Author: kamys

The Joy of Improvisation

Preparing for the upcoming Ikebana demonstration

This week is all about Ikebana for me.  My online Ikebana classes are scheduled for tomorrow and my in-person classes are on Saturday.  And there is an Ikeabna demonstration at Cherry Blossom Festival in Seattle Center on Sunday.

This morning I went to the local wholesale florist to purchase flower materials for the Saturday in-person and for the demonstration on Sunday.

Demonstrations are always fun as well as horrifying because almost nothing goes as previously planned.

I first rough sketch how I envision creating arrangements. The demo time is 45 minutes, so I figure I will make 4 to 5 different types of arrangements.  The first one is the most basic, and I will explain how the three stems define the basic structure of the arrangement. 

Then I will transit to showing several freestyle arrangements, each of which has some particular themes.  Am I emphasizing the beauty of lines?  Rhythm of the materials? The color contrast?  Or combinations of all three elements?  I choose containers and flower materials to match the styles I have in mind.

Then I go to the flower shop.  Chances are that I can’t find some of the materials I want.  On the fly I either have to ditch the plan to make that arrangement or look for materials that are close enough.

Today I was lucky to find materials for four out of five arrangements I planned. After I came back, I tried to put together each of them and took photos.

The first photo is a very basic one.

Next is a tall arrangement with alstroemeria and veronica.

Palm leaves and anthurium

The name of these tulips is “Shogun.”  I couldn’t help but buy them!

No matter how much I prepare beforehand, however, demonstrations rarely go exactly the way I expect.  I might cut branches too short or keep them too long.  Since I arrange flowers from behind, The condition of the flower materials may change by then.

The best thing I can do on stage on Sunday, is that I enjoy myself creating something new and beautiful every moment.      

The Spring Sunlight, and Sakura

Found in a Poem from Hyakunin Isshu

Hyakunin Isshu 百人一首 is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred waka poems by one hundred poets compiled in the 13th century.  I once memorized them all in my high school days, but almost half a century later, I remember only a handful.

When prompted with sunlight, I was happily surprised that I could still recite this one poem by heart.

33/100 紀友則　by Kino Nomonori
久方の　Hisakata no
光のどけき  Hikari nodokeki
春の陽に  Haru no hi ni
しづ心なく  Shizu kokoro naku
花の散るらむ  Hana no chiruramu.

The following is the English translation by William N. Porter (1909).

THE spring has come, and once again
The sun shines in the sky;
So gently smile the heavens, that
It almost makes me cry,
When blossoms droop and die.

Even the most gentle sunlight in the spring can’t stop sakura (cherry) blossoms from falling.  Only Impermanence is forever…

The Serenity and the Beauty of Tea Gathering

In response to the April 2023 DEP Photography prompt and weekly prompt 27/52

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

I was away from daily writing while hosting two students from Kyoto.  After hectic (though deeply meaningful) days with them, I had an opportunity to enjoy the serenity moment by attending Chaji 茶事, the most formal tea gathering, last weekend.

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

First, the guests (three of us) were drawn to the waiting room.  The hosts use their Northwestern-style living room for this space.   They first served us a glass of warm water.  Inside were several cherry blossom petals, slightly salted. 

We guests moved to the bench overlooking the beautiful Japanese garden.  The hosts have spent 9 years carefully landscaping the yard once filled with wild trees. We enjoyed the scenery for a while, purified our hands and our mouth with water, then went into the tea room.

We went into the tea room.  On the alcove, there was a scroll written by a Zen monk of Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto.  It says 福寿海無量, meaning, happiness and joy can be infinite like the ocean.  We the guests took time to look closely at the scroll and the kettle, then were seated.

The host began with serving us a light meal called Kaiseki.  He first brought a black tray with rice, miso soup, and sashimi dish (see the first photo above), then brought in sake. 

One by one the host brings in 2-3 additional dishes, including this meticulously decorated soup dish.  Everything is carefully prepared and cooked by the host. 

The host sometimes serves each one of us guests himself.

The shiny black and the vivid red… I just love the contrasting, rich colors of the Urushi lacquerware!

Once the meal is over, the host brings in sweets in a stacked box.  Oh, the sweets are also handmade by the host!

After having the sweets, the guests leave the tea room and return to the bench by the garden.  It’s like an intermission of the concert.

Time to go back to the tea room.  Now the scroll is taken down, and a vase of flowers is placed on the alcove. 

The host first serves us thick tea.  The matcha green tea looks almost like paste rather than liquid.  Thick tea is the highlight of the tea gathering.

Another kind of sweets, this time rather dry, are served. 

For this tea gathering, the couple divided the labor of a host.  The wife served us thin tea.  You can see the bowl has a beautiful cherry blossom pattern.

So does the Natsume, the thin tea container.  The hosts paid close attention to choosing each tea utensil. 

The whole procedure took almost 4 hours.  It must have taken more than twice as long for the hosts to prepare for this tea gathering, including cooking and making sweets themselves. 

