people of this, especially those outside Japan? How can we prove that creating Ikebana, which is observable is connected to a spiritual enhancement, which is hard to measure? It is probably safe to say that just like meditation or Zen training, accumulating the exercise of Ikebana will affect the human spirit positively. But how can we investigate this issue more scientifically or effectively?


First, a socio-psychological approach may work to some extent. Canadian researchers found that those practising Ikebana for more than 17 years are happier that those who are practicing it fewer years. That is a certainly a great starting point for our argument 1.


Secondly, it may be possible to describe the Ikebana experience using the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures, a well-known developmental model of Zen. The ten pictures represent ten stages of the spiritual path toward enlightenment. In the beginning, a boy gets a glimpse of the tail of an ox, which is a metaphor of enlightenment. Then he touches it and gradually tames it. Finally, something strange happens to the ox. If interested, please check for more details in the internet or books.


Probably it is possible to propose a developmental model of Ikebana training applying this Zen model. Although it is not easy, I think it is quite a promising approach.


However, I start to wonder why Zen? It is true that Japanese culture was influenced a lot by Zen Buddhism, but Zen is just one of the factors that affected Japanese culture. I think that describing Japanese culture only from a Zen point of view is wrong and needs to be reconsidered.


Typical Japanese art forms such as Ikebana, the tea ceremony and Noh plays were established during the Muromachi period. It is generally believed that the influence of Zen Buddhism had a strong influence on the rise of these art forms. Probably this comes from what history textbooks tell us about Zen and Japanese culture. However, I am a bit suspicious about accepting Japanese history from textbooks.


This is a table arrangement I made for a wedding reception. Our clients’ request was to use pink and burgundy as main colours. It was hard to find enough burgundy colour flowers in summer. But our clients were very happy with our works.


1. Shoso Shimbo, Ikebana in English: Bibliographical Essay, https://independent.academia.edu/ShosoShimbo
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Ikebana Today 55

Isn’t it more convenient to present Ikebana as a unique Japanese way of meditation or spiritual training rather than trying to understand it in the context of Western art and design?

Before I start to talk about that option, it is important to emphasise again the close relationship between Ikebana and Western art. The influence of western culture on Ikebana is significant. After the Meiji Restoration, firstly, certain styles of western flower arrangements were incorporated into Ikebana. Then, some ideas of Modern art inspired several artists to develop a free style Ikebana. The number of Ikebana practitioners increased significantly after the war, under the slogan, “Ikebana is art”.

However, there is a big difference in terms of the definition of art between Ikebana artists in Japan and contemporary western artists. Although this is an interesting topic to consider, we will think about it some other time.


Is it easy for Western people to understand that Ikebana is a spiritual training? The training in Ikebana largely consists of acquiring skills. However, remember that I mentioned that in Western art, skills are not always appreciated highly. Beautiful paintings by highly skilful painters are not always appreciated as highly valued art. Being simply beautiful is not necessarily artistic. Ikebana may be perceived as a beautiful popular folk craft rather than art, lacking sculptural qualities or concepts.

But in Japan Ikebana is more than a craft. It is recognised as a way of the flower, a spiritual training through acquiring skills. However, an important question is how acquiring skills is related to spiritual enhancement. While the former is something that can be measured, the latter is something more metaphysical. We will think about this difficult question in forthcoming issues.

The Ikebana work of this month is one I created for a clinical reception. Our service includes weekly flowers for offices etc.

In February my course, Ikebana to Contemporary art at RMIT Short Courses will start again and in March I will conduct an Ikebana introduction workshop at a Fitzroy library. If you want to try Ikebana near the city, consider these options. Learning Ikebana is a great way to meet new people.


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Ikebana Today 54

In a collection of his works, Shunmyo Masuno, a garden designer and zen monk, states that creating gardens is a zen training. The important thing is to devote oneself to daily training. Great works can never be created by chance. Here is a philosophy of art in Japan. If you devote yourself to one thing and accomplish it, you can also accomplish your own life. Way or DO is unification of devotion and accomplished art. Art training is also regarded as a spiritual training. There is a belief that only virtuous persons can create great work of art.

Actually the belief of DO is everywhere in Japan, not just in art training such as Ikebana, but also in cooking, sports, management, academic work, manufacturing, cleaning etc. This is a very familiar notion for the Japanese.

In the previous issues, I tried to position Ikebana in the context of the Western art and questioned whether it is art or design. But I could not do it so easily. If I state that Ikebana is a spiritual training just like meditation or zen training, however, there would be little ambiguity. This may be a great way to introduce Ikebana to people outside Japan. Indeed, that’s exactly how Daisetsu Suzuki, a well known zen master, introduced Japanese culture to the West after the war.

During his visit to Melbourne last November, it appeared to me that Dr Inoue, associate professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design and the vice president of International Society of Ikebana Studies, also sees Ikebana in a similar way. I look forward to his future work, the philosophy of Ikebana after his publication of The Thought of Ikebana this year. His work would follow a great succession of well-known members of the Kyoto School of Philosophy including Shinichi Hisamatsu who wrote the book “The Philosophy of Tea”

I do agree that Ikebana is a form of DO. However, I don’t think that Ikebana can be explained completely in zen philosophy. Although I don’t intend to undermine the great works done by Daisetsu Suzuki and the Kyoto School of Philosophy, I will discuss my own views of Ikebana from the next issues.

This is a New Year’s arrangement I made for Koko restaurant in the Crown Hotel last year. I make new work every year. If you have a chance, please visit the restaurant to see it.

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Ikebana Today 53

As I mentioned last time, the difference between Ikebana and contemporary art is similar to that between haiku and a novel. The former resonates mainly in the senses, while the latter resonates mainly in the intellect. Realising such differences is not a conclusion, but a starting point in investigating what Ikebana is. We have to face more and often more complicated questions.

Ikebana values more than anything how it appears in the work’s internal contexts such as materials and their composition. Isn’t that a characteristic of design rather than art?

It is generally agreed that Western floristry belongs to design rather than art. It has to be first of all a commercial product, which is a realistic necessity. Of course some of the Western floral works can be really artistic. For instance, look at some of the works included in “International Floral Art” by Stichting Kunstboek, Belgium. On viewing the many fascinating works including my own, one might realise that the boundary between design and art is rather ambiguous even in Western floristry.

Then, what about Ikebana? Is it design or art? In this series, I have been criticising again and again the statement that “Ikebana is art”. It is too simplistic. In some aspects Ikebana is like design, in other aspects it is like art. To answer this question, we probably need to look at Ikebana from a different perspective. What is that perspective? I’ll keep writing about it next year.

This is a work I made for a graduation ceremony of a girls’ college in Melbourne. The person in charge had seen my large work at the Lorne Sculpture 2016 and my small table arrangements for their grandparents day, and decided to commission me again for this event . As you can imagine, it was very well received. It may be rather rare to have flower arrangements of this scale at a school event in Australia. However, I hope that large flower arrangements will soon be highly recommended in any important event, not just in schools, but also in other organizations. In Japan it is a common sense to have a flower arrangement on important occasions. Maybe it should be a mission of Ikebana artists in Australia to promote such a notion about the function and power of flowers.

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