Centuries ago, ikebana culture blossomed in Kyoto
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0005833966
By Yasuhiko Mori / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer
Kyoto Standing in almost the exact center of Kyoto, Chohoji temple, also known as Rokkakudo, was a meeting place for townspeople for centuries. At some times, it has been a pillar of local autonomy. At others, it has been a flash point for riots. It also produced an important cultural legacy: ikebana flower arrangement.
Ikebana is said to have its origins in offerings of flowers on Buddhist altars with religious statues or memorial tablets.
Ikebana also came to be displayed in sitting rooms where guests were received in private homes. These tatami-mat rooms, called zashiki, began to appear in Japanese houses in the Muromachi period (1336-1573). A tokonoma alcove, one step above the floor, would be positioned opposite the room’s entrance. A hanging scroll, an art object or a flower arrangement would be displayed in the alcove to please guests.
Yasuhiko Murai, a professor emeritus of Japanese cultural history at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, described a scene from urban life in those days, which would have remained common until early-modern times.
“In a zashiki room decorated with flowers, samurai, priests and townspeople gathered, composed renga linked verse and had tea,” he said.
Around 1460, many skillful flower arrangers began to gain fame in Kyoto. Court nobles and their retainers expressed their aesthetic sense by arranging flowers at the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Residences of the shogun were florally decorated by servants called doboshu, who were experts on art.
Priest Ikenobo Senkei was one of those people. The name Ikenobo derives from a residence for priests, called “bo,” near a pond, or “ike,” in the precincts of Rokkakudo. Senkei is mentioned in “Hekizan Nichiroku,” the diary of a priest of Tofukuji temple in Kyoto. An entry dated Feb. 25, 1462, says that Senkei, at the invitation of an official of the Muromachi shogunate, put dozens of flowers and leaves on display in a gold vase. Many flower arranging enthusiasts in Kyoto went to see the ikebana, the diary said.
The diary tells that Senkei arranged flowers not merely at Rokkakudo, where townspeople gathered, but also went out into the city to arrange flowers for ornamental purposes when he was asked to do so.
Since then, Ikenobo priests have passed down the technique and theory of ikebana flower arrangement. Successive generations of heads of the Ikenobo school have served as head priests of Rokkakudo. Ikenobo Senko will inherit the title of 46th-generation Ikenobo school head. Ikenobo is the oldest school dedicated to the art of flower arranging and boasts the largest number of disciples.
Western-style flower arrangement is referred to as an “aesthetic of addition,” as many flowers are added to fill a space. In contrast, Japanese ikebana is called an “aesthetic of subtraction.” Without using many flowers, the space between earth and sky can be expressed by pruning away flowers and leaves.
Senko told me of words by Ikenobo Senno, who brought a systematic approach to ikebana in the late Muromachi period: “Not only beautiful flowers but also withered flowers have life.”
Observing life in dying flowers as well as fresh ones is a feature of ikebana.
Ikebana is inherent to Japanese traditional life. If you are a short-stay traveler to Japan and want to see ikebana right now, I recommend a visit to Rokkakudo. Flowers are offered on Buddhist altars there even today.
If you do not have time to go to Kyoto, look for a Japanese restaurant that serves food in a zashiki room, as flowers are often displayed in tokonoma there.
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This column, which appears once a month, is about various aspects of the culture of Kyoto.
Mori was born and raised in Kyoto. He has 30 years of experience in reporting about Kyoto culture. He has extensively covered scholars of the New Kyoto school, the heads of tea ceremony and flower arrangement schools, as well as maiko in the Gion area of the city. Speech