Enjoying Chaji 茶事, this type of formal gathering, both as hosts and guests, is the very reason why we practice tea ceremony.  I’m so thankful to the hosts for their dedication to making this gathering a memorable experience for all of us. 

I Might Change Two Youngster’s Life This Week

Just like my life changed 40-some years ago

Image by Traditional Arts Super Collage of Kyoto (TASK)

Tomorrow is a big day for me.

Two students from TASK are flying into Seatac Airport tomorrow.  Sponsored by Five Senses Foundation, the nonprofit organization I founded, these students will experience eight days of cultural exchange.  After three years of delay because of the pandemic, the program is finally coming true!

The program includes:

  • Visits to campuses of major US corporates  (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Starbucks)
  • Cultural workshop at Seattle University
  • Tours at Seattle Art Museum and Portland Japanese Garden
  • Private house tours in Whidbey island
  • Staying with a local American family rather than staying at a hotel. 

The students get to visit places that normal tourists wouldn’t have an opportunity to visit.  They get a glimpse of how Americans learn, work, and live firsthand.

What will these two young Japanese women grasp and pay attention to?  What will they be surprised, impressed, or inspired by?  What impact will this week give them?

I have no idea. 

I had my SUV washed yesterday.  This afternoon I will start cooking for the welcome dinner tomorrow.  I will do my best to navigate them, drive them, and serve them this coming week. 

Most likely I won’t be able to write an article in the coming week.  My apologies in advance. 

My previous posts describing how this program has evolved

How Future Traditional Craftspeople Are Trained at TASK
Visiting Kyoto?  Don’t Miss This Hidden Gem!
This Super College Teaches 10 Vital Courses for Japan   

Ikebana Anytime, Anywhere, Anybody

Sogetsu School is avant-garde

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

Founded in 1927 by Teshigahara Sofu, Sogetsu School is well known for its free, avant-garde Ikebana style.

Western magazines such as Time in the US and Le Figaro in France appropriately called Teshigahara Sofu (1900 – 1979), the founder of Sogetsu School, “Picasso of flowers.”  Sofu was instrumental in elevating Ikebana to an art form.

The motto of Sogetsu School is “Ikebana Anytime, Anywhere, Anybody.”  The arrangement is not limited to being displayed in only Tokonoma, but anywhere.  People can freely select where to arrange flowers and when.  Sofu created a methodological curriculum so that anybody who follows the textbook can create a beautiful arrangement from day 1.

Sofu was a great marketer as well. 

Soon after World War II, GHQ officers came to Japan as well as diplomats from all over the world with their own families.  Sofu taught Sogetsu Ikebana to their wives in English.  They took lessons from Sofu, and got teacher’s certificates.  When they went back home, many started teaching Sogetsu Ikebana in their own countries.

I happened to learn Sogetsu Ikebana in Seattle.  I owe to Sofu and those wives who had studied Ikebana way before I was born.  Thanks to them, Sogetsu Ikebana is so prevalent all over the world and I’m one of the beneficiaries. 

Start A Day with Happiness

Photo by Szilvia Basso on Unsplash

For years I kept pursuing happiness.  If I get good grades will I become happy?  If I get a good job will I become happy?  If I get promoted?  If I get married?  If I own my business?  If I get rich?

The moment I achieved my goal, it was not happiness but emptiness that crept on me. 

“Today we are seeking happiness so vigorously that the very life of the planet is being threatened. All those people, who depend on external situations to be happy, will never know true joy in their lives.

Sadhguru

The quote above hit me hard.  It had me redefine happiness 180 degrees.

Happiness is not to be pursued, but to be realized.  Ever since I encountered the quote above, Every morning, I tell myself to be happy.  I might face a tough negotiation that day.  The stock market might have crashed the day before.  I might have lost a person who is dear to me. 

Regardless of the outside situations, I start the day with happiness in me.  At least I try every morning, to remind myself that happiness is not a goal but the foundation of life.

How Future Traditional Craftspeople Are Trained at TASK

My visit to the campus percolated an idea

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

The “Open Campus” program offered by TASK (Traditional Arts Super College of Kyoto) gave me another surprising opportunity in addition to making my own wooden pencil case.

…

After a short presentation and a video introducing TASK, an instructor lead me and a teenage boy from the auditorium to the woodwork studio. 

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

On the wooden table, two sets of small pieces of wood and tools were laid out.  A chisel, a saw, a plane, glue, and sandpaper… When was the last time I touched these tools, or have I ever used a chisel or plane?  The instructor was patient enough not to lose her cool until both of us completed the whole process.  I planed the lid too much so that it was a little loose.  Well, at least it looked decently rectangular of a pencil case.  I think I understand why I didn’t become a master craftsperson.

It was Sunday, but several students were at the studio working on their own projects.  According to the instructor, it was not uncommon to see students on weekends.  I asked one of them if she enjoyed studying here.  Her response of a powerful “yes!”

