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History of Ikebana
To capture the natural beauty of the fields and hills - the various greens and colors of flowers and trees.
To share this with others, especially long-awaited special guests.
Such are the thoughts that must have prompted men even in ancient times, as they do today, to select blooms or branches and place them on display.
With time, in arranging flowers and branches, one becomes aware of the very different results obtained by merely changing the position of a branch, the placement of the flowers, the number used, the shape, color combination and the blending of materials. This naturally leads to the question "What kind of arrangement," and "What combinations of materials," best bring out or emphasize the natural beauty of the flowers and branches being arranged? In Ikebana, one of the traditional arts of Japan, these questions have been seriously pursued and discussed for hundreds of years. The combined achievements of thousands of individual Ikebana devotees, building one upon the other through these many years, have resulted in the present day techniques of Ikebana. Now in Japan, there had been thousands stream of Ikebana. The big three of them are Ikenobo (the oldest), Ohara and Shogetsu (the modernest).
Ikebana took disciplined form in the Muromachi Period (1390-1573). The Muromachi Period's cultural characteristics are represented in a combination of art forms known as the Higashiyama Culture (which are called the traditional cultures of Japan). Prior to that, from the time of the Nara Period (8th century), there were only
Kuge (floral offerings) which refers to Buddhist floral offerings and is an integral element in the Buddhist ritual. In that early time, flowers were not used for decoration or in appreciation of the flowers themselves. The most conventional form was to place flowers upright in a vase.
As time passed, these floral offerings lost their religious significance, and people began to appreciate the arrangements themselves for their beauty alone.
The next step in the development of Ikebana, Tatebana (standing arrangement) was developed as a means for decorating a room. Tatebana form were priests who were the intellectual and artistic leaders of the Muromachi government, supported by the patronage of the powerful military dictator and the warrior samurai class.
From the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century when elements of Tatebana became unified and systematized, Tatebana developed into the Rikka form, another standing arrangement, but much more complex.
Simultaneously with the development of Rikka with its formalism, there was the free-style Nageire, with no formality or set rules of arrangement. Nageire form could be placed anywhere by anyone. Just as the elegant Rikka was patronized by and propagated among the upper class, Nageire was taken up by the merchant class and the general public.
In the same period, the tea ceremony exerted a deep influence on Ikebana. The flowers chosen for the occasion must be simple to properly represent one's heart or spirit and reflect one's innermost feelings. This was called Chabana (tea arrangement). While Rikka filled the need for ritual and formality, this Chabana emphasized the individual and free form with the objective of the arranger-esthete becoming one with nature.
Casual Nageire were combined with the beautifully contrived form of Rikka and the spiritual depth of Chabana, each mutually influencing the other, to bring to birth the Shoka form. This arrangement, free and full of ease and grace, made it much easier for all to comprehend and attracted the masses.
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