What is Ikebana?
生け花とは
If you already knew about the word “Ikebana”, you must have heard about or seen the Japanese floral arrangement somewhere in the past. Yes, it is the Japanese traditional floral arrangement. It might look simple compared to the Western floral arrangements; however, it is not just an arrangement simply arranged in a container. It’s an art created in a container, using the best out of natural shapes and colours of each material, which are living flowers, branches, leaves and grasses.
生け花は日本の伝統芸術のひとつ。西洋のフラワーアレンジメントと比べるとシンプルに見えるかもしれませんが、器にただシンプルに飾られたアレンジメントではありません。花、枝、葉や草といった花材のひとつひとつが持つ形や色を最大限に生かして創り上げられるアートです。
Brief history of Ikebana
生け花の略史
生け花のルーツは仏教が伝来し、仏に花を供える（仏前供花）風習が定着した頃の6世紀まで遡ります。代表されるものは三尊形式で、三尊画のように3本の花で構成されるもので、これはのちにたて花や立花（りっか）と呼ばれる生け花の基本となります。
室町時代、茶の湯や能楽、日本庭園といった日本の伝統的な文化が京都の東山地域で生まれました。この時期、新しい建築形式である書院造の発展に伴い、池坊専慶が生け花の初期の形式であるたて花を構築します。もともと仏像画、お香、花を飾るために作られた床の間と呼ばれる空間はやがて生け花を含む美しい作品を飾る場所へと変化します。
その後、新しい流派も誕生していきました。18世紀後半には大阪、京都、江戸にたくさんの流派が存在していたという記録が残されています。明治時代に西洋の文化が取り入れられ生活習慣が大きく変わり始めると、それに伴い生け花にも変化が訪れます。小原流の創始者、小原雲心（うんしん）は、この変化に伴い盛花という新しいスタイルの生け花を確立しました。これはこれまでの、一点から出てくる形式の生け花と異なった全く新しい形式で、現代生け花の始まりとされています。
The root of Ikebana is in the 6th century when Buddhism was introduced to Japan and people started to offer flowers to Buddha (kuge). The most representative style was called the sanzon style, which expresses the image of the Buddist triad, with a large Buddha in the centre flanked by two smaller ones. The offering was consisted of three stems, and it later becomes the basis of the styles called tatehana and rikka.
In Muromachi period (1336-1573), the classic Japanese traditional culture, such as tea ceremony, Noh drama and landscape gardening was born in Higashiyama area near Kyoto. Around this time, the priest Ikenobo Senkei developed the earliest form of Ikabana called Tatehana, literally “standing flowers” for the new type of architecture called Shoin-zukuri, a residential style for court nobles. The room has a large alcove with shelves called tokonoma, where originally was for the display of a Buddhist painting, an incense burner and flowers. This area evolved into a space to display of aesthetic objects including ikebana.
After that, new schools (ryu-ha) of ikebana started to be established. Records show that there were many schools (ryu-ha) already existed in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo in the later 18th century. In Meiji period (1868-1912), when Japan reopened its doors after about 250 years, European and American culture seemed to flood into the country. This dramatic change influenced not only the lifestyle of the Japanese people but also the world of ikebana. Unshin Ohara, the founder of the Ohara school (ryu) of ikebana, originated a totally new form of ikebana called moribana, literally “piled up flowers”. The form is different from the traditional ikebana style, which all the materials had been arranged tightly at a single point. This innovation is recognized as the birth of modern ikebana.