…

This campus visit convinced me to make a proposal to the school, that Five Senses Foundation, the non-profit organization I run, would sponsor two students to spend a week in Seattle.

Why?

The students at TASK reminded me of myself a long time ago when I was in high school.

I spent one year in a small city in Pennsylvania as an exchange student.  It was in the late seventies.   There was no Internet, but we had TVs.  I thought I knew the US pretty well, until I arrived. 

The houses and the cars looked enormous. The ceiling of the living room was so high, and I had never seen such huge walls in a house.  The dining table looked larger than the entire kitchen of my house in Japan.  In the US, everything was huge!

There were and still are so many differences in lifestyle between the two countries.  Seeing is believing.  No TV program nor the book is sufficient.  Firsthand experience is vital.

The domestic demand for Japanese traditional arts and crafts is dwindling.  The industry must create demand outside Japan.  The US remains the dominant economy, and it makes sense to market there.  The first step is to understand the customers.  I wanted the students at TASK to experience the US firsthand, as I did years ago.

How Samurai Made Use of Tea Utensils

Tea utensils as financial and political tools

Oda Nobunaga: Widimedia Public Domain

No, Oda Nobunaga 織田信長 was not crazy to forgo the opportunity to grab the whole state in return for the little tea caddy.

Oda Nobunaga was the first samurai warlord who unified Japan.   He took advantage of the valuable tea ceremony utensils and fervently collected them.  He either bought them for excessive prices or took them by force from other samurai.  Nobunaga’s tea utensil collection became enormous. 

At the same time, Nobunaga forbade his subordinate samurai to perform tea gatherings without his permission.  There were only six or so samurai who were granted this right.  Nobunaga gave away his tea utensils as remuneration to his subordinates. 

One time a samurai was granted a huge swath of land for his contribution, but he lamented that he was not granted a famous tea container instead.

For Nobunaga, the tea ceremony and tea utensils were useful tools, financially and politically, to achieve his ambition to eventually dominate all of Japan. 

Japanese Flower Arrangement Meets The Western World

Moribana: Innovation by Ohara School of Ikebana

Moribana Style of Ohara School Ikebana: Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

While Japan closed its doors to the world from the early 17th century until the late 19th century, Ikebana became prevalent among people in Japan.  Not only the ruling samurai class but also the general public enjoyed arranging flowers. 

Most houses in Japan had an alcove called Tokonoma, and people displayed Ikebana there.  Since the alcove’s platform was low, people used a rather tall vase for their Ikebana. 

Japan opened its country to the west in the late 19th century.  The new Meiji government began to construct western-style buildings.  Foreigners came in and started building western-style homes.  These western-style buildings didn’t have Tokonokoma but were furnished with tables and chairs. 

Ohara Unshin, the founder of Ohara School of Ikebana, realized that the way to display Ikebana arrangement needs to adapt to the new building style. Replacing the previously used tall vase with a small opening, he originated and actually designed the low, flat, wide-surfaced Moribana containers for the many colorful flowers from the West. 

This new container shape greatly enlarged the scope of expression available to Ikebana.  Moribana became the main style and contributed to the increasing popularity of Ikebana.

The invention of Moribana-style ikebana is one example of how innovation enables tradition to survive and thrive. 

In 2019 in Seattle, the fifth-generation headmaster Ohara Hiroki performed an Ikebana demonstration wearing Microsoft Holo Lens.  It was the world’s premier of combining the traditional Ikebana installation and cutting-edge mixed reality technology.

This innovative spirit of Ohara School is still alive today.

Where My Indoor Plants Came from

Thanks to the global economy

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

I enjoy the bright red foliage of anthurium in my living room.  Yes, nowadays many more people are interested in indoor plants as a way to bring nature into their homes. 

But I didn’t grow up with indoor plants at home in Japan.  That doesn’t mean my parents weren’t nature lovers.  Far from it.  They used to grow bonsai trees, most of them azaleas, for years.  Once in a while, my father would decorate the entrance with the beautiful bonsai tree, full in bloom.  But as soon as the flowers were gone he took the bonsai tree back outside.

Why didn’t my parents keep bonsai trees indoors? Since I had no knowledge about growing bonsai trees, I googled and found out its general practice.

Usually, a bonsai tree is taken from nature, and the growing environment should be closer to its original place.  In most places in Japan, there are distinct four seasons.  In the cold winter, trees become dormant. If the bonsai tree is grown indoors all year round, it can’t be exposed to the natural rhythm and it won’t survive. 

Nowadays we are living in comfortable conditions with temperature control all year round.  Japan’s native plants are not suitable for such a condition, but tropical or semi-tropical plants are perfect.

Anthurium is from Central America.  Monstera, another of my favorite indoor plant, is also native to Central America.  So are many indoor plants.  Without the advancement of global trade, the beautiful red foliage wouldn’t have reached my living room…