Study of Ikebana
My purpose for studying Ikebana at Umass Dartmouth is to develop my own sense of flower arrangement without restrictions by traditional Ikebana community which roots in Japan. I focused on studying in its history, flower arrangements, and vases specified for Ikebana.
Ikebana is a traditional Japanese flower arrangement, which is considered one of the most interesting, and most beloved tradition in the whole world. Ikebana is strongly popular culture in Japan while other tradition such as religion and traditional manners are fading in this modern world.
The name of Ikebana is originated from ikiru (to live) and hana (flowers and branches). As its name implies, Ikebana is the way of representing flowers in the way to give flowers lives, by setting them in the most naturalistic manner.
In Japan, the basic way of learning Ikebana is to take classes. There are usually two to three students for one teacher in one session. At beginners' classes, you learn the basics of Ikebana, your teacher will give you a text book which shows many kinds of way of arranging. You are learned to follow the patterns, and later you'll be able to create one with your own sense.
In this study, I especially focused on creating unique and interesting vases which are used in Ikebana. In Ikebana, vases take major role in creativity, how you make it and how you arrange flowers with it will become very important.
Because not so many people are trained in both vase making and flower arrangement, I was given a good chance by this independent study. This was my first time to try Ikebana by myself, therefore I was having hard time to find what to do. Overall, I learned basics of Ikebana through this semester, and in my future, I'll try to go for more deeper part of Ikebana.